Software Development

So I was reading this blog and it got me thinking. She says it's about NEED in all its background pinkness. The thing is that I've written plenty of software that people NEED. Before I knew what was really going on, I used to think that if you write it, they will use it. But no. Only if they absolutely have no better option will they use your software. So sorry. It's not about NEED.

So how do I know it's not about NEED? Well, WAY back when computer magazines were very popular, I owned an Amiga. Yeah, dem were the days. Anyways, I had written a bunch of tools and put them out, but they weren't very popular. Also, I got bored easy back then and I would move on to other projects (cuz I was learning a lot) and didn't like going back to old stuff. Maintenance IS important. This wasn't the key either. It won't make a project popular, but it can kill it if you neglect it.

What happened was that a graphic artist friend of mine came up to me and said he needed a tool but couldn't find anything anywhere that did the job. He wanted a tool that would show a random picture on bootup instead of that crap text (if you use Linux, you probably know what I mean). He said he'd write all the docs and make it look all nice and pretty and package it up. The docs back then were called AmigaGuide and looked much like the web of today. So I wrote up the app, gave it to him and he put it all together.

Shortly after, he comes back and says he needs another tool. I say ok cuz he helps me out with graphics all the time. He wants the icons on the desktop to have a 3D look like the new version of the Amiga OS as well as more colors. Of course, many people don't want to upgrade the OS just to get a new look, so that's where my tool came to the rescue. It would update your desktop to a whopping 8 colors with the same color scheme as the new OS and would give your icons that 3D look. My friend also had his own icon library that you could download separately. He packaged this tool up too with nice looking docs.

Guess what? Within a couple months, two different magazines each picked up one of my tools. They were put on the cover disks with a little blurb near the end of the magazine. They sent me a free copy of the magazine too. You know what they commented on? Yeah, they liked the app. But all the reviews I got were about how well it was packaged. My friend did the packaging. This is also the reason given for including it on the cover disks. One magazine editor said he wanted to include another similar tool instead of what I created, but I had the better looking docs and the packaging was better, so they used mine.

This also reminds me of this one time I wrote an article on optimization for the internal web site at this company I worked for. My manager comes to me and exclaims: "Where are all the pretty graphics?! They're all gone!!!" This was funny because the guy is massive (not overweight, just big) and he's worried about pretty graphics. Anyways, I put back the pie charts and bar graphs from a previous version that I had taken out because they didn't quite make sense anymore. I updated them and reworked the text. All of a sudden, EVERYONE is commenting on it. They like the pretty graphics.

So I don't care what anyone says. No one gives a rat's ass about software. They like the pretty graphics and how cool it looks. They also like DOCS!!! They LOVE the DOCS!!! I don't understand it. I doubt I ever will. But people go nuts over docs and pretty graphics. If you can combine them, then you've hit gold. If your app actually does something useful, hey you're way ahead of the game. I can guarantee if I stuck some nice logos and pie charts on my open source projects, they'd be snapped up like iPods on crack. Don't forget that people kill for good manuals. That's why computer books are really popular in bookstores. Manuals are part of the presentation. So even if you don't think docs are sexy, without them you got nothing.

So that critical thing your software needs is to be pretty. Pretty also means having the complete package. Yes, I know. It sounds gay. And it probably is. But people like to be able to brag about what they're using. And no one can brag about being uglier than everyone else. I know. It's hard to believe. I swear I can't make that shit up. People like pretty stuff. Who knew?

(Note: Don't go to the extreme. Keep it simple, but make it look good. Go with a "clean" look if in doubt. Now you know why I'm spending time on graphics with Project V. All that's left is finding a graphic artist that will work dirt cheap.)