Either You Succeed or Explain

Read My Interview in EclipseZone, Get nWire for FREE!

It's a great week for Eclipse enthusiasts: the EclipseCon 2009 week. I'm not there, but my heart is. To celebrate and mark the event I did an interview in EclipseZone and I will be giving away 3 licenses of nWire for free.

To win your copy, just visit the article at EclipseZone, vote for it and leave a comment (please vote anyway, even if you're not interested in a license, just don't leave a comment).

Have a great EclipseCon week!

1st Gen iPhone Owners Feel Left Out?

Yesterday, Apple announced the third version of the iPhone OS. One of the main concerns raised by the critics is the fact that 1st Generation iPhone owners will not be able to enjoy some of the features like MMS and A2DP support. Some sites even started polls, asking how they feel about it, Guys, you need to wake up. 

I don't have an iPhone yet. I will probably get one after the next update (July?). I have a Nokia phone based on Symbian S60: 6120 Classic with S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1. This is my second S60 device. My first device was the 7650, which was the first S60 device ever made. Symbian is the most common smart-phone OS out there. My 7650 was released in 2002, so it is far more mature and well rooted. 

Now, dear Nokia users, a quick question for you: did you ever get new features for your phone after you bought it?  No. You didn't. Because Nokia is a smart company. They can teach us all a lesson in marketing mobile phones. Every year or so there's a new version of the Symbian OS which is released only for newer models. Want more features?  Upgrade your phone. They want you to buy a new device every couple of years. 

I'm really surprised that 1st gen phones will even get that update. Apple should learn from Nokia. People like upgrading their phone by going to the shop and getting a new shiny device. Carriers like people to upgrade their phone and get caught up in longer term contracts. Apple should play along. We want the iPhone to bring in more profit, because than we will see more investment in the platform.

And a side note: Technical blogs are developing Tabloid-like qualities. They seem to care more about creating a provocation than stick to facts. After all, that what brings home the readers, right? 

nWire 1.0 is Released

It is an important day for me today: nWire version 1.0 is finally released. It is the fruit of long and hard work and I'm very happy with the results. We did some extra efforts to release nWire 1.0 before the upcoming EclipseCon and we did it. The final stretch was especially stressful: I wanted to make sure the first non-beta release incorporates as much user feedback as possible. We had several interim releases dealing with usability and performance before the final release.

What's next? You can read about nWire future directions in the nWire blog (I'm thinking of renaming the blog to "The nWire Wire": does it sound too stupid?). I can say that there are several cooperations coming up. These are tough times and it is simply easier to make it through with the assistance of partners. I'm gradually learning that lesson and I promise to reveal all the details and share my experience when appropriate.

So, if you are reading these lines and you are a Java developer, download and test drive nWire today. If you already tried it and want to do another trial with the final version, drop me a line. 

Shaping the Image of nWire

We are getting closer to the final release of nWire version 1.0. One of the elements which was missing so far was a decent logo. Following suggestions form colleagues, I decided to start a logo design contest at 99designs. 

The idea behind 99designs is simple: You write a design brief, assign a certain amount of money and the contest begins. Designers from all over the world come and participate. There are cons and pros to this system, but one thing is for sure: you get a lot of ideas.

I invite you to check out the ideas so far. If you're reading this and the contest hasn't ended yet, you are more than welcome to let me know what's your favorite design. Focus on designs with 3 star rating and up (or no rating, probably I haven't got to them, yet).