Xojo Annual Survey

Since I have opt’d out of any further commuincation directly with Xojo, and I obtained this survery from a 3rd part source… I thought I’d publicly post how I would have answered. If anyone else would like to post theirs, feel free :slight_smile:

##Annual Xojo Experience Survey - 2020##

  1. What kind of Xojo license do you have? Choose all that apply.
    No license held a desktop license from 2006 to advent of API2

  2. How satisfied are you with Xojo?
    Extremely dissatisfied since the advent of API2

  3. How do you use Xojo?
    I make apps for myself.

  4. Do you currently sell apps in an App Store?
    Yes just not ones made with Xojo

  5. Do you use Xojo at work?
    No

  6. What platform do you make Xojo apps for? Check all that apply.
    macOS

  7. If you make web apps with Xojo, have you started to migrate to Web 2.0?
    Not applicable

  8. Do you have any feedback on how the Web 2.0 migration process went?
    Based on comments read, and condescending respones from Xojo, I’m glad I don’t do Web

  9. If you build web apps with Xojo, where do you host them?
    On my own servers

  10. What databases do you use?
    SQLite

  11. How did you first hear about Xojo?
    I don’t remember It was when Microsoft Vista, forced me to abandon windows

  12. Are there any features you’d like to see in Xojo? Please provide a Feedback case number if applicable.
    **How about FIX everything that is already there, and quit trying add new shiny widgets!
    Feedback? what a joke!

  13. Are there any bugs that are causing regular issues for you?
    I consider API2 to be the largest single “bug”, and I don’t think its JUST me

  14. If you have recommended Xojo to someone else, how did you describe it?
    You are assuming that I have? well trust me I can no longer do so in good faith

  15. XDC 2021 will take place in October 13-15 in London. Are you considering attending the conference?
    I do not plan on attending.

  16. Have you added your app to the Xojo Showcase?
    Don’t plan on it.

  17. Have you contacted Xojo Support in the last 12 months?
    No because I would have considered it a total waste of my time

  18. Please provide your gender.
    Male

  19. Please provide your age.
    Over 55

  20. What size company do you work at?
    1-10 people

  21. If you would like to share any additional comments or experiences about Xojo, please enter them below.
    Any additional comments would not help the situation, as I am of the opinion that Xojo has reached the point where the are beyond hope.
    As long as the CEO has an ego greater than Trump, nothing will change, because 'Nobody can tell me how to run my company’

I’m on board with reducing the bug count, but what’s the beef with API2.0? I’ve just started using it and while some things were occasionally hard to find (and docs were a bit sparse) it’s mostly sensible.

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Your opinion, but not one shared by myself or others…

So far that it seems to NOT have a full regression test suite built to test it
I’ve opened my clients apps in the latest versions and found some curious ones
So I go back to 2019r1.1 or 2019r3.1 and use API 1 and the bugs arent there in the old versions

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Mostly that it is more buggy than API1 and obsoletes years or even decades of build code libraries, frameworks, templates, scripts. In some cases it affects third-party products that you would not be able to recreate yourself (Bob’s FullTextControl and Shorts Report Generator come to mind).

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dont forget the years of xDev articles, books, video training … etc

the assumption was “oh the community will recreate all those” and eventually it might
but we’re 20 years into API 1 so will it take another 20 years to get those things back ?

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Imma frustrated that every new project defaults to API 2.0 and there’s no way to set that to API 1.0. I am so used to having confirmation that what I’m entering is correct, that it really slows down my ability to use Xojo (No I am not going to learn API 2.0 just to prototype an idea, or build a new object). As time has gone by, I’ve learned to trust myself and not the IDE.

I’m also frustrated with the perception that API 2.0 came at the expense of bug fixes or minor feature requests.

It is clear that Xojo desperately needs more engineers.

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It is clear the Xojo desperately needs a CEO that gives a damn

There sort of IS a way to override that

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4 posts were merged into an existing topic: IDE Tips and tricks : 1

I still haven’t received a survey. Tim Dietrich hasn’t either.

But Geoff did reply to my 4 day old post: https://forum.xojo.com/t/about-xojo-feedback-system/57746/9?u=hal_gumbert

The answer is this equation:
(year of API 3) - (a few days) - 2020=(number of years for having converted almost all the community examples to API 2)
:grin: :wink:

that would indicate the proper documentation for API2 would be available on the day that API2 was deprecated and API3 dropped… or… never

That seems like it could be a long way off

Looks like a survey of people who are using web?
I don’t have emails turned off, and didn’t get one.

TBH I would find it hard to help them with a quotable soundbyte.

What I would want to say is:

New Framework from iOS was a mistake.
I thought Xojo learned from that, but then API2 arrived - which is the same mistake but bigger, and is unforgiveable in the light of the loss of Bob Keeney’s valuable archives (to take just one example)
I cannot face the prospect of changing all my code (pointlessly) to use new keywords and methodology. What a waste of time.

Web 2 (apparently) replaces a car with a horse and cart (but I don’t use it so it hasn’t affected me directly).

Android is way too late to the party, and if it is done as half-heartedly as iOS, nobody will want it.
Oh, and I probably mentioned… upgrades aren’t supposed to cost the same as the full product.

How would I have done things?

1/ Leave the existing language alone. It’s why we came in the first place.
2/ Bug fix release. Just buckets of bugs fixed. People would pay for that release (unless forced to switch to API2 etc).
3/ New controls.
4/ Support for new OS specific features, and if that means having some way to switch methods for Mac/PC, embrace it - as long as we can still isolate the code and build for Mac and PC from one codebase
5/ Immediate mode in the debugger / show variable value by hovering mouse over it
6/ Upgrades at an actual discount. It would encourage people to spend on upgrades. (Right now I cannot imagine any world in which I would be persuaded to hand over another $400 to ‘upgrade’ my now-useless iOS licence. I’d rather just let my iOS apps die)

I don’t want to code in some other tool.
But I don’t want to use use API2, ‘New Framework’ etc.

They’re turning the pub into a wine bar and wondering where the regulars have gone.
Give me a reason to spend money!

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A really BAD wine bar where the regulars are leaving and the new generations will not come.

No, as I received it also and don’t make web.

No ??? :scream_cat: :scream:

Sorry; perhaps I misinterpreted Dave’s answer, but I thought it wasn’t clear I was joking (you know, with different languages, my own sentence could have been misunderstood as well).
Hard to know when what I write is correct in english.

Put it this way - I can be safe in saying your english is vastly better than my french (or german or dutch or russian or any other language you want to pick)

yeah sometimes we get muddled up but mostly its clear enough

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