The software has potential and it's obvious you've put a great deal of
effort in to it. Potential meaning lots of interesting reports can be
generated. Effort meaning it may be more complex than need be, which is
often the result of one man working very late in to the night. While I'm
sure I could use it for a number of weeks an report that it has this
bell and that whistle I won't. The number one reason I won't is all the
data that has to entered. Let's pretend I'm a big fat guy putting my
dieting hopes in to your software. Am I motivated enough to beak down
ingredients, calories, fat content etc. to record my Denny's 'meat
lovers skillet'. No! I'm a fat [censored] who can hardly move and my angina
is killing me!
Perhaps the online version has a vast library of foods n' stuff and all
the fields are friendly drop downs menus that complement and correct
each other but this does not yet seem to be the case with the
stand-alone version.
I must say however you are off to a good start. You face a number of
challenges. The largest of which must be being named René and living in
Texas. Oh, BTW that 'all disputes shall be resolved in Dallas' or
whathaveyou, in the agreement section, is complete bafflegab. My advice,
move to Walnut Creek CA. It's still affordable, you'll likely survive
the 'big one', you won't be in Dallas and you can BART down to San
Francisco. Once you've settled in start a religion whose never ending
mantra is user friendly, user friendly, user friendly ohmmm ... user
friendly, user friendly ohmmm ... assume all users are blithering idiots
ohmmm ...
Were it up to me I would make all versions the same. Installed locally
while web enabled so that upgrades and data librarys (food vs. calories,
exercise vs. KFC etc.) may be downloaded either automatically (with the
permission of my firewall) or manually.
Other concerns:
The standalone version I downloaded was 25 megabytes. I cannot fathom
why the install package, which went on to download at least another 10
megs (in .Net framework) should be so large. Perhaps you've a number of
unnecessary dependencies?
While the InstallShield Wizard was 'Preparing to Install' & configuring
the .Net framework, it seemed to repeat the entire process about five
times. I was one second away from CTRL-ALT-DEL.
The 'System must be rebooted to continue the installation' bit is never
welcome from the users point of view. Perhaps it is absolutely necessary
(what with a fresh coat of .Net) but you should at least give the LATER
option. Point being, I had to save 3 documents, complete one email and
bookmark 2 sites while the Reboot OK message hung about on top.
After reboot and firing her up she wanted a use name and password which
I made up on the spot. That is the web connected version's leftover I
assume.
Good luck,
Monty
Rene said:Hi
About a week ago I posted a message asking for some help. I wanted to see if
you guys wouldn't mind checking out the fitness software that we are
developing and get your opinion about it. We also wanted to see if there was
something we could do to improve it.
Unfortunately, for the most part, we got a bunch of emails from people who
did not want to have their data stored online and people wondering what
would happen if for some reason our servers or their Internet connections
went down. In other words, you guys were requesting a version that did not
require being online.
Well, we now have the free stand-alone version that runs completely in your
computer. So could you guys please check out the software and give us your
opinion?
The software is totally free and it does not have an expiration date. Also,
the forums do not require you to verify your email. If you don't feel
comfortable giving away your email then simply put a bogus email. The
primary reason why the forum asks you for you email is for cases where you
have to reset your password.
To download the free software please visit www.dietandexercisetracker.com.
Thanks.