Beware of this app. The version I downloaded from their site, 2.2.0 was obviously packaged and compiled on REALstudio for Windows without being properly packaged on a Mac. It is suspicious to me wether or not any testing was done on the Mac because no developer would leave their app in the RS built .app.tar, they would put it in a proper dmg or zip. I know this because I also develop RS apps and it is a great development tool, but you have to still test on the platform you are distributing for. The application did not even have an icon except the generic one. 3.0 seems to be a proper dmg with app icon so maybe they fixed the issue, although looking at the app contents I see there is no bundle identifier which there should be. Which it still leaves me with doubts as to the quality of this software and the promises made by the developer that seems to have abandoned the Mac years ago.
As to the software, it does not seem to build anything, rather it produces the Xcode project for you to compile. While that may be fine, it is not a great way to develop high quality apps. If you are trying to develop any kind of sophisticated app then you are going to have a mess of widgets and wires running all over the window which looks pretty confusing and hard to track. I guess that is the trade off for not needing to write any code.
Personally I feel it would be easier to learn REALstudio, which this app was made with, or if you have the patients and time learn XCode and Cocoa. Trust me in the end you will be a whole lot better off.
I'm glad I read these reviews, and I appreciate the heads up. Alas, this looks like interesting software for someone like me who's totally in the dark when it comes to programming. Do any of you know of any viable alternatives that are something like this program? Thanks.
Probably the most dishonest developer I've ever encountered. Bryan typically over-promised and under-delivered. Worse perhaps is that he took potentially great software (Formation) and killed it, while still making promises about a new version to current and potential customers.
BUYER BEWARE!
An older post about Bryan and company:
http://phillryu.com/2006/08/03/good-riddance-bryan-lund/
While I try to keep my posts positive, Phill Ryu is the last person to ever talk about someone, especially in this context. Phill not only has a long list of abandoned projects, but got an entire community together with the promise of making the software people really wanted, just to run away and leave everyone hanging without so much as an explanation.
He also orchestrated a pr stunt that had people working all night looking for vulnerabilities in a very common piece of software when there weren't any. He thought it was a joke and a good way to drum of some pr, but the only one left laughing at the end of the day was himself, his buddy John and a few others.
I would argue that Phill has no more integrity; no more class; deserves no more respect than Brian Lund. In fact, I would say that My. Ryu is far worse.
The post by Phil is merely an additional source of information. I do remember that PR fiasco, but that's another story. Regarding John, I gave his iClip 4 a 1-star rating and posted my comments here at Macupdate. iClip 3 was pretty good, and it all went downhill with the next version. I guess both Phil and John found more success selling other people's software. There's no denying they had (and may still have) a big impact among Mac users.
Unfortunately the posts at the Radical Breeze forum are gone. Those were also quite illuminating (pun intended) as to the kind of developer Bryan is.
As a former customer I would NEVER buy anything from Bryan. In addition to Formation I also bought RadicalSafe, DeskDoodle, Zephyr, RadicalSqueeze, Macabinet, RadicalPhoto, Illumination, DoThisNow, Footlights, and DiscBlaze. Waste of money.
Just looked it up: one of the licenses I have to their software is to Illumination. Which was a disk cataloguing tool. With the same icon as the current. And which they abandoned, together with
DiscBlaze
DeskDoodle
Macabinet
RadicalSqueeze
RadicalSafe
Footlights
and biggest scam of all Formation ('the upgrade is just around the corner, promise!'...Not!)
Bought, paid for and then they ran. I am still angry!
These guys abandoned the Mac platform and their paying users a couple of years ago, without any word or explanation.
And now they dig up their old mail-database, send jolly 'hi, we are back' mails, and expect us to trust them with our money again?
Don't think so!
[Version 2.1.0]
There are currently no troubleshooting comments. If you are experiencing a problem with this app, please post a comment.
+89
http://radicalbreeze.com/forum/
+2
+125
As to the software, it does not seem to build anything, rather it produces the Xcode project for you to compile. While that may be fine, it is not a great way to develop high quality apps. If you are trying to develop any kind of sophisticated app then you are going to have a mess of widgets and wires running all over the window which looks pretty confusing and hard to track. I guess that is the trade off for not needing to write any code.
Personally I feel it would be easier to learn REALstudio, which this app was made with, or if you have the patients and time learn XCode and Cocoa. Trust me in the end you will be a whole lot better off.
+1
+270
+2
+650
BUYER BEWARE!
An older post about Bryan and company:
http://phillryu.com/2006/08/03/good-riddance-bryan-lund/
+1
+33
He also orchestrated a pr stunt that had people working all night looking for vulnerabilities in a very common piece of software when there weren't any. He thought it was a joke and a good way to drum of some pr, but the only one left laughing at the end of the day was himself, his buddy John and a few others.
I would argue that Phill has no more integrity; no more class; deserves no more respect than Brian Lund. In fact, I would say that My. Ryu is far worse.
+2
+650
Unfortunately the posts at the Radical Breeze forum are gone. Those were also quite illuminating (pun intended) as to the kind of developer Bryan is.
As a former customer I would NEVER buy anything from Bryan. In addition to Formation I also bought RadicalSafe, DeskDoodle, Zephyr, RadicalSqueeze, Macabinet, RadicalPhoto, Illumination, DoThisNow, Footlights, and DiscBlaze. Waste of money.
+1
+33
+1
+76
DiscBlaze
DeskDoodle
Macabinet
RadicalSqueeze
RadicalSafe
Footlights
and biggest scam of all Formation ('the upgrade is just around the corner, promise!'...Not!)
Bought, paid for and then they ran. I am still angry!
+1
+11
+1
+76
And now they dig up their old mail-database, send jolly 'hi, we are back' mails, and expect us to trust them with our money again?
Don't think so!