Minleon Purchase of Lightshow Pro - End of Primary Transition Period

kane

Dedicated elf
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
1,033
Location
Trigg (Northern suburbs of Perth)
From http://www.lightshowpro.com/blogs/dean/97-minleon-purchase-lightshow-pro-end-primary-transition-period.html

Dear Lightshow Pro (LSP) Users
With the purchase of LSP, an approximate 60-day window (from V2.5 release date) was agreed to in transitioning LSP to Minleon. This window will be ending shortly. Moving forward, Minleon will play a more active and definitive role in the LSP operations. Throughout this transition period, Minleon has focused on building the infra-structure needed to promote the long-term success of LSP, as follows:

1. working with David to familiarize ourselves with the operation

2. working with David to assure for a smooth rollout of V2.5 in terms of its delivery to users

3. working with David in identifying and coordinating responses to, and correction of rollout issues

4.working with certain members of the LSP user community to gain an independent understanding of their issues, concerns and suggestions

5.working with David and certain members of the LSP community to inventory and weigh (significance-wise) all known LSP outstanding issues, and suggested future enhancements

6. developing a user-based quality control (QC) advisory committee to assist Minleon in maintaining and managing LSP issues, and to assist Minleon in steering LSP into the future

7. developing a strategy to assure that LSP will remain a significant software provider in the DIY community and balancing that objective when promoting LSP in the Minleon arena

8. recruiting a quality programmer to replace David (knowing that David will be available an advisor to LSP as his time permits)

9. building the operational infra-structure so issues can be responded in a timely manner, and resolved in a planned, scheduled and organized manner.

Most transitional tasks are complete; some are in progress and scheduled for completion shortly. Briefly, we will elaborate on a few:

1. Minleons commitment to the DIY community: Minleon is making a firm commitment to support the DIY community by continuing to maintain and enhance LSP. Admittedly, we will be promoting Minleon product (details to follow) while marketing LSP, but we will continue to support non-Minleon use of LSP as one would expect and as reasonably possible.

2. Minleons commitment to the quality of LSP: Minleon is making a firm commitment to make LSP the best RGB software in the marketplace. Our plan will be simple. Through our QC committee, we will identify, inventory, prioritize and maintain all know LSP issues and recommended enhancements. Coming out of our transitional period, we have identified over 180 items . As a rule, we will not consider any enhancements until all existing issues are addressed and resolved. The QC committee/Minleon will take steps to assure for user communication in identifying all issues and enhancements, and will prioritize by significance. Once done Minleon will discuss with the contracted LSP programmer to determine whether the issue/enhancement is recommended, and if so, develop a budget and timeline to do so. We will post monthly status reports to the website so all are aware and can comment.

3. Minleons new programmer for LSP: one of the most difficult transitional challenges was recruiting a replacement for David in performing the above-referenced programming tasks. We have passed-thru a number of interested parties, but for a number of reasons, they did not materialize. But in doing so, it led us to the doorstep to our most talented candidate, one with specific LSP programming experience, and who has agreed to come on board. His name is Ryan Montgomery. Some of you may know of him. He has backed-up David in the past, and is a fellow DIYer. We are pleased he is available and welcome him to our Team. Ryan is currently reviewing all the material necessary to get started with Minleon and our QC committee.

Before closing, Minleon would be remiss if not discussing a user concern conveyed in current LSP forums; the potential problem of some LSP issues not being addressed prior to the upcoming holiday season. One can debate to what degree this problem exists, and how LSP got in this position. Regardless, Minleons purpose of discussing this matter is to first apologize for the potential that this may happen, and second to assure you that Minleon, our QC committee, and our contracted programmer will do everything possible to mitigate such occurrences.

In closing, Minleon again would like to thank all who have contributed their comments, suggestions and concerns, and especially those who have taken their time to assist others as their needs arise throughout the forums. Further, we thank David for his cooperation and continued valued input throughout the transition. And finally, we thank you for your patience throughout this transitional period.
 

fasteddy

I have C.L.A.P
Global moderator
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
6,648
Location
Albion Park NSW
Thanks for posting that up Kane.

Minleon have been very active behind the scenes even though it didnt look like it, now the transition period is over, we can expect some new activety and fixes. Of we must take into account that there will be some catch up time.

I would also like to say the the new head developer Ryan (RMonty) has been a member here from when ACL first started and was involved with the original LSP code and has been involved with the community in the past, so really no better man to take on the job. David has also offered to assist ryan when needed. So things are now looking up as things start to slot into place.

So we wish Ryan and Minleon the best and I believe with whats been going on behind the scenes that LSP will really start to shine and be very hard to beat in 2013
 

DeeJai

Is that Magic Smoke?!?
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
1,008
Location
No longer in Radelaide
Well, what was listed in the original post was basically what I had assumed anyway, albeit not who would take over the programming side of the house. Its actually good to see that the letter writers from Minleon are very conversant with the english language which instills confidence that communications to them about issues should be able to be done very easy and without too much chinglish misinterpretations.

I still think this will be a good thing for LSP and the community, I will be dissapointed however if LSP becomes a platform for advertisments of their products.
 

AAH

I love blinky lights :)
Community project designer
Joined
Dec 27, 2010
Messages
4,188
Location
Eaglehawk
Even though I'm not using LSP myself yet it's good to see that LSP/Minelon are starting to get pro-active in getting stuff sorted. With 45 days till lights get switched on for most of us there's going to have to be some very quick learning and problem sorting.
 

fasteddy

I have C.L.A.P
Global moderator
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
6,648
Location
Albion Park NSW
Matt said:
Well, what was listed in the original post was basically what I had assumed anyway, albeit not who would take over the programming side of the house. Its actually good to see that the letter writers from Minleon are very conversant with the english language which instills confidence that communications to them about issues should be able to be done very easy and without too much chinglish misinterpretations.

I still think this will be a good thing for LSP and the community, I will be dissapointed however if LSP becomes a platform for advertisments of their products.

Dean is an American and owns 50% of the US Minleon distribution, so communication will not be an issue at all, Dean appears to be a vey intelligent man who understands that communication is paramount in keeping customers happy.
 

DeeJai

Is that Magic Smoke?!?
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
1,008
Location
No longer in Radelaide
ɟɐsʇǝppʎ said:
Matt said:
Well, what was listed in the original post was basically what I had assumed anyway, albeit not who would take over the programming side of the house. Its actually good to see that the letter writers from Minleon are very conversant with the english language which instills confidence that communications to them about issues should be able to be done very easy and without too much chinglish misinterpretations.

I still think this will be a good thing for LSP and the community, I will be dissapointed however if LSP becomes a platform for advertisments of their products.

In that case.. im even more excited. I was under the impression that it was a company owned solely in china. GOOD NEWS Indeed.


Dean is an American and owns 50% of the US Minleon distribution, so communication will not be an issue at all, Dean appears to be a vey intelligent man who understands that communication is paramount in keeping customers happy.

In that case.. im even more excited. I was under the impression that it was a company owned solely in china. GOOD NEWS Indeed.
 

kane

Dedicated elf
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
1,033
Location
Trigg (Northern suburbs of Perth)
For 2012, I just hope that Ryan is able to get across the codebase quickly, and then hopefully address some of the main issues that people seem to be having.. (The codebase would obviously have changed a lot since he last worked on it) The stability of the scheduler is probably the most important thing in my opinion.

For 2013, I hope that Dean and Ryan are able to look at the big picture. My opinion is that Ryan should focus on the core product, ensuring that all bugs are fixed properly, and it is rock solid. They should then publish documentation on the plugins and hopefully an API, to allow other programmers to add additional functionality to the product, without taking Ryan's focus away from the core functionality.
 

kane

Dedicated elf
Joined
Dec 23, 2010
Messages
1,033
Location
Trigg (Northern suburbs of Perth)
Ryan (rmonty) popped into chat today, and said a quick hello - I think a lot of us that have been worries about the future of LSP became a lot more relaxed after having a quick chat with him. He understands that there's a lot of work ahead, and that we all want the major issues fixed first (instead of any new features), so that's good.
 

burner

Full time elf
Joined
Nov 2, 2011
Messages
315
Thanks for the update Kane. Did Ryan happen to mention if there will be another release of LSP prior to dec 1 to fix some of the more concerning issue?
 

jediknight2

Full time elf
Joined
Aug 30, 2012
Messages
196
Location
North Carolina
I am VERY glad to see this type of response and I hope to see some bug fix releases soon. While I am the first to want new STUFF...I agree that they should buckle up and fix all the bugs that are apparent right now before moving forward with enhancements!! I do, however, think this is a DAUNTING task for one individual!
 

lithgowlights

Dedicated elf
Joined
May 6, 2010
Messages
1,023
David had indicated there would be, but I am unsure if this will be the case in terms of his input now. Dean has mentioned that there will be a release to deal with the severe issues, and probably looking more at the scheduler than the sequencer as thats really what we need right to get the show working right come december 1
 

joeengler

Apprentice elf
Joined
May 20, 2010
Messages
90
Location
Garden City, MI 48135
One good thing is the communication, keeping everyone up to speed on where they stand on future upgrades(ie fixing all outstanding bugs first) is a welcome change. I look forward to seeing the open communication continue and seeing the product grow to be the best RGB software.

I also agree that when the bug fixes are complete a documented API into the software would keep the programmer working on new versions while allowing over people to create code using the API.
 

fasteddy

I have C.L.A.P
Global moderator
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
6,648
Location
Albion Park NSW
Rest assured that Minleons main focus are the bugs and the scheduler before any real additional enhancements. LSP is already miles ahead in features than other software packages. What has consitantly let LSP down in the past and brought it back down to other sequencer software packages is the bugs and stabilty issues. So if Minleon irons out those niggling issues then it will be the choice for 2013 without a doubt.
 

rmonty

New elf
Joined
Jun 14, 2010
Messages
31
Location
Rockwall, TX
Hey guys, thought I would drop in and post something since my name is being thrown around. :D
Our first priorities are to definitely get some bug fixes in place and not add new features (those come next year).
Just an fyi, I will not be alone in this endeavor. There will be two of us, and no David is not the other one, that will be trying to get some of the immediate fixes in place before the Christmas season kicks off to help you out. This other developer is incredibly talented and will give a huge boost to the effort (not to mention he is a good friend of mine).
Dean is a great guy and he has a great support team he is putting in place.
We will also have an awesome group of beta testers as usual to help keep us straight. ::)
Please bear with us as we are setting up our development environments to get things moving along.
I will try to drop by when I can, but I have a feeling things are about to get busy.
See ya soon, and I am definitely excited to get things moving.


Ryan
 

fasteddy

I have C.L.A.P
Global moderator
Joined
Apr 26, 2010
Messages
6,648
Location
Albion Park NSW
Thanks for the heads up Ryan which is far more communication than we have previously recieved from the former LSP developer.

Thanks im sure your hard work will be greatly appreciated by all LSP users
 
Top