I want to start off this post by saying Thank You to all my supporters. Those who purchased during the beta period. Those who has sent wonderful comments and meaningful bug reports and feature requests. You are the ones I do this for and will continue to strive to please.
I believe Cha-Ching has matured into an absolutely beautiful application. Art takes time and as time continues to past, Cha-Ching will become even more beautiful and even more mature.
As several of you know, I follow the “Getting Real” approach. “Getting Real” is a style of confronting design and business situations. Stay simple and agile. Be flexible and always listen to your customers. 37Signals is the company that created this approach and I look up to them immensely. They are my heroes in the world of software and business practice.
Now I am definitely not perfect. Very far from it, but I do try every day to become a better person and better business man. Here are my responses and announcements for today:
- New Version 1.0.2
Today I am announcing a new version that fixes many bugs. And yes, the QIF import problem has been fixed. So sorry for that inconvenience. The Bill Manager has been enhanced with a new sort and date range function added. Go ahead and whip open your copy of Cha-Ching and get the latest version.
- Updates for Life
Few believe I am screwing my customers with a previous mistake on the company website that stated that if you purchase during the beta period that you would have free upgrades for life. Once I discovered it I removed it promptly. When the website was being designed, that quote was in the initial designs as a joke. It was not meant to show in the final launch of the website. I sincerely apologize to the few that have shown concern. There are those that understand that “Free Upgrades for Life” is absolutely impossible to do. It does no good to any business, especially to third-part developers. This is our life. This is what puts food on the table and puts a roof over our heads. Many developers will agree to that. I apologize for that statement. For those who understand and agree that $14.95 was more than a great price for many many awesome upgrades before version 2.0, thank you.
- Cha-Ching doesn’t have XYZ
Everyday we get feature requests. All different. We hear all requests and definitely make note of it. Our philosophy is not to make this the be all and end all for all types of financial situations. Stock Portfolio’s, Real Estate, Investments etc., is not the most common things us middle class people worry about. Most of us worry about how much we are going to have at the end of the month. I want to empower those people.
- Community (Formerly Known as Forums)
Today I am announcing a new update to the site, Community. We are now moving to a new type of forum for everyone to discuss and support each other. The new Community should make it much more simple to track discussions and help one another with ideas, fixes etc.
- Bug and Feature Tracking
We finally have an official system to keep track of all the bug reports and feature requests for Cha-Ching. We are using it very extensively now. You can definitely count on us squashing bugs much more efficiently.
- Online Bank Auto-Downloading
Many people think that if Cha-Ching supports OFX that means that automatic downloads of financial information from your online banks would come with that too. That is not true. OFX is just a standard just like QIF and QFX. The auto downloading from online banking just uses that format as their standard. But to answer many questions, yes we are definitely working on the OFX support for Cha-Ching. We are very close to complete.
- More Involvement
Many have asked that I participate much more in the community and the blog. I personally thought that my focus on the app would be much more efficient. That is why I hired Matthew Arevalo who has been extremely awesome at answering your questions, responding to all forum posts, etc. He rocks. I promise now that I would post much more to the blog and participate much more in the new Community. I definitely feel it would get me that much closer to you guys so that I can provide the experience you expect.
If there is anything you want me to address, please do not hesitate to contact me personally at jalvarez@midnightapps.com. I would be happy to answer you and speak about it on the blog. Thanks again for all of your support.
Ya know. I’m just curious as to why the MacHeist winners got their accounts disabled in this version.
You’d think we’d at lease get the 1.x releases. Or you should have told us that it expires with 1.0.x updates.
Exactly — You could have given us the opportunity to purchase the application for $20 when version 1.0 was originally announced. Instead, you let us beta test Cha-Ching for you and then stick us with a hiked up price tag. Uncool.
I’ve reverted back to 1.0.1 and I don’t plan on buying a license until the developers get their act together.
I reverted from a previous copy on my hard drive, but MacHeist users can still download version 1.0.1 from Version Tracker.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/32331
I also reverted. Thank God the sparkle.framwork puts the old version in the Trash can.
Macheist Winners,
I am so sorry for the inconvenience. You are in no way banned from using Cha-Ching. Unfortunately I had to add anti-piracy controls in the latest version because of the rampant torrenting of serial generators for Cha-Ching.
The users that got Cha-Ching from the Macheist giveaway have not been entered into our database. I am personally scrambling to enter all of you guys into our database. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding.
If there is any other concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at jalvarez AT midnightapps.com. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Juan Alvarez
CEO/Lead Developer
Thank God!
Thanks for the prompt reply Juan.
It’s good to hear from you Juan. Thank you for the wonderful app and thank you for taking the time to address our concerns as a community. 1.0 is a great step forward, even if it is a little buggy.
I’m a big believer in agile development. But no software development paradigm fits all situations. Any process must be adapted to each project to some degree. Why not consider segmenting your users by allowing folks to run off the tip while others continue to operate on a hardened set of features. Ya, this adds a little bit of overhead to the software development process, but can still be done pretty leanly.
I’m pleased with where you are going with this particular product — I like your angle on it. But I can’t help feeling burned by running software with such obvious flaws. Flaws enough to make me want to jump ship — which is frustrating.
Here is where adapting the process comes in for you. A financial tracking application (post 1.0) cannot afford to have missing transaction import dialogs or off by one errors in the budgeting. These are all very explainable bugs, but 100% of your userbase should not be left to deal with them. Make each “release” free of these obvious errors and release your new features to the early adopters.
Managing branches is a pain, but I think alienating your users is something you can’t afford (especially since we are putting food on your table ;). The glow will wear off eventually — take this momentum and roll it into something really special. As it stands now, I would be weary to trust another MA product.
I would have answered this a lot sooner, but I’m at an Apple event in Atlanta and flying back to Hollywood right now (sitting in the airport and JUST got online)
Let me also thank you for your understanding. As Juan said, we’re on it.
Alright, When the glitch is fixed, what will be the best to handle it? Just run with the 1.0.2 demo for now and try to Activate again later? Or will there be a software patch?
Matt -
I’m trying to address the bigger issue of software process that Juan mentions in his blog. As for this particular bug, I’ve learned to just not rely on Cha-Ching for my finances — and it’s something the author should be aware of.
Juan, Cha-Ching is great. It is well worth the money, thanks your hard work.
Don’t be discouraged by non-constructive comments. You’re starting so you’re likely to make a lot of mistakes, but you point high and work hard so I’m sure Cha-ching it’s gonna become a great app.
I tried a lot of apps before buying Cha-ching. I don’t need an overbloated piece of software, I need something simple and effective, and Cha-ching promises a lot of that. Maybe it’s not already there, but it’s getting very close.
IMHO the bigger mistake you made, the one that’s making some people angry, is the fact that you should possibily have mantained it as a beta. At least until polishing details and hunting down the bigger bugs. But that is a mistake I can take :)
I’m not gonna lie to you. I find myself willing to use Cha-ching more than I actually do. Mainly it’s due to some usability issues that I’m sure will be improved. Again, don’t be discouraged and take each problem at a time. Every step counts.
Thanks for being in touch with your users and keep on the good work!
Sheesh.. not trying to be non-constructive. Quite the contrary really. Constructive does not always equal kudos folks. I’m here because I like the app (far better than the existing alternatives) and wish Juan continued success. Otherwise I wouldn’t have supported him with my money, bug reports, and suggestions for some adjustments to his software development process.
Anyways Juan, I’ve been developing and shipping software for a living for many years. Take it for what you will. Sweep it under the rug if you like — but I hope you consider it.
Very pretty app! You mentioned:
“Stock Portfolio’s, Real Estate, Investments etc., is not
the most common things us middle class people worry about.”
Many middle-class people have 401(k)s and would like to track them. I hope investment accounts are somewhere on your list. When they appear, and there’s a chance I can dump Quicken for Cha-Ching, I’ll be back.
Any word on the MacHeist licences would be very welcome…
This is a great app. No doubt about that.
I agree with many others that perhaps $40 is too much to ask for this type of program. It as less features and is still buggier than many other money management apps out there that cost at least $10 less. But that is only when it is compared to other money apps. When compared to mac apps in general, it is still too high. There seems to be no tech support, the website is practically baron, the app itself doesn’t work and there is no deadline stated as to when these problems might be fixed. I feel $30 would have been a max price. When 2.0 would be released, depending on the features, I could see myself paying $40, but not this soon.
It’s also a little insulting to say you do it only for the people who bought your application before 1.0 came out. What about the new users who bought your product and licensed it and have yet to be able to license their application?!
Also, I don’t agree with you Upgrades For Life statement. How is putting that up on the website a joke? That doesn’t even make sense? I just assumed you didn’t know how ill-fated that type of publicity would be and decided to take it down afterwards when you or someone you know realized what you had done and took it down apologizing for the mistake; But to say it was a joke just seems to patronize your customers.
I am going to purchase a license (at $40 despite how I feel that is too much, in some cases, for this app) as soon as the current bugs (not parsing QIF or QIO files properly, amounts being added to incorrect accounts, registrations not working even though they are legitimate) are fixed. In fact, I am dying for that release to come out so I can test it, be sure it works and then license a copy.
I think I understand your situation though. From my point of view, it seems as though the amount of publicity you received from joining MacHeist was overwhelming and you were under pressure (for whatever reason?) to put out a 1.0 release by the time MacHeist was ended. You couldn’t keep up with the number of bug reports, tracking those bugs down, fixing them, the serial generators being released to crack your app, the disgruntled users who had problems complaining on your message board (which is now blank?) and so on. It’s unfortunate.
I do have faith though that you will get this operation organized, those bugs fixed, and those new registrations sent out. I just hope it’s soon. Like many, we see a lot of potential in both your application, and your ability to make this company something good. It’s just difficult because we expect some basic things and they aren’t here.