The i-Sho.com Blog

Web apps or desktop apps, which is better?

2006-07-11T11:48:00.000Z

A simple question with no really easy answer. We went for the desktop app, there are a multitude of reasons why its better for us and our application but the same may not be true of someone else.
We needed to mesh local content with server based content. What does this mean? It means running a search on local content and Hub content at the same time and displaying the results alongside each other. It means tagging local content in the same way as Hub content. It means dragging a local file directly into the Hub so it can be backed up or shared. All these actions would be impossible with a standard web app without a pretty sophisticated client app embedded somewhere, and in the end I bet the weight of functionality would be balanced in favour of the client software, which is precisely why we started with the client. There are disadvantages of course, expense is one, time to market is another and its not supposed to be very cool, judging by the amount of investment thats being poured into pure .com social networks. Personally I think the fickleness of consumers makes some of the social network investments look risky. I'll bet Facebook or even Flickr would argue that users 'invest' time and have a 'stake' in the content they have created with tagging and uploading pictures and music etc. I'm willing to bet however that the reality is different, and that only a small percentage of users have a lot of content, if that is the case then the majority have very little content with a correspondingingly small 'investment' meaning it costs very little for them to switch to the latest newcomer.
i-Sho users on the other hand have local content organised and tagged, they own this 'structure' they can export this organisation to another pc or to a friends machine. Users really do have a stake in their content if its organised in the same way both on and offline. Neither do they mind putting in the time if they can archive the content in some way because the time isn't wasted, there is no perception that what they are doing is only a temporary online thing. This is why from a commercial perspective its much more attractive for us if we can reduce the likelihood of churn, we want our users to stay.
I daresay if you believe passionately in the brave new world of 'all online' then you'll disagree but this means you have no legacy content and nor do you keep anything locally which is unrealistic.
So, web apps are great for some things but they aren't the answer to everything for i-Sho. As we extend our offer they will allow us to extend our software but the core of what we do has to be client based for the forseeable future.

Performance versus Features

2006-06-29T23:18:00.000Z

Which won in the development of the software Performance or Features? Well...Features won, outright, no contest!
Fourteen months worth of features, and all the time we ignored the performance. Well we didn't ignore it, the performance issues were always there we just chose to bury them in favour of more features. The argument for us seemed simple, more features, more commercial attraction and when your experimenting with a concept, then your never sure when the user is going to'get it' so you build in more stuff so they can't fail to find something that will prove useful. With i-Sho mission creep is easy, problem is its also expensive in time and money. Should we regret it? No, not at all. The software is now a really powerful tool, sure its still got some rough edges and we could make the usability better and there are definately still a zilliion more features we'd like to add, but the software feels 'complete' no wrong word, it feels substantial. Now its time to make the performance great, to make it so that manipulation is fast, smooth and easy, so that file transfer to and from the Hub is seamless and quick. To make the app open immediately and close quickly and for i-Sho to sit lightly on the PC in terms of resources. Up till now maximum file numbers have been about 300 images, once the next release is out we reckon server channels of 5000 images plus to be easily achievable and other icon represented files of 10,000. Big numbers, which means that the app can truly be used as intended. For groups that range from schools to colleges, businesses to clubs and most importantly as a lifecaching archive for families and friends. Roll on the next release.

i-Sho rhymes with 'Yo'!

2006-05-25T14:11:00.000Z

Whats in a name? Well we've come across a problem with some people clearly having trouble reading the word 'i-Sho'. Its most noticeable at tradeshows where, as you cruise the aisles your accosted by a guy trying to encourage you to enter his stand. 'Hi, um ..er Mr Thompson er... i shoe ..huh, thats an unusual name' etc etc. I've been tempted to respond with 'Hmmm, have you always had trouble spelling simple four letter words like 'shoe' or is this a recent problem?'..but I've refrained.
The issue is probably just an English one as the word 'sure' can never be pronounced 'sho' as it can in the States. Of course our word is designed to be a shortform version of 'show', in fact its also been designed to be a short form version of the word 'share' as well, so that by combining the two words we can create a new word 'sho' which means to show and share at the same time.
Maybe we could also include the meaning of the word 'Yo' and we'd have a truly versatile verb.
So there you have it i-Sho meaning to Show, Share and say Hello all at the same time!

Wait for it.....

2006-05-23T06:12:00.000Z

As is the way of things, the release is still not out!
Entries have been absent while we concentrate on making sure the software is fit for online consumption.
We have also been publishing the website, see it here www.i-sho.com
The software is now nearly ready.... really it is.... I promise! The test beta has been scheduled for 30th May. This will be distributed to the first 100 critical friends, family and friends of friends. We shall then work on any issues and bugs that these user tests reveal. Software download is by invitation, go to the website and hit the download page.
Meanwhile we watch the space we are about to inhabit like a hawk, there has recently been a big move towards the acquisition of any companies with user generated content and social networking at its core. We'd like to think that this is only part of our overall value proposition. i-Sho being a unique file organisational tool also means we earn our place on the users desktop, its not easy to switch off once you start using it as your actual desktop.

Here is a screenshot displaying two channels, it will take six on screen at one time, any remaining channels can be tabbed down to the bottom.

Hmmmmm.. What have we done to deserve this

2006-03-22T14:29:00.000Z

Up down, up down, as we see saw between hope and despondency. The build up to each soft release is always exciting as we anticipate the world of difference we are going to see between the old software and the new shiny updated release. Its a bit like the old days when you'd fit new spark plugs to your moped and dream of breaking the 28mph barrier. Instead what happens is we have a first flush of excitement as we test the new functionality then slowly a wave of despondency creeps in, as we realise that there are continuous issues or bugs, worse is when we discover that the amazing bit of functionality we'd spent months devising is instead a users nightmare. Often the release is late on a Friday afternoon, so we tool about with it for an hour or so getting really excited. then the weekend intervenes and we wake up on Monday morning to the grim reality of a bit of software that is still unreleasable.
We have now had two releases since the last post and both have arrived with some really depressing issues that mean it either crashes (because of some thrd party software we think) or bits just fail to work. This is definately a problem with soft releases, they can only be as good as testing allows and the amount of testing determines whether its a soft or hard release, still its hard to take when we are this close to a live release.
On the up side the photo sharing between users and channels is going to be great, there is a real satisfaction in being able to just scroll through someones photo channel and discover pictures of yourself at events you don't remember and to select the photo and just drag and drop it into your own channel. This apparently simple concept is really the esence of i-Sho.

Patents, Websites and Bugs

2006-03-16T18:20:00.000Z

Have we got a patentable product? We think so. Its taken a while to whittle the software potential down to the core concepts that may deliver a patent but we think we have finally done it. Its hard not to try and include everything but the kitchen sink especially with i-Sho. We call it 'mission creep' our continous battle with our desires to spread the potential features of this concept to cover every known surface area of use. Filing will take place over the next two weeks.
We now have a dedicated line in at the Hub headquarters and are just waiting for the sdsl line to be connected at the exchange. Server side software has been installed on a test machine successfully and the new server is being built as we speak.
The website has now been designed and is currently being built, the copy has largely been authored and will need to be pasted into the content management system.
Release 1.5.1.0 is due out this Friday, we hope its fixed a lot of the bugs and issues that have arisen since release 1.5.0.0. We have now defined the Adsho model more clearly and while it won't provide unique identifiers (meaning we cannot monetise it) we can at least start creating commercial banners and commercial channels.
Most of the performance issues will have to wait until we can test the software on a dedicated server. Up till now we have been running all the Hub operations from the Mumbai based development server and we are praying that this has caused many of the slow performance issues that have bugged us.

Release 1.5.0.0 is out

2006-03-05T08:58:00.000Z

So.... the last release before we go to half speed on the development. With every new release comes new functionality and new issues. Some old issues come back to haunt us time and again and new ones appear that we hadn't considered and this doesn't include the bugs! So we are busy over the weekend testing the release and creating an updated issues list. We are also creating a Wish List and a Tips and Tricks list that we can put up on the website or post in this knowledge base.
One of the main features with the new release is the Commercial Interface that will allow our third party content suppliers to publish Channels. Two problems, first we weren't told how to access the Interface and secondly no one other than the administrator can 'see' the commercial channels unless they stumble across them in a search. Such is the frustration that comes with new features. 'Half speed' we should really just be winding the development up to warp speed, but cash and time rule this out right now.
On the server side, Netready are preparing the Hub and will be ready early in the week to try building it.
Meanwhile the Patent is being worked on and will be filed within the next two weeks.
The website is starting to look really good, just a lot of content still to write.

Counting down to go Live!

2006-03-02T15:22:00.000Z

So after 10 months, and thousands of hours talking, sketching, doodling, procrastinating and coding, not to mention countless emails and days of Skype conference calls the software is about to go live. In India the development team is to be wound down while we move the HUB ( server) from the bustle of Mumbai to the rather more prosaic environs of Leicester in the UK.
There is a mad dash to fix the issues that dog every software project before our lead developer leaves and decisions about licences and hardware fill our every waking hour. The legal bits and bobs have been thought through argued over and finally made complete. The website is being designed and prototyped and our patent lawyers are pouring over reams of documentation ready to file patents in the US.
Meanwhile the hours tick by.....

Welcome to the i-Sho Blog

2006-03-02T15:12:00.000Z

This is the first posting of what we hope will be a lively resource for i-Sho users, partners, commentators and friends.
We are going to use this Blog as a base for live commentary on the software, the issues surrounding its inception, and the 'industry' that surrounds its idea.
It can be a public forum for discussion round the core principles of i-Sho as an organisational tool, i-Sho as a lifecaching tool and i-Sho as a community tool.
The software is experimental and innovative, and for that reason we hope it provokes debate and above all interest.
To find out a bit more check out the website www.i-sho.com