Here’s what we’ve been doing over the past few days and what we’ll continue to do this weekend and on:
1. We’ve placed another order with our data center for an additional 4 servers and spent most of yesterday preparing them. They are now online and ready for us to deploy our new software. Now for the software…
2. Shaun’s been busily hacking away at each protocol, specifically, MSN. We’ve decided to implement each protocol from scratch (starting with MSN) and will bring the IM networks online 1 at a time. We reached a bit of a snag yesterday with MSN not working the way it should of (large message delays, people getting disconnected too frequently…etc); however, Shaun was able to get past that late last night.. We expect to have MSN up and running sometime on Monday and from there, move on to AIM/ICQ/.Mac/MobileMe and then YIM. Outside of those efforts, we are also working to get some more OpenFire servers up and running as a “meantime” solution.
3. The “3.1 Server Upgrade” that we mentioned is in fact the individual implementation method that we’re still working on. We originally had planned to do it with different languages and specialized libraries for each language all brought together with a bridge to our primary application language (which is why we thought we could have it up and running yesterday); however, the implications of running multiple language bridges on our platform were way too severe. (Memory Leaks, Segmentation Faults….a real mess.) A big problem with what we’re doing is that no one has yet to perfect massive-scaling of any IM protocol (except XMPP). Companies like Meebo and BeeJive have been working on their technology for years and have a lot of experience with what they do, while we’ve learned a lot, our resources are ultimately limited to who we can hire and who is willing to work on this project (as soon as we mention anything regarding an “IM Protocol” in an interview, it’s all down hill). If someone approached us with a solution, we’d jump all over it; regardless of cost and trust me, that’s the absolute truth. (Who wants to keep dealing with this!!!)
4. The timeline for the protocol implementations is a bit sketchy at the moment. We’re shooting for next Monday to have MSN live, Thursday for AIM/ICQ/.Mac/MobileMe and then the Wednesday after that for YIM. Please don’t hold us to these dates, they’re merely an educated guess. Until we dive in head first, we won’t know for sure.
5. A question that I’ve seen many people ask us is: “What if your plan doesn’t work, then what?” (Ok, maybe not many people…just Sweep). Well, we’ve certainly thought about that, and that’s why we’ve spent some time over the last few weeks negotiating a contract and working out a deal with a number of development firms. Next week, the chosen firm, will begin work on an entirely new platform developed entirely in “ErLang” (if you’re not familiar with it, do some research on it…it is unbelievably scalable and above all, just plain cool). This new platform will be built completely separate from our current platform and is scheduled to be finished around the first week of January (Yes, a long way away, but perfection takes time). This new platform will most likely run on Amazon’s EC2 platform for additional stability. We will continue to work on our own solutions; however, if all should fail, a solid backup solution is in the works.
6. Support is being handled all through the weekend. If you submitted a ticket and haven’t heard from us just yet, sit tight, we’ll get to you shortly!
7. Earlier on, when MobileChat first launched (and disappointed many), we told our users that we would make it up to them as best as we could. Well, we’re still working on some other “gifts” that will come in the next few months; however, a big part of what we’re going to do (to give back to the community), is just that, give back. We’re currently researching a number of organizations who we will ultimately provide a donation to. Nothing is final yet; however, come this holiday season, we’d like to give as much as we can to an organization that our community will choose. If anyone has any suggestions, please submit a ticket at support.twenty08.com.
If you have any questions, feel free to submit a ticket to support.twenty08.com.
-Saverio
Just so you’re aware, while it’s listed as 3.0.1 on App Store, it’s really 3.1 (which is what iTunes should show). This is because we initial submitted 3.0.1 back in early august and there was no way for us to change the version number.
While 3.1 is backwards compatible with the current servers, we’ll be upgrade to the 3.1 servers tomorrow, which is when you should really expect to see improvements.
We’ll have more in the morning.
-Shaun
— UPDATE —
We’ve submitted a notice to Apple to update the AppStore listing to warn potential buyers of the server issues with MobileChat. It should appear within the next few hours.
Also, comments are being heavily moderated now. Any derogatory comments towards the developers or any community member will be deleted, no questions asked. It’s one thing to post constructive criticism regarding the product; but it’s another to post aimless comments designed to frustrate and annoy the people who visit this blog. This is not an open forum and if you would like to discuss MobileChat without limitation, I recommend starting a thread at MacRumors.
-Saverio
Just figured I’d take a few moments to put to bed a stupid rumor that has been generated over the past few days.
MobileChat is not dead. We’ve yet to receive any indication from Apple that our application would not be accepted this time around and we’re very excited for this week’s release, as should our users.
More posts as we have more information…
-Saverio
I just wanted to post a quick blurb noting that Apple is currently reviewing our latest build of MobileChat and we’re hoping that there are no issues this time around. We fixed the issues that caused the last rejection and we’ve done a good amount of testing to find anything else that could be wrong with the application. (To no avail…so that’s a good thing!) If all goes well, MobileChat 3.1 SHOULD be on AppStore by this upcoming Thursday (Oct 2nd).
Over the next week, Shaun and I will begin deploying new servers and working on a few different ideas to make MobileChat’s server platform more sustainable in the large environment that we manage. (I know, I know…no one wants to hear about our server updates and what not; however, I’d rather be honest and tell you guys exactly what we’re doing, rather than B.S something just to please people.)
The challenges involved with MobileChat’s server platform are what have caused so many issues over the past month and a half. With all of the major (and minor) bugs fixed in MobileChat 3.1, we will continue to focus on a viable server solution. In the meantime, the “80% Solution” is in place and we will continue to expand on it to accommodate our community. It’s not perfect, but for the most part, it works pretty decently.
If anyone has any specific questions about the status of our work, post here, or feel free to submit a ticket at http://support.twenty08.com
Have a good night!
-Saverio
Unfortunately, I’m sad to have to report that MobileChat 3.1 was again rejected from the AppStore.
Due to our Non-Disclosure Agreement, we’re unable to dive deep into it with an explanation; however, what I can say is that Apple is being very meticulous in their review process now. This isn’t a bad thing, and I fully support Apple’s commitment to making the review process as thorough as it can be.
The obvious downfall is that when a minor issue is revealed through the AppStore review process, it sets us back an entire week.
That being said, we’ve fixed the issue and have plans to resubmit the application for review this afternoon. We are going through our checklist again to ensure that we have everything covered.
I understand that people are frustrated and are tired of waiting and Shaun and I feel absolutely terrible. However, all I can offer is your money back. For that, please go to support.twenty08.com and submit a request for a refund.
Apologies don’t make up for the aggravation, so I won’t bother.
More updates will come as we get more information.
-Saverio
To everyone who has been having the issue with the keyboard not popping up when you need to enter your information for “Push Notices”:
This is an issue that has been fixed in MobileChat 3.1 (which is due out Wednesday or Thursday of this week). The problem is related to the 2.1 Firmware update. They changed how something worked in this update and as a result, this bug was revealed.
Thanks to the community, there’s a work around!
Basically, click on the username or password field to bring up the keyboard. Then, using two fingers, scroll down to the Push Notices and proceed as you normally would. The keyboard will stay up during this time and you’ll be able to eventually enter the information that you need to.
This is only a temporary solution until the fix is released later this week.
-Saverio
In case you didn’t know, MobileChat was submitted for review quite while ago. In that time period, it has been rejected twice (three if you count the 3.01 rejection). Each time an application is rejected, the developer receives a small explanation as to why it has been rejected and what we have to do to fix it. As a result, we complied to Apple’s requests and modified MobileChat to pass the review process as per the emailed explanation.
After a number of emails between me and an automated ticket system at Apple’s developer program, I was finally able to get in touch with a human being who was able to explain the issue that we’ve been having with getting MobileChat approved. Sadly, it was a mere communication problem between twenty08 and the Apple AppStore Review team. We thought they were referring to one thing when in reality, that had nothing to do with it. (Just as an aside, this is without a doubt more our own fault than Apple’s and this post is in no way implying that they screwed up this process. Had we been more aware of our contractual obligations to Apple as per our development contract, this misunderstanding would have never occurred.)
Unfortunately, this caused us to waste 2 weeks of your time and we apologize for that. We understand that everyone is very excited to get their hands on MobileChat 3.1 and we’re doing our best to get it into your hands as soon as possible. The silver lining in all of this is that all of the bugs that our beta team has caught in the past 2 weeks have now been fixed and we were able to squeeze them into this release.
As of 5:30PM EST tonight, we think we’ve finally resolved the issues and a new binary has been submitted to Apple for review.
That being said, I would expect MobileChat to appear in the AppStore on September 24th or the 25th. (Based on the release cycles of other updated software.)
Over the next week, we will be beefing things up around here to prepare for the heavy hit that we expect to receive as a result of the new update.
-Saverio
Just a quick blurb to let everyone know that nothing has changed since the last post, we’re still hammering away.
We should have an update of some value tomorrow night. Until then…
-Saverio
P.S: To everyone waiting on support tickets, we’ve been experiencing an unusually high load this weekend and we’re working through them all. I apologize for the long wait.
Status Update 10/6
As we mentioned yesterday, we’ve made good progress with MSN and have continued to do so. Our servers are still suffering; however, we hope to bring everyone back online with the new software once it’s been completely tested and deployed. After that, we plan to move on to the OSCAR protocol and then YIM.
You may have also noticed that we disabled comments on the blog. To everyone who found the comments useful as a way to communicate your ideas to us, I apologize; however, it only takes a small few to ruin it for everyone. The aggravation of moderating the comments for 1-2 hours a day was not worth the benefit that it brought the community. Should anyone have any questions or comments regarding any of our products, you may submit them via http://support.twenty08.com.
We will update this blog constantly and provide more information as it becomes available.
Thank you, and good night.
-Saverio