The old skin has finally been stripped away. We also did some rearranging and separated form elements in the UI from more complicated widgets.  In the "Package Parcel" screen for example, the drag and drop area from is no longer clutters the input form elements as an inline widget.  This allowed us to add a description field to allow users to add metadata about the parcel.  This information will be viewable on the web and it will be displayed right before a user initiates their download.

We still have icons, design elements, and tons of CSS left to do to complete the UI refresh. This release is designed to integrate well with our new website design and especially with the MacOSX look and feel, but it should also look pretty under Vista and XP. I'll post another screenshot as I make progress with the reskinning work throughout the next couple of weeks.  I can't wait to get rid of that blue, Windows XP color.  It's hurting my eyes.

Most of the work since April has been to update both the client and server to support not only peer-to-peer file sharing but also server hosted distribution. Beginning with Beta 9, you will have the option of storing your files with us. Though less secure than a pure peer-to-peer solution, this should make transferring parcels faster and more reliable since you won’t have to keep your Netizen client running and your computer connected to the Internet. This is one of the most requested features along with a Web based download option (which we are planning on doing).

Much of the engineering work with Beta 9 is with the services back-end of the network. We have decided to merge our client and server code base to reduce future development time (and headaches) and to increase the software’s quality. The client and server will be running the same basic code and sharing the same APIs. This will ensure that the Netizen client is going to be every bit as reliable as the Netizen Network. Putting a “Mozilla Application Server” on the desktop, or depending on how you look at it, putting a peer-to-peer client in the data center, will allow us to write more code once and deploy everywhere. Either way, it will make my life easier since I can reduce the amount of code that needs to be written while reusing more of it. So instead of spending my days (and often times my nights) triaging bugs in two different places, I can actually write some new features or maybe even release that Linux client we promised a while ago. Yes, maybe I’m being a little selfish by putting my pain ahead of my users. I love writing software but I’d rather be debugging less and going out more and talking to girls or something. So far, it has already reduced the amount of time I’ve spent debugging and increased the time I’ve spent enjoying concerts. I might even start blogging about these supposed new features more frequently. But honestly, we had to get over this hump to move Netizen forward. It will definitely make the user experience with the product even better. It’s all for the best.

We are now in the testing phase for Beta 9 and are hoping for a December release. Beta Release 10 will be released three months after Beta 9 and include a little more sex appeal with a refreshed UI and additional web enabled features.

Thanks for sticking with us during this long development process. There are a lot of things in the works. I promise that you will be able to see the difference.

Ok, back to weapons development. No more blogging while listening to pop music for me.

As a desktop software developer, I get a heart attack every time there is a new operating system on the horizon. There is always a flurry of debugging and testing activity just to ensure that the application runs as expected on the new OS. It takes a lot of time to check if any existing APIs have changed and to determine what can be done to support any modified behaviors. It takes even more time to ensure that an application still behaves the same across all versions of the operating system. It’s necessary for ensuring quality but it most definitely gets in the way of writing new features.

With Windows Vista’s release earlier this year, we have been spending the last few months modifying and testing the application to run on the new platform. Though the next version of Netizen should run without the need for the Windows XP compatibility setting, it will be another version before we get all the Windows Vista UAC issues sorted out. I think our Auto-Update mechanism will be the first to experience some problems, even with the next release.

Mac OS X Leopard is set for release this month and I have yet to try Netizen on a developer preview release of that OS. I don’t have enough test machines for that. I wish Apple would just let me run their OS on a virtual machine. But until I get another Mac Mini with the new OS, expect inconsistent behavior from Netizen. Actually, I just hope Netizen launches on the new OS. I’m not sure how the updated Finder and the new Stacks and Time Machine feature will affect the application. The new Leopard features are really exciting, but I hope the API changes and feature work required to get Netizen to shine on the new platform doesn’t send me into shock. I think I was actually happy when Apple announced earlier this year that they were delaying the release of Leopard. Anyway, if anyone gets a chance to try Netizen on Leopard, please let me know how it goes.

For those critics that say net neutrality regulation is “a solution in search of a problem”, then I present you with this. After spending months trying to help Netizen users in Canada troubleshoot their network performance problems, I’m declaring that the Rogers Cable network is crap. Rogers Cable customers have some of the highest incidents of network connectivity and performance problems in our user base. It only lends credence to the “truemors” that Rogers Cable in Canada has escalated their packet shaping practices to the outright degradation of all encrypted IP traffic. Rogers Cable is really treating their customers like idiots if they think that the Internet is just for web browsing. Customers using legitimate encrypted services such as Netizen, VPN, Skype, Joost, SFTP, secure IM, SMTP/TLS and even Xbox Live will continue to suffer until they make their wallets heard and switch to another ISP. I hope that this is not going to be a trend among ISPs.

But I haven’t given up on Rogers Cable customers, though. We’ve never counted on the ISPs to do us any favors, but this has helped us identify specific problems and make some improvements to the next version of Netizen (yes, we’re still working on it) so that we can better serve users that may have less than stellar ISP connectivity. We have started improving Netizen’s resiliency and overall experience to minimize the pain and interruption that busted connectivity has on our users’ workflow. Maybe I should juice Netizen up with some intelligent AS-level routing for good measure. The fight has just begun; because who’s to say that this won’t happen with my own ISP.

Hi, Netizens. I wanted to save my first post to the Netizen Newsfeed to send out a special thanks to someone who has devoted a lot of time to help get Netizen off the ground.

I want to personally congratulate and thank our marketing intern, Abhinav Prathivadi, for all the hard work that he did for us last semester!! Abhinav is a freshman at Berkeley, and during the Fall semester, he dedicated his time and energy to help us ideate on marketing and promotion ideas for college-aged Netizen users. There’s no doubt that the kid is bright and has a great future ahead of him. Abhinav also helped get the word out about Netizen on Berkeley’s campus. As an east-coast company, this west-coast exposure was fantastic, and everybody here at Civil Engines really appreciates all his hard work. Anyway, thanks Abhinav! Good luck to you for the rest of you career and have fun in school!

I'll start my recap of the night at the February NY Tech Meetup.  The format was the same as before...5 presenters, each with five minutes.  So, without further ado, here's what happened tonight:

DonorsChoose.org

Oliver, the CTO of DonorsChoose presented this novel charitable site.  The site allows teachers from across the country to post requests for funds for projects they're working on.  Whether its for computers for their classroom, or for books for the students, the site allows teachers to make requests for whatever they need.  Users of the site can then 'power browse' to find projects that they want to support.  They call it 'citizen philanthropy' - allowing individuals to make a direct and transparent impact on their chosen charitable cause.  It's so personal in fact, that after the project has been funded and completed, the teacher and students send their funders personal thank you notes.  We've seen quite a few online donation sites here at the meetup, but  I really am impressed by DonorsChoose.  I can't think of a better way to help a cause, and to immediately see the impact my money has. 

Proto Software

Byron Binkley of Proto Software came to present their product that allows users to create 'desktop mashups' using an intuitive visual interface.   Users can create custom applications using the WYSIWYG visual development environment, drawing in various feeds of information from either the Internet (via web services) to more traditional data sources such as a database.  Once data is in the system, Proto allows the data to be manipulated and displayed in many ways.  The product was built for the financial services industry - hedge funds, banks, etc, but is fully capable in a variety of industries.  One example he gave was using the software to build a sales tool, linking data from Outlook and Salesforce.com.  Perhaps one of the most interesting lines was when Byron was asked how they make money.  His answer was simple - 'they sell software' - a novel idea in this day in age.  We had a chance to talk to some of the folks from the Proto team later in the evening, and really enjoyed our chat.  They're very nice and smart guys, and gave us a deeper insight into the product and its history.  I'm looking forward to giving Proto a try and see how I can use my limited tech saaviness to make a cool mashup.

Evaal.com

Timothy came to talk about Evaal.com.  I'll be completely honest - I wasn't too impressed by it.  I'm not really even sure what it does.  It seems like Evaal is a search engine that replaces sponsored links with experts who can help you find what you need.  Sounds a bit like ChaCha.  He mentioned that the experts would be payed by sponsors  who they refer people to, which is a major conflict of interest.  The one nugget that I got from the presentation is that their goal is to level the playing field in the search industry by giving users a choice between the search engines.  For now, Evaal won't be a choice of mine

Payoneer 

Yuval and Talia presented Payoneer, and like Evaal, it took me a while to get exactly what they do.  Yes, I might be a bit slow, but it also helps to hear a brief description of what the product or service is at the opening of the presentation.  Payoneer provides websites with the ability to send out branded Mastercard stored valued cards to their customers and to then credit money to them after a transaction is complete.  It's a really easy way for websites who pay their customers to get the money into their hands.

I actually think this is a novel way to handle financial transactions between websites and their members.  I would have liked to have seen a bit more about how it works, along with a more direct explanation of what it does.

And finally, our good friend Lee was back to show us another cool technology trick of his.  You might remember him from past meetups, demonstrating his unique contraptions.  Tonight, he demonstrated how to deconstruct a furby and to add parts to custom program its behavior.  As always, his presentations brought some good laughs to the crowd.  While I still liked his homemade animation techniques, I found the furby demonstration to be both fun and innovative.

After the Tech Meetup, we took a walk down St. Marks for the NextNY social.  For those who don't know, NextNY helps to bring together the movers and shakers in the NY Tech scene to socialize and collaborate.  I've always had a great time at their events, and find them to be a great way to just meet really cool people.  Tonight was no exception.  I had a chance to chat with a number of folks about interesting topics, including the ethics of blogging, the rise and fall of digg, 24, Lost, and many other random things.  As mentioned above, we had a great chat with the guys from Proto Software.  We also chatted with Caroline McCarthy of CNET and Eric Skiff of Clipmarks and GlitchNYC.com about Netizen and lots of other interesting things going on in the tech world.

All in all, it was a great night for the NY Tech scene, and I hope it continues.  Nights like these really help bring the community together in new and more meaningful ways.

The speaker was none other than Adam Bosworth, VP of Engineering, and former BEA and Microsoft VP. His topic for the night was "Physics, Speed, and Imprecision." Bosworth is an icon in the software engineering world, so it was a pleasure being able to learn from a man who’s been involved with the development of technologies such as XML and AJAX.

Tonight’s speech focused on the physics and psychology of software development. It sounds a bit cryptic, but Bosworth’s goal was to help explain how and why certain things do and don’t work in software development. Bosworth, a self-described ‘pontificating old fart, or POF’, used examples from the tech world, as well as his own past, to show how even well built software can be a failure.

He discussed the history of AJAX, how it failed, and how changes in technology and users’ needs allowed it to come back. Like AJAX, he talked about PDA technology, wireless browsing, and natural language processing, and how all three also failed in their initial forays, but after both physical and psychological changes, both have found practical uses in today’s computing world. Bosworth discussed how various factors prevented these technologies from initially succeeding. Factors such as poor internet bandwidth, low computer processing power, poorly designed UI, or simply incorrect results caused these technologies to fail. He used a good example to describe how users expect their software to work. If you had a pencil that didn’t write, or that wrote inconsistently, you’d get rid of it. Likewise, a keyboard that typed an incorrect key 1 out of every 20 keystrokes would be trashed. When users encounter software with similar failings, they also reject it. While AJAX and the other technologies were lucky that the environmental factors changed, most others haven’t, and won’t be so lucky. 

The message of the evening was simple. When developing software, it’s essential to ask yourself how often you expect your users to actually use the app, and more importantly, how long it takes the app to actually complete the task at hand. While they’re basic questions, they can save developers hours of wasted time and more importantly, help make a product that your customers want to use more.

All in all, I thought the event was a great kickoff to the speaker series. While the free food and drink, the free Google T-Shirt, and the great venue were nice, hearing valuable advice from an experienced techie like this was priceless. Stay tuned on Google Videos for complete footage of the event.