Marten Reviewed: Preliminary Notes


I have been told on occasion that I have way too much free time...






You're about to find out why.


Caveat: Since for various reasons (touched on below) I have not yet downloaded the application in question, everything in this review should be understood to have been based on the text, screenshots, and pdf files available on the Andescotia LLC website.





"Mr. Anderson! Surprised to see me?"

I should hope not. After all, you should have known something like this would be in the works. I mean, it has the feel of...inevitability.

In this article, I would like to make a few observations and pose some questions which I feel an attempt to answer would go a long way in demonstrating an attitude of goodwill towards the Prograph community...or at least the existence of some modicum of concern for the opinions of your potential user base.

1. Neo, what is (tm) Marten?

Why was the name of the application changed from MacVPL to Marten? Since no explanation was made on the OPI mailing list, I hoped there would be one somewhere on the website...but no. This isn't really essential information, but it is the sort people get curious about, especially when there's no obvious link, and generally like to know, particularly if there is some interesting reason for the choice. Given that the marten is a type of weasel, it seems to me you would want to explain the name and dispel any negative connotations.

Nevertheless, I like the logo, as I have written elsewhere here. The original version somewhat better than the current, however. I mean, what's with the glasses? Those look like fairly thick lenses. Am I alone in associating eyewear with some defect or lack of vision? Either way you go, it's not a happy image: If it's far-sighted, it could be taken to mean you're focused too much on the future, the long term, and possibly overlooking more important matters closer at hand; if short-sighted...well, do I really have to dwell on it?

If he (she? it?) has to have glasses, why not make them a sexy pair of shades? Like mine:




2. What language does a marten speak?

On the website we find this: "The Marten IDE supports a powerful dataflow language..." (products page). Yes? Does that language have a name? I think it does. One that is more or less well known. It's called Prograph. Are you trying to emphasize this by making no mention of it at all?

"The Marten integrated software development environment (IDE) is the new, fun way to create software for MacOS X." (same page, emphasis mine) OK, so maybe it is far-sightedness, if your view of time allows you to regard something already 20 years old as new.

Come on, fess up: The language used in the Marten IDE is a dialect of Prograph. Prograph had a creator (or two) and has a history. It's disingenuous and disrespectful (not that I feel the one creator is deserving of all that much respect, mind you) not to acknowledge it. Come on, you mention the trademarks of Apple and Metrowerks after referring to OS X, Xcode and CodeWarrior, so why can't you do the same for Prograph and TGS Systems/Prograph International/Pictorius?

3. Crispy Critter

Let's flog that one a bit more: Well, the oven obviously wasn't too hot, so even though it's Carbonized it wasn't burnt to a crisp and what we have seems to be Prograph Warmed Over. Don't get me wrong, I do like the appearance of the UI as far as I can tell from the screenshots on the site and in the example pdf files. But I was expecting something new based on your comments on AreaV1 a few months back, something a little bit more imaginative maybe? It almost seems as if you're playing to the former Prograph-using community by keeping the look fairly close to the original UI. But if you're targeting the OPI as a potential pool of early adopters, you're going about it in a rather strange way, with all the secrecy and legal trappings.

I'm sure I'll have more to add here when/if I ever get a demo version of the software. Which seems like a good place to go next:

4. Demo Version

I've already harped on this one enough that I don't really need to start in again. What's the problem? Cripple the save or implement a timer or do something, but get a demo version out. It's ridiculous these days to expect people to pay $65.00 without a "test drive". Look at Macromedia: Their Studio MX package (DreamWeaver, Flash, etc.) runs into the hundreds of dollars and yet they provide limited trial versions. If you guys can't implement this yourself, then buy a solution. You don't seem to have a problem paying for web & graphic design, after all.

And please make no mistake here: I'm not being cheap. $65.00 is a pittance to me; hell, I spent that last night for two cartons of Garams and a couple cans of coffee & cocoa for the drive home from work. It's the principle. Especially since I have residual issues with the way the two(+) of you have handled this whole thing from the start; why encourage continuing bad behavior with a capital injection?

Get a demo out and I'll have a look and if it seems like something I can use and have fun doing so, then I will happily pay you for it. (Hey, as an incentive, remember this: I have three Macs I use regularly, two at home and one in the office. Your license is still the (same old) one-machine-one-license type, so...ching! Mmmm...cash register ringing!)

5. To be continued...

This is as far as I'm going to go with this today, so consider it still a draft. I may or may not add/edit more in the coming weeks, depending on how interested I remain.



(Best of friends, forever! XXX)

Posted: Thu - January 13, 2005 at 01:34 AM           |

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