One final Bandwagon post
Someone pointed out to me that my calling the Bandwagon initialization popup dialog box a modal window was not quite accurate. So to clarify exactly what it is, above is a screenshot of said dialog box. (This is the latest version that I have downloaded today.) This initialization window stays above all other windows, with no way to close it or put it behind other windows or to even hide it. If it only stayed up there for a short time it wouldn't be so bad, but it stays up there it seems for as long as it takes to do what it says it's doing. I can use other programs, but always have that dialog box stuck right in the top middle. To me, this is just extremely poor interface design, on top of all the other problems noted previously.
I gave it one last shot, as it were (partly to take the screenshot, but I also wondered if there had been any improvements. Unfortunately they are still all there as far as I can tell, despite at least 7 updates since the 1.0 release. The Bandwagon Google Group has numerous problem reports.
I should mention that when I installed the newest update and logged on to my account, I was informed that "Bandwagon was already running on another computer and that all my data there would be lost. I never used it on another computer...only on my Powerbook. So, anything that was uploaded/saved previously was lost. Great.
On top of everything though, it seems as though they've underestimated the storage needs of many users...so the initially set price of $69 per year for 'unlimited storage' may not work.
In short, I feel as though I was lured into beta-testing an extremely buggy product with the promise of a year's worth of free service (they now offer a free account to anyone and are issuing refunds to those who paid.)
Normally I wouldn't criticize a small software developer like this in public - I've downloaded and/or beta-tested plenty of buggy software in my time. In this case though, I feel that they gathered a lot of interweb airplay with their viral blog-marketing
tactic, and therefore have exposed themselves to this. (They really, really need to do a lot more beta testing. A LOT more.) Since I inadvertently sort of recommended software that I hadn't tested yet, lured by the promise of free, I'm writing my actual experience with it also in case someone was tempted to try it out and even pay for it. (I do wonder if the big tech blogs who gave this so much free publicity will mention its pitfalls.)
I am sure Xackup has the best of intentions, but to me this is an unmitigated disaster of a debut for a new software program. If anything it's a model of what not to do.
And, note to self: never ever link to or recommend software you haven't tried first personally again.
(I'd normally write about this kind of thing on my personal blog but I'm writing it here since I casually mentioned the damned thing here in the first place.)
