Ilium Software Blog

Once More, with Feeling

August 19, 2008 by Ellen

I’m going off-topic today because of Pandora.com’s recent’s announcement that they may shut down soon.

Pandora is “approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision,” a potential “last stand for webcasting” as royalty fee increases begin to take hold. It’s clear he wants legislative support—and if that can be helped by spurning a coordinated outcry from the company’s million-plus users who listen to Pandora daily so be it.

and The iPhone Blog says:

We might be approaching Pandora’s Last Stand, but let’s make sure they don’t stand alone.

So, yes, let’s make sure they don’t stand alone. Go to SaveNetRadio.org and click the big button that says Call Your Senators and Representatives. Then make the call. If you care about internet radio, this is the time to act.

People who have been reading our blog for a long time know that this isn’t the first time I’ve written about this issue – I feel very strongly about it, enough that I’m breaking our rule about not posting about off-topic topics. But it’s my rule – I can break it. And this is a time when enough voices might make a difference.

So help make noise. Post this info, call or write your representatives in government. Don’t let the music die.

What’s Next Windows Mobile?

August 13, 2008 by Marc

Despite all the iPhone posts around here lately, I’m still a big fan of Windows Mobile. For that reason, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what is next for Window Mobile. What sort of plans does Microsoft have for the OS? Are they gearing it for the consumer market? Or are they only interested in enterprise? And what about rumors of a scalable version of the standard desktop OS that would run on a mobile device?

So if you’d like a little insight into the sort of things a software company thinks about as they decide on their future plans…read on!

R.I.P.: Ilium Software email server

August 6, 2008 by Marc

So here we are, fielding hundreds and hundreds of email questions, desktop software requests, and much more, and guess what happens?

The email server dies.

Again.

OK, to be fair it didn’t die on Monday. It just went down for awhile which put us behind on our email responses. Today, however, the thing finally went belly up. Although we didn’t lose any emails

UPDATE: It looks like we COULD have lost some emails if they came in between 12AM ET and 8AM ET. If you think you may have emailed us during that period you might want to resend!

We are working hard to get replies out to everyone in a timely fashion. Fortunately, the trouble on Monday got us moving in the “Get a replacement, STAT!” direction, so recovery won’t be too bad.

The bad part is that email replies will likely be slower than usual, and we’re very sorry about that. We pride ourselves on quick email turn-around, and this is just the sort of thing that makes us crazy. We’re even bringing in a temp to help get things rolling again, so hopefully we’ll get to everyone before the weekend!

In the meantime, if you haven’t heard from us yet, at least you know why. And if it’s an emergency, remember that you can always give us a call!

Copy and Paste – Do You Need It?

August 5, 2008 by Marc

It’s Soap Box Time! Matt Miller over at ZDNet recently wrote an article about Copy and Paste. His question was whether or not people really need Copy and Paste. To me, this is really one of those “you don’t miss what you don’t have” sort of scenarios. Fifteen years ago, the number of people who would have “missed” the internet if it went away was pretty small. Today if the internet went away, entire corporations would go under, governments would fall, and scores of stores would go belly up in a few hours.

OK, so Copy and Paste isn’t quite like that, but my point is that no one will miss Copy and Paste on a device like the iPhone until they have the power it gives them. Want a good example? Think back to the release of the Windows Mobile Smartphone. People were having fits when they moved from a Windows Mobile Pocket PC. Many simple day to day tasks suddenly became a nightmare of keypad re-entry. Sure, the iPhone has a better keyboard than those early Smartphones but we have a clear test case where no one realized they needed something so badly until they had it, then had it taken away. In the end, guess which device got Copy and Paste?

Now I realize that Matt’s use scenario doesn’t really seem to support this. Clearly he doesn’t do a lot of copying and pasting, but a lot of users do. I for one am a heavy copy/paster. Many of our customers are as well. Furthermore, even hand entering one or two 50 character redirect URLs can make you hate your device. And is that really the sort of experience Apple wants their users to have?

Not having Copy and Paste also stifles the creativity of developers. It’s one more tool that a clever developer can use to make your iPhone experience even better. For instance, right now we can’t copy password and usernames into Safari on the iPhone. The best solution available? Write our own web browser and include it with eWallet! Talk about software bloat!

In some ways cutting back on choices can make life easier and better, but at other times it prevents you from getting the most out of an experience. In the case of Copy and Paste I absolutely believe it’s the latter.

People might gasp to hear me say it but there really are scenarios where Apple would do well to take some lessons from Microsoft’s experience!

Time to Get Out the ol’ Contest Hat Again

August 1, 2008 by Julie

Wow. July sure was full of excitement, wasn’t it? eWallet 6.1 came out, the AppStore launched, and we pretty much chewed off all our fingernails trying not to go crazy waiting for the iPhone version of eWallet to get approved…well, you were there, you remember. But all that news just means we had lots to post on our blog, so you had many chances to leave a comment and try for some free software. Can’t beat that, can you?

All right, let’s see who our lucky blog contest winner is for July. According to our magic contest hat, the winner is David, for commenting on the post eWallet for iPhone Answers II. Congratulations! I just sent you an email explaining how to get your prize. If you don’t receive it, reply to this post and let me know.

To everyone else, thanks so much for all the comments, support, and questions – July was a crazy month, but we made it! And we’ll be sure to keep you updated with all our news and announcements, so keep coming back and leaving your comments – next month’s winner could be you!

4 out of 5 Pirates Choose eWallet!

July 29, 2008 by Marc

Apparently everyone knows that eWallet is the best way to keep your information safe! Even software pirates*!

I’ve always said that one of the key indicators of success is how many people are trying to steal your software. This has always been something we’ve seen with eWallet and apparently eWallet for iPhone is no exception. With hundreds of applications to choose from in the AppStore, the software pirates have chosen eWallet as one of 30 or so applications they’ve stripped Apple’s DRM out of. What is more, in articles about it (which I’m afraid I won’t be linking to here) they actually chose an eWallet screenshot to advertise this.

What can I say! We’re honored!

I’ll tell you, I really wish we could use this as part of a major marketing campaign. I mean, if a hacker thinks eWallet is the safest place to store their passwords and other critical information, it really says something about the level of security eWallet gives you. It’s like a skydiver telling you which parachute to buy or a police officer suggesting a particular brand of bullet proof jacket.

Yep, even software pirates know that if you want to keep your information safe, eWallet is the only choice!

DISCLAIMER: In case it isn’t obvious, I’m not advocating using pirated software. Please don’t do that. Besides the fact that it is illegal, pirating really does cut into our bottom line and makes it harder to keep releasing new versions! Clearly that isn’t in anyone’s best interest. Not only that, but lord only knows what might have been done with a version of the software that didn’t come from us. At the same time pirated software is a reality of the software industry and you have to be honored when pirates choose to steal your application over the many competing products available!

* We’re pretty sure regular pirates prefer eWallet as well but unfortunately Apple hasn’t given us a way to track whether a sale was to a regular customer, a pirate, or a ninja.

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