Status of Rex

[DaBlackberryBoy]

Love me or hate me Rex, what are you all up to nowadays? Can we have a status of what's on the hot plate, what's simmering, what's going on? Inquiring minds want to know!

[mgerbasio]

+1

[SVF]

The 64,000 dollar question.
TAS seems to be getting all the juice. I believe there is pretty good progress being made but I still don't view TAS as primary to TMX.
Lets see if we can lure REX into a Conceptual Idealogical conversation and then pin 'em down for dates. I REALLY want TMX to integrate more fully. Injection is good for 'Copy' but 'Move' and 'Link' would be more efficient and productive. Also- Whats up with IMX.

[DaBlackberryBoy]

The 64,000 dollar question.
TAS seems to be getting all the juice. I believe there is pretty good progress being made but I still don't view TAS as primary to TMX.
Lets see if we can lure REX into a Conceptual Idealogical conversation and then pin 'em down for dates. I REALLY want TMX to integrate more fully. Injection is good for 'Copy' but 'Move' and 'Link' would be more efficient and productive. Also- Whats up with IMX.

Agreed on all points. I understand they hate to give dates but to keep your loyal customer base you have to lay out some kind of game plan to keep folks enticed. Somehow RIM does it well and still fools a lot of us (yeah right) But seriously Rex, eventually you will have to make some folks mad, miss some dates, it's all part of software development. Trust me, I know!

[DaBlackberryBoy]

Bump - Rex, your response would be greatly appreciated

[DaBlackberryBoy]

Bump once again Rex, anything to say?

[REX.doug]

I tried to get Bob to respond to this thread, but apparently he ain't havin' any!

TAS is getting quite a bit of attention - mostly because every TAS user seems to have an idea on the way things should work - and we're still chasing down issues.

New devices, new OS releases, these are always getting a big time slice. BB 5.0 is an example: we wasted weeks chasing issues on the various "early release" levels, trying to make certain that the final release that hits the streets would work with our apps. When the final Verizon 5.0.0.328 was released, we got a copy the same day that most of you did.

We have spent quite a bit of time recently improving the performance and security of the DB sync engine. This work is actually not visible to most users, but it lies at the very core of every REX application.

The Desktop (web) app re-write is also underway. This also required some of the basic web-services plumbing to be re-written for security and performance, as well as simply conforming to current "best practice".

We have a (small) team working on the iPhone port of TMX.

We have built a prototype application to look at ways to make the touch devices easier to use (if you have tried to type a long email response on the Storm you know what I am talking about). Basically, this app would provide a method of expanding a macro to insert a longer phrase into the document you are typing. So far, mixed reviews on this.

Other than that, we still strive to provide a level of support that keeps you guys happy.

[DaBlackberryBoy]

I tried to get Bob to respond to this thread, but apparently he ain't havin' any!

TAS is getting quite a bit of attention - mostly because every TAS user seems to have an idea on the way things should work - and we're still chasing down issues.

New devices, new OS releases, these are always getting a big time slice. BB 5.0 is an example: we wasted weeks chasing issues on the various "early release" levels, trying to make certain that the final release that hits the streets would work with our apps. When the final Verizon 5.0.0.328 was released, we got a copy the same day that most of you did.

We have spent quite a bit of time recently improving the performance and security of the DB sync engine. This work is actually not visible to most users, but it lies at the very core of every REX application.

The Desktop (web) app re-write is also underway. This also required some of the basic web-services plumbing to be re-written for security and performance, as well as simply conforming to current "best practice".

We have a (small) team working on the iPhone port of TMX.

We have built a prototype application to look at ways to make the touch devices easier to use (if you have tried to type a long email response on the Storm you know what I am talking about). Basically, this app would provide a method of expanding a macro to insert a longer phrase into the document you are typing. So far, mixed reviews on this.

Other than that, we still strive to provide a level of support that keeps you guys happy.

Tell Bob it doesnt hurt to be up under the bus from time to time. Thanks for the updates. You all are busy. I will PM you as well!

[trbloomer]

Thanks for the updates on what is going on. I have a question you all might be able to answer without giving away the keys to the kingdom. I've read elsewhere that because Blackberry OS does not have much in the way of hardware abstraction layer that development tends to be more laborious than is typical for some of the other Phone OS's.

Does the Rex team find this lack of abstraction lengthens dev time? Or to put this another way, am I way off base?

[REX.doug]

RIM API's have been (and mostly continue to be) fairly low-level in nature, leaving it up to the developer to create more complex high-level API's based on the low-level stuff.

As an example, comparing similar (simple) iPhone and RIM programs (doing the same job), the BB program took 53 classes, while the iPhone took 17 classes.

Why?

ON the BB platform, we have to invent the HTTP communications engine. On the iPhone, it is pretty-much a stand-alone subsystem that just works out of the box.

ON the BB platform, we have to invent most the the UI Widgets - while the iPhone has a rich UI library with all kinds of great controls that are pre-built.

On the BB Platform, we have dozens of phone models, carriers, and many OS releases to content with. On the Apple platform, two phones, two OS releases, and one network.

I could go on and on....

[trbloomer]

Doug,

Thanks for the info. I had heard or read that it was more difficult but I'd never really seen an explanation. Kind of explains the relative size of app world to what ever the iphone equivalent is called.

Todd