What's Up With V3?
Thursday, July 11, 2013
V3, our brand-new version, has been delayed for a very long time now and we would like to take the time to apologize for the delayed release and to explain the reasons behind it.
We have certainly failed in our communication with our customers regarding the new version. We have stated numerous times that the new version will be released "within a month", only to then leave you waiting yet another month. While leaving users thinking they are waiting in vain has never been our intention, it is unacceptable and may even hurt our creditability as a company. We are sorry for the inconvenience our unfulfilled release dates has caused you as a user. We promise to be clearer in our communications from now on.
Despite the fact that we are a small bootstrapped company, there are two main reasons for the long wait:
In early 2013, we decided to scrap and redesign a large part of V3 since it did not meet our expectations in experience and performance. We also felt that the technology we used was not a long-term solution and it would take a longer time to add new features in the future. While we could have released it as it was, and make the changes gradually, we could see that it would cause further headaches down the road. Once the app has been released it is very time-demanding and, in some cases, next to impossible to make major changes without breaking something. We really do not want to go down the whole route again and rebuild it from scratch anytime soon. We therefore came to the conclusion that the time we spent on redesigning it now would make more sense in the long-term, even though it would mean a further delay of the release date. We have big visions for The Invoice Machine and want to make it easy and quick to gradually add requested functionality in future updates.
With V3, we're switching from PHP to Ruby, and Ruby On Rails, as well as a new hosting platform. Now this, of-course, has meant a complete rewrite, and has also required a great deal of testing to make sure data remains intact. Thousands of companies are dependent on our service and are using it on a daily basis. Keeping data intact is something that is very time-demanding and something that we cannot compromise at any level because one simple error could be devastating.
While we unfortunately still cannot give you a release date today, we want to let you know that we are approaching it. V3 is 90% done. You have our word that we are doing everything that we possibly can each day to bring it closer to its release. From now on, we shall be sure to adhere to all release dates we set.
Waiting for something always sucks, but we believe it does not necessarily have to be a bad thing. We never rush things for a quick profit and want to give you, as a user, an app and an experience that is far above the usual and will blow your mind. A quote from Jay Wilson, Game Director at the excellent game development company Blizzard sums it up almost perfectly, (just replace game with app): "No one will remember if the game is late, only if it is great." V3 is our biggest effort to date and we are pretty confident that you will be amazed by the outcome.
We want to thank all our users for their continued support and faith in us despite the delays. We really appreciate it and will make sure your patience will be rewarded.