Fresh New Look for The AppRefactory Inc.

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fter 3+ years hosted at Weebly.com, it was time to finally take The AppRefactory Inc. company website into a modern hosting environment with features and integration potential that would allow us to demonstrate, albeit in brief, what ASP.NET MVC could offer.  Dynamic product listings with breadcrumb sub-navigation, upload sections for partner contracts and résumés; and database-driven contact forms that make it easier than ever (and convenient) to stay in touch are all just the beginning.  In the days ahead we still expect to add:

The AppRefactory Inc. website redeployment announcement graphic: http://apprefactory.ca

• Links to customer features site (requiring login) via Office365, Visual Studio (online ed.) and SharePoint,
• Highlights and links to ongoing software development currently being undertaken by the company,
• Book time online with a consultant to review your software service needs or setup an in-depth remote service session online through HackHands.com,
• Subscription for partner companies and contacts looking for email updates consultant availability and/or major site & service offering revisions, and
• Links to WindowsStore.com and related sites for specific product integrations (Windows desktop, server and phone all to be included).

So stay tuned!  There’s much more yet to come….and you won’t want to miss any of it.

(Additional graphics related to the new website can be found on our Yelp.ca listing.)

AR HelpOuts Launched!

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he AppRefactory Inc. launches its first service offering today with the debut of a partnership with Google Inc. through Google Helpouts.  This further enhances the company’s service offerings in the application maintenance and support space; but also extends its services to more generalized support of the tools and technologies it uses throughout its service delivery process.  Support is being offered through Google Helpouts for technologies and platforms like:

• Microsoft Visual Studio (all ediitions, 2005-2013)
• Programming Language Support / Tutorials:
  • Visual C#
  • Visual Basic / VB.NET
  • Java
  • JavaScript
  • HTML
  • XML
  • SQL
  • VBScript
• Microsoft SQL Server
• Microsoft Team Foundation Server
• Microsoft Windows / Microsoft Windows Server
• Microsoft Office / MS Office VBA
• Linux (Ubuntu)
• Apache WebServer
• Microsoft Internet Information Server
• Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
• Microsoft Windows Workflow (WF)
• Microsoft .NET Framework
• Web Services

…and much, much more!

Google Helpouts also offers payment features that allows either the business or individual user to use services on a demand basis easily.  And with this launch, the service is being offered, for a limited time, with a free support instance — giving potential customers an opportunity to “try-and-buy” for a fixed 20-minute session, without charges or fees applied.  (See Google Helpouts terms & conditions for more info.)

AppRefactory Inc. Website v1.0 Complete!

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ebsites don’t ordinarily get version numbers; but in the case of The AppRefactory Inc. website, there may well be an exception.  Although the website was technically delivered on August 21st, some last minute technical details (including a DNS issue that needed resolving) delayed the declaration of “mission accomplished” until today.  However, we can now safely state — and unequivocally — The AppRefactory Inc. website has been officially launched.

Thunderous applause, please!

Just to quote the official announcement:

The AppRefactory Inc. has launched its website, bringing with it information about a number of its service offerings and other basic information about the company.  In addition to acting as a tool for making the general public aware about its services, the weeks and months ahead also promise the excitement of new title product launches plus its integration into other projects (already being developed) as a platform for a host of Internet-based services growing an ever-larger, steady stream of new users of every type.

Please review the content and watch for what’s coming soon or learn more about what we offer today.  And check back soon – because even more is on the way!

Next, my attention turns to uploaded the final release of AR CamFeeder which has been sitting on the backburner for the past few weeks while I got distracted by another project.  But it won’t be long before I’ll follow-up about that and the next project behind that – already all queued up.  Like the announcement says: stay tuned!

Dr. Dobbs: Software Development Trending to be More Complex, Not Less

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here aren’t many advantages to being on disability for the past several months – but as I’ve recovered, looking for work and taking on the challenges with possibly getting my own software projects closer to completion has caused me to reflect on how software development has changed over the course of my career.  Imagine my shock at finding out I wasn’t alone in this realization this weekend, when I ran into a Dr. Dobbs article that articulated more clearly than I ever could (available free time notwithstanding) exactly what this revolution in app development is all about.

Chart above: “Fraction of programmers (y-axis) who spend x amount of time coding in a given language in 2012.  Note the big spike on the left and the mostly sub-2% numbers for programmers coding more than 50% of the time in one language.” (Source: Dr. Dobbs Journal, 03-Apr-2013)

My lead project is actually an upgraded version of a strategy game that’s been in the public domain for quite a while; but has the simplicity necessary to effectively permit interfaces to a number of different platforms – and with them, the necessity of leveraging a number of different technologies to make building and maintenance practical.  What will this mean software development as we close on 2015 or even 2020?  Likely what’s happened before – amalgamation to facilitate the creation of single-vendor solutions so that the process is re-simplified.

But until that happens, coders like me are gonna be left to absorb multiple platforms and become jacks-of-all-trades (and hopefully not lose the mastery of some in the process).