3.0 Beta 0

[ErnieHorning]

I’m pretty sure that everyone understands that you guys all have a real life. I’m sure that no one would have an issue even if there currently was no one working on Vixen at the moment. We all kind of feel an attachment to Vixen even though most of us have nothing to do with its creation. And as such, we just want to know how are old pal is doing.

You guys just keep plugging away but drop us a note once in a while and let us know what’s happening, even if nothing is.

[KC]

I’m pretty sure that everyone understands that you guys all have a real life.

But sometimes we need reminding of that. Sometimes we just get obsessed with working on it.

So...where we're at...(deep breath)

When we put 3.0 out there, we were hoping for some feedback to help steer us in the direction of what is important to you. The saying goes "be careful of what you wish for", right? Right.

While we were in the zip code of what you were looking for in some areas (e.g., color support), our implementation was not even close to what you were needing. So:

1. Thanks a ton for all of the feedback. You have no idea how much this changes things for us.

and

2. Curse you all for all of the feedback. You have no idea how much this changes things for us.

Based on the feedback, we've been doing a lot of talking amongst ourselves and have decided to make some changes. I don't mean patch up the existing implementation so it kinda does what you need if you hold it just right. I mean we're changing the design of the framework to natively support some of your concerns ("some" not "all" because some of them are conflicting and, frankly, I have a horrible memory and can't remember half of them at a given time).

In addition to those changes, we're also come up with several design possibilities that will facilitate those changes. That's where we are right now...passionately discussing pros and cons. We want to not only cover the 99% of use cases that we can anticipate, but also make it more able to adapt to the 1% as you guys come up with it. The best way to accomplish that...is in active debate.

I don't want to spill too much in fear of over-promising (though we believe we have a handle on it at this point). One of our early "oh crap" moments was the question about "can I overlap effects so that I can fade out a bunch of channels while they all do their own thing?" (I'm paraphrasing here). The answer was "no" but will be "yes". And we're re-doing how we handle color. A couple of module types are going away, a couple more are moving in.

What else can I tell you...oh yes, user experience.

Part of the discussion is fracturing the user experience two ways, depending on your level of comfort:

Basic
As simple of an experience as possible. You would make only choices that are absolutely necessary (such as defining your controllers). We will try to assume what we can to lessen the burden on novice users (such as creating a single channel for each controller output and patching it thusly). A side effect of this is that not as much control will be available to you.

Less Basic/More Advanced
When your needs exceed what's available in the basic interface, you can pull the covers off and have access to everything that's available.

Like I said, this is still in a nebulous state. Maybe it's a switch that you flip, maybe it's something that is more of a gradual operation where you choose what functionality to add in as you go from basic to advanced and want to be exposed to new concepts.

When?
"I love deadlines. I especially like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by."
-- Douglas Adams

I hate to set a post in the ground; we saw what happened last time, despite our best efforts. But this time it's March and we're in a much better position having gotten so much feedback from you folks.

The back-end code changes are underway. The front-end interfaces will be more difficult. With the new abilities comes a need to give you a way to do it, so give us at least a few months on this.

Forum
We're looking into the possibility of having a separate 3.x forum. With there being so many differences between 2.x and 3.x, the less confusion we introduce for the current and future members, the better. The forum would be set up similar to the existing one, only less full. The important part of this paragraph: We'll be locking this thread down. The upcoming changes are significant enough that we don't want you guys wasting your time posting about things that may no longer exist. However, the bug tracker will still be open for business.

In Conclusion...
Even though it's the off-season, you guys are the greatest group of obsessed psychopaths that we could hope for as you keep trying, thinking, and suggesting. And the immense patience you guys exhibit is unparalleled. We'll try to continue to answer your efforts with our own obsession with this and hopefully come to a conclusion that we can all agree on.

Thanks for your support, and keep up the awesome blinky-flashy.

[eroberts]

God Bless KC!

[Javo]

KC..... Thank you so much for all the work you and the team have done and continue to do for us. I love 3.0 so much I can't wait to get my hands on your next release. Personally, I can't imagine it being better than it is but you guys seem to raise the bar every time.

Thanks for the update and thank you for Vixen!

[Materdaddy]

KC,

Thank you for not only that great post keeping us all informed, but all of the work you and your team do on Vixen. You're calling US psychopaths?

I appreciate everything you guys are doing to make this hobby of ours better. I think as channels (and obsessions) grow, the software becomes a more and more important piece of the puzzle.

[Skunberg]

KC and development team, Thank you so much for the update.I think it shows your going in the right direction even if it slows it down. I'd like to note I love the idea of beginner and advanced. I'm sure many of us are up to the task of advanced but will be scaredy cats and go with beginner. Do beginner and advanced have to be totally separate? Advanced shows everything and beginner shows the minimum but wouldn't be easier for you guys if that was just a front end thing with a pull down or advance button on the beginner screen to toggle as one goes along?
Just a thought, thank's again for everything!

Brian

[dirknerkle]

I'm in awe of the compassion and care you are giving to this project. Kudos to all of you... and many, many thanks as well.

[dmcole]

... you guys are the greatest group of obsessed psychopaths that we could hope for ...

Hey, I resemble that remark!

\dmc

[michaelc]

KC,

Thanks again for your dedication. Also thanks to the rest of your team. This is a huge endeavor and your 'clients' here on DIY can be pretty demanding. I think the nature of our hobby is such that we are all very detail oriented. As a Requirements Analyst by trade, I know that those types of stakeholders are always the toughest on the dev teams. You get lost down the rabbit hole pretty quickly.

Great job keeping your eye on the ball and on your dedication.