[Design] There's Dogfood and then there's Dogfood

[Alec Flett]

Hey Jim,
I think you're really going above and beyond the call of duty when it 
comes to 'dogfood', so thanks! .. I think part of the notion that we're 
trying to express with 'experimentally useful dogfood'  is that this 
really is dogfood. And dogfood... well, it will certainly sustain you 
but it still tastes like crap :) Most people I know wouldn't 'dogfood' a 
product they weren't working on, so kudos for your efforts.

When you're dumping all of your personal information into chandler, 
please do remember that we're only at a 0.6 release. Think of that as 
being 60% of a full product.. and as you've pointed out, when it comes 
to a PIM, 60% is probably not enough for a hardcore PIM user, no more 
than 60% of Photoshop would be good for daily use by a graphic designer. 
So our dogfood goals right now are based on very simple calendar use 
cases, and built around the notion that you could loose your data at any 
time.

All of this being said, we are working on some of the lower-level issues 
around being able to migrate your data from one version of chandler to 
another (you may see discussion about 'schema migration') - part of work 
for this will include some backup/restore mechanisms. Some time after 
the 'schema migration' is ready, we'll be able to expose the 
backup/restore functionality to the user..

It would also be helpful for you to file bugs against specific problems 
you've had. I think the more general product feedback you've given to 
the list is really helpful, but if you have very specific problems, like 
a reproducible way to make chandler crash, or a state that you get stuck 
in with a stack trace, etc, please do file bugs.  
https://bugzilla.osafoundation.org/enter_bug.cgi?format=guided

So anyhow, the take away is 'don't worry, we're working on that too" - 
but please keep in mind that we're still a long way from a 1.0 product 
and we can use all the feedback we can get :)

Alec

Jim Sowers wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> After a frenzy of activity, I hit a wall.  Ran into some issues that
> have precluded me from using Chandler.  I have received some
> well-intentioned emails, however, some of the proposed solutions
> assume that I am involved at a level much deeper than as simply an
> end-user (e.g., requiring the use of Cygwin to do command-line stuff
> etc. -- I didn't even know what Cygwin was when I started).
>
> I know Chandler is in the very early stages, but having worked at a
> few software companies myself (including as a sales engineer at
> Interwoven in the very early days), I would like to make an important
> point about "dogfood".
>
> Eating one's own dogfood, i.e., relying on the software that you
> write, is one thing when you're talking about say, a graphics package.
>  But when it comes to a PIM -- which is intended for the least
> technical of computer users, and on which people will plan and run
> their lives -- IMHO, there should be a different standard and priority
> list.
>
> More than anything, someone must be able to recover (all but the most
> recent) data that has been entered.  Server, repository, and
> installation issues should be given the highest priority.  It should
> never take a high level of sophistication to have the option of
> resetting and reinstalling. But if it comes to that, then it should be
> easy and bulletproof. (That's where I'm at -- I have an .ics file
> waiting to be imported ;-)
>
> I'm sure I will get Chandler back on track soon enough, but this is
> really more of a gut check for a broader testing release.
>
> I realize I am the unusual user who will try all the functionality
> advertised (and some that isn't) -- multiple shared collections,
> syncing to multiple machines, etc.  But, as much as I'd like to think
> that I am unique, I am not :-)
>
> Anyway, I don't mean to sound critical or frustrated.  I like
> Chandler, was starting to rely on it, miss using it, and can't wait
> for the next release + Scooby!
>
> (Dog)Food for thought.
>
> Jim
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