Comments on: Yojimbo - The App The Could Have, But Didn’t http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/ Living in a state of accord. Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:32:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: sanjay http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-152471 sanjay Thu, 27 Mar 2008 04:12:14 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-152471 Yojimbo is actually verybadly put together. After the trial period if you do not want to buy it, it is very difficult to remove it and quite a nuisance. This is the first application for the mac that i have tried which has behaved like a windows application. On top of that i actually downloaded it from the apple os x site. Stay away from Yojimbo..it is toxic to a clean mac installation. Maybe everyone is right and Barebones makes great software.. so what ...yojimbo is a piece of crap. Yojimbo is actually verybadly put together. After the trial period if you do not want to buy it, it is very difficult to remove it and quite a nuisance. This is the first application for the mac that i have tried which has behaved like a windows application. On top of that i actually downloaded it from the apple os x site.

Stay away from Yojimbo..it is toxic to a clean mac installation. Maybe everyone is right and Barebones makes great software.. so what …yojimbo is a piece of crap.

]]> By: Bogart http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-143318 Bogart Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:41:31 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-143318 BareBones makes great software. I have used BBEdit and Yojimbo for years and I admire and depend on both of them. My 2 cents. BareBones makes great software. I have used BBEdit and Yojimbo for years and I admire and depend on both of them. My 2 cents.

]]> By: Rich Siegel http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-35075 Rich Siegel Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:01:12 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-35075 "That said, pathetic support response times and not discussing even general future product directions is a really awful business decision. It cost you at least the sale to me and I'm sure it's costing you others." I'm sorry if you see it that way. Your question was: "Finally, can you shed any light on what the future plans are for Yojimbo?" You didn't ask: "Finally, can you tell me what the general future product direction of Yojimbo will be?" Those are very different questions, with very different answers. As to your support case: sorry if the response time wasn't as quick as you would have liked it to be. I located your case, and it's in the queue for response, but because you weren't running into a specific problem, it was queued up for response on a different priority. As a software developer, I'm sure that you understand this. As to what may or may not be "costing us sales": I have no reasonable expectation that Yojimbo is the right product for everyone. :-) From context it sounds like your needs may be divergent from what Yojimbo currently provides, but to my sense that says nothing negative about either Yojimbo or your needs. Again, you seem to think otherwise, and I absolutely respect your right to state that opinion. :-) “That said, pathetic support response times and not discussing even general future product directions is a really awful business decision. It cost you at least the sale to me and I’m sure it’s costing you others.”

I’m sorry if you see it that way. Your question was:

“Finally, can you shed any light on what the future plans are for Yojimbo?”

You didn’t ask:

“Finally, can you tell me what the general future product direction of Yojimbo will be?”

Those are very different questions, with very different answers.

As to your support case: sorry if the response time wasn’t as quick as you would have liked it to be. I located your case, and it’s in the queue for response, but because you weren’t running into a specific problem, it was queued up for response on a different priority. As a software developer, I’m sure that you understand this.

As to what may or may not be “costing us sales”: I have no reasonable expectation that Yojimbo is the right product for everyone. :-) From context it sounds like your needs may be divergent from what Yojimbo currently provides, but to my sense that says nothing negative about either Yojimbo or your needs. Again, you seem to think otherwise, and I absolutely respect your right to state that opinion. :-)

]]> By: Adrian Sutton http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-35073 Adrian Sutton Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:59:59 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-35073 Rich, I never intended to suggest that the BareBones developers weren't top quality, my apologies if it came across that way. How much time and effort you spend trying to work around third party bugs is a business decision - I'm sure that if the developers were given time they'd find a way to do it. Obviously there's also the question of how reliable that solution will be in the face of future updates from Apple which is another good reason not to release it. Given the limitations, I would have chosen a different synchronization solution but that may have impacted on time to market etc. Development is always a trade off. That said, pathetic support response times and not discussing even general future product directions is a really awful business decision. It cost you at least the sale to me and I'm sure it's costing you others. Rich,
I never intended to suggest that the BareBones developers weren’t top quality, my apologies if it came across that way. How much time and effort you spend trying to work around third party bugs is a business decision - I’m sure that if the developers were given time they’d find a way to do it. Obviously there’s also the question of how reliable that solution will be in the face of future updates from Apple which is another good reason not to release it. Given the limitations, I would have chosen a different synchronization solution but that may have impacted on time to market etc. Development is always a trade off.

That said, pathetic support response times and not discussing even general future product directions is a really awful business decision. It cost you at least the sale to me and I’m sure it’s costing you others.

]]> By: Rich Siegel http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-35037 Rich Siegel Mon, 16 Oct 2006 14:10:47 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-35037 "it's up to the application developer to work around those problems or live with the user's complaints" At the moment we find ourselves with little choice but to live with the user's complaints, and agitate with Apple to fix the problem. :-) Note, however, that I was in no way opinining about the "fairness" of the situation; merely that any complaint that this particular glitch somehow reflects on our competence as software developers does not reflect reality. "Finally, can you shed any light on what the future plans are for Yojimbo?" Sorry, future product plans aren't something we discuss, except for whatever we've said in public already. "I tried asking BareBones support but didn't get a reply - it possibly got lost in the mail somewhere." There's been a lot of email volume since the release of BBEdit 8.5; odds are you'll get an answer soon, though. “it’s up to the application developer to work around those problems or live with the user’s complaints”

At the moment we find ourselves with little choice but to live with the user’s complaints, and agitate with Apple to fix the problem. :-) Note, however, that I was in no way opinining about the “fairness” of the situation; merely that any complaint that this particular glitch somehow reflects on our competence as software developers does not reflect reality.

“Finally, can you shed any light on what the future plans are for Yojimbo?”

Sorry, future product plans aren’t something we discuss, except for whatever we’ve said in public already.

“I tried asking BareBones support but didn’t get a reply - it possibly got lost in the mail somewhere.”

There’s been a lot of email volume since the release of BBEdit 8.5; odds are you’ll get an answer soon, though.

]]> By: Adrian Sutton http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33759 Adrian Sutton Wed, 04 Oct 2006 02:30:59 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33759 Rich, As I mentioned, I absolutely understand how frustrating it is to have to work around bugs in third party code and I'm sure it is a bug in Apple's code that causes this, but it's up to the application developer to work around those problems or live with the user's complaints. It's annoying and unfair but it's the way things are. I was surprised to see the comment about most of BareBones' software being poorly-thought out and shoddily executed. What Yojimbo does do, it does quite well - it just needs more depth to it's features and possibly a custom synchronization option to avoid the couple of complaints about the sync side of things. Finally, can you shed any light on what the future plans are for Yojimbo? I tried asking BareBones support but didn't get a reply - it possibly got lost in the mail somewhere. Rich,
As I mentioned, I absolutely understand how frustrating it is to have to work around bugs in third party code and I’m sure it is a bug in Apple’s code that causes this, but it’s up to the application developer to work around those problems or live with the user’s complaints. It’s annoying and unfair but it’s the way things are.

I was surprised to see the comment about most of BareBones’ software being poorly-thought out and shoddily executed. What Yojimbo does do, it does quite well - it just needs more depth to it’s features and possibly a custom synchronization option to avoid the couple of complaints about the sync side of things.

Finally, can you shed any light on what the future plans are for Yojimbo? I tried asking BareBones support but didn’t get a reply - it possibly got lost in the mail somewhere.

]]> By: Rich Siegel http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33658 Rich Siegel Mon, 02 Oct 2006 18:02:55 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33658 "BareBones are passing the buck to Apple on that one, but again - if they can get it to show up, why can't they provide a simple utility to make it go away?" The answer is that the OS drives the entire process, not the application. "They" didn't take any explicit action to make the sync listing show up; the OS detected an application with synchronization support, added it to the list, and it's the OS that's not removing the listing when the application goes away. The FAQ will be edited to make it clearer that it's the OS doing the work - but that won't materially change the situation, that being that it's for the OS to clean up the listing. Be that as it may, the stray item in the sync listing doesn't cause any problems, and as soon as there's a clean way to remove it, it'll go away. "Like most of their software, Yojimbo is poorly-thought out, and shoddily executed." I don't know that such a statement is excusable by bitterness alone. Nor is it supported by reality, but that's just my opinion. :-) “BareBones are passing the buck to Apple on that one, but again - if they can get it to show up, why can’t they provide a simple utility to make it go away?”

The answer is that the OS drives the entire process, not the application. “They” didn’t take any explicit action to make the sync listing show up; the OS detected an application with synchronization support, added it to the list, and it’s the OS that’s not removing the listing when the application goes away. The FAQ will be edited to make it clearer that it’s the OS doing the work - but that won’t materially change the situation, that being that it’s for the OS to clean up the listing.

Be that as it may, the stray item in the sync listing doesn’t cause any problems, and as soon as there’s a clean way to remove it, it’ll go away.

“Like most of their software, Yojimbo is poorly-thought out, and shoddily executed.”

I don’t know that such a statement is excusable by bitterness alone. Nor is it supported by reality, but that’s just my opinion. :-)

]]> By: Adrian Sutton http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33214 Adrian Sutton Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:37:13 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33214 Oh, I meant to add, the FAQ entry on that is at http://faq.barebones.com/do_getanswer.php?record_id=137 Oh, I meant to add, the FAQ entry on that is at http://faq.barebones.com/do_getanswer.php?record_id=137

]]> By: Adrian Sutton http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33213 Adrian Sutton Mon, 25 Sep 2006 20:36:49 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33213 BareBones are passing the buck to Apple on that one, but again - if they can get it to show up, why can't they provide a simple utility to make it go away? I know how frustrating it is to have to work around vendor limitations, but it's what good software developers do to make the experience a good one for their users. BareBones are passing the buck to Apple on that one, but again - if they can get it to show up, why can’t they provide a simple utility to make it go away? I know how frustrating it is to have to work around vendor limitations, but it’s what good software developers do to make the experience a good one for their users.

]]> By: Chris http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33197 Chris Mon, 25 Sep 2006 14:20:05 +0000 http://www.symphonious.net/2006/09/25/yojimbo-the-app-the-could-have-but-didnt/#comment-33197 Also, what you will find is that when you remove Yojimbo, it leasves behind a bunch of code in your .Mac sync panel THAT CANNOT BE REMOVED. Very sloppy programming on BB's part. Like most of their software, Yojimbo is poorly-thought out, and shoddily executed. (Can you tell I'm bitter??) Also, what you will find is that when you remove Yojimbo, it leasves behind a bunch of code in your .Mac sync panel THAT CANNOT BE REMOVED. Very sloppy programming on BB’s part. Like most of their software, Yojimbo is poorly-thought out, and shoddily executed.

(Can you tell I’m bitter??)

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