On Tuesday we announced something I've been working on for quite a while now. If you're reading my blog, you almost certainly know I'm talking about the web edition of REAL Studio.
The response has been overwhelmingly positive. I've known for some time now that we've got a winner on our hands, because every single person we've shown it to was absolutely blown away. But I was still surprised at all the great questions, responses, and users salivating over it. I'm very proud to be a part of this, and can't wait to put it into your hands.
I've only heard one negative thing: we're pulling resources away from our existing products. Here's why that isn't true.
I was brought to REAL Software to handle IT. Being a company with no physical office and a strong web presence, they decided they needed a dedicated person to handle all of that. They got me, and I very promptly improved nearly every aspect of the IT department, enough to free up time for me to work on other things.
I created Feedback in that time. Of course, the decision to create a new system was not mine, but I had the skills and the time. Shortly after that was done, Geoff challenged me to prototype the ability to use REAL Studio to produce a web application. It all continued from there.
I was not working on the IDE, the language, or the framework when this was started. Sure, I've had some support from the other engineers - maybe a total of a day or two of their time. That's not much. In fact, I've already added a lot to the IDE - such as the new layout editor - fixed bugs, etc.
Of course, it could be argued that my time could be added 100% to the existing product. That's a valid point, but I believe we're making the best move for the company overall.