Microsoft sent me a report that our Windows 8.1 tablet app is having a crash-on-launch bug with today's featured articles; I've applied a quick fix and am submitting it to the Windows Store for update.
This app was originally a prototype which I figured we'd rewrite if there was continued demand, but Windows 8/8.1 tablet apps just haven't taken the world by storm so far and we've not put work into it in a while... but it does have a non-zero maintenance cost picking up these little bugs.
We may want to make sure we have an actual measure of its traffic usage before making a decision, but we don't think it's very high right now...
A few possibilities:
1) Officially support the app for Windows 8.1 tablets, add support for Windows Phone 8.1, and continue to work on updating and improving the app alongside Android and iOS.
2) Transition it to an unofficial app "in-place", and I'll poke at phone support, media playback, and UI experiments on my own time.
3) Pick an official end-of-life date and kill it off entirely. If and when I or someone else want to make an unofficial version they can pick up the source and create a new app entry for people to download.
Based on low demand and limited resources, I think we can safely throw out 1), so the choice is between 2) or 3).
-- brion
I'd go for (3). having the official app be out of the store might also encourage third parties to provide better solutions if there is demand (see also: the iOS app scene for wikipedia apps)
On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 12:50 PM, Brion Vibber bvibber@wikimedia.org wrote:
Based on low demand and limited resources, I think we can safely throw out 1), so the choice is between 2) or 3).
You guys need to decide as a team but my vote is for #3. We should focus our selves and push aggressively forward on features that will have a significant impact. All others are distractions and while they are interesting technical challenges don't move the needle much.
--tomasz
On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 12:58 PM, Tomasz Finc tfinc@wikimedia.org wrote:
On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 12:50 PM, Brion Vibber bvibber@wikimedia.org wrote:
Based on low demand and limited resources, I think we can safely throw
out
1), so the choice is between 2) or 3).
You guys need to decide as a team but my vote is for #3. We should focus our selves and push aggressively forward on features that will have a significant impact. All others are distractions and while they are interesting technical challenges don't move the needle much.
*nod* if other folks seem in agreement with this I'll pick an end-of-life date for later this summer, and narrow focus on the Windows end of my spare-time experiments (probably narrow it to just media playback, since IE 11 is otherwise pretty well supported on the mobile site).
-- brion
...we have a Windows tablet app? ;-)
My instinct says 3. Speaking from the meta-level of a project management perspective, I don't like the idea of having Brion context switching between all the platforms we support. I think focussing the entire team on iOS and Android is the best thing. We have enough on our plate as it is right now, and I'm not eager to add more.
Dan
On 16 June 2014 12:50, Brion Vibber bvibber@wikimedia.org wrote:
Microsoft sent me a report that our Windows 8.1 tablet app is having a crash-on-launch bug with today's featured articles; I've applied a quick fix and am submitting it to the Windows Store for update.
This app was originally a prototype which I figured we'd rewrite if there was continued demand, but Windows 8/8.1 tablet apps just haven't taken the world by storm so far and we've not put work into it in a while... but it does have a non-zero maintenance cost picking up these little bugs.
We may want to make sure we have an actual measure of its traffic usage before making a decision, but we don't think it's very high right now...
A few possibilities:
- Officially support the app for Windows 8.1 tablets, add support for
Windows Phone 8.1, and continue to work on updating and improving the app alongside Android and iOS.
- Transition it to an unofficial app "in-place", and I'll poke at phone
support, media playback, and UI experiments on my own time.
- Pick an official end-of-life date and kill it off entirely. If and when
I or someone else want to make an unofficial version they can pick up the source and create a new app entry for people to download.
Based on low demand and limited resources, I think we can safely throw out 1), so the choice is between 2) or 3).
-- brion
Mobile-l mailing list Mobile-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mobile-l
Either way is fine for me, as long as we don't lose the repo. I just wanted to give kudos to Brion for the visuals of the Win8 app leading with prominent images. Also the search charm integration seems very nice. (This is based on the store description and screenshots there. Haven't played with the app myself.)
-Bernd
On Mon, Jun 16, 2014 at 3:08 PM, Dan Garry dgarry@wikimedia.org wrote:
...we have a Windows tablet app? ;-)
My instinct says 3. Speaking from the meta-level of a project management perspective, I don't like the idea of having Brion context switching between all the platforms we support. I think focussing the entire team on iOS and Android is the best thing. We have enough on our plate as it is right now, and I'm not eager to add more.
Dan
On 16 June 2014 12:50, Brion Vibber bvibber@wikimedia.org wrote:
Microsoft sent me a report that our Windows 8.1 tablet app is having a crash-on-launch bug with today's featured articles; I've applied a quick fix and am submitting it to the Windows Store for update.
This app was originally a prototype which I figured we'd rewrite if there was continued demand, but Windows 8/8.1 tablet apps just haven't taken the world by storm so far and we've not put work into it in a while... but it does have a non-zero maintenance cost picking up these little bugs.
We may want to make sure we have an actual measure of its traffic usage before making a decision, but we don't think it's very high right now...
A few possibilities:
- Officially support the app for Windows 8.1 tablets, add support for
Windows Phone 8.1, and continue to work on updating and improving the app alongside Android and iOS.
- Transition it to an unofficial app "in-place", and I'll poke at phone
support, media playback, and UI experiments on my own time.
- Pick an official end-of-life date and kill it off entirely. If and
when I or someone else want to make an unofficial version they can pick up the source and create a new app entry for people to download.
Based on low demand and limited resources, I think we can safely throw out 1), so the choice is between 2) or 3).
-- brion
Mobile-l mailing list Mobile-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mobile-l
-- Dan Garry Associate Product Manager for Platform and Mobile Apps Wikimedia Foundation
Mobile-l mailing list Mobile-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mobile-l