I spent some time this afternoon reviewing what needs to be done for the first version of the recipe software. For testing purposes the primary release will be a simple recipe viewer with basic features. We will try releasing it in 4 languages to start with (English, French, Spanish, and German). Those are the languages we speak internally in the business so this will simplify things. If there is demand for it we will release other localized versions, and maybe even a feature to let users add other languages as they please.

I plan to have the first beta software release ready for public testing in about 2 to 3 weeks. In the meantime we will need to recruit a few dozen people who are interested in working with us on this beta test. We will open a beta forum for user feedback and will try to find some interesting way of rewarding the beta tester’s efforts. I’ll have more about this in the coming weeks.

If some of you are interested in beta testing the software please send us a short note at beta@igourmand.com letting us know you interest and why you would like to be included in this beta cycle. Until then have fun in the kitchen.

Lucito

We are just emerging from a 2 week long programming binge to get one new product version out of the door, and I finally delivered late this afternoon. I then decided to review what the plans are for the coming months. We have to prepare and launch another new line of products in the next few months, but before we start we might have a semi-quiet week or so before we sit down with clients to do final interviews about business processes and start analysis so I will try to exploit that short period as best I can.

Tomorrow I need to catch up on office things that have been left untouched over the last few weeks and try to take it easy a bit as I worked through the last few weekends without rest. We have some meetings scheduled for Thursday morning, but after that I plan to update the looks of the site, redo a few little things on the blog, post the Padrino’s short bio that he finally it delivered this morning, and do some analysis before forging ahead with a preliminary version of the basic free cooking software package. We will definitely take the weekend off as I need rest, and it will be nice to spend some time with Normita as she had to work a lot too on weekends over the last month.

If all goes well, and I do not get swamped unexpectedly with works, you should expect a beta version of the basic cooking and recipe software to be available for download in about 2 weeks. Once well tested and stable we will slowly start adding features to the product on a regular schedule. We have yet to decide on which environment we will develop the product, as I would like to create a multiplatform tool that can run on Windows, Linux, and MacOS, but we will need to see first how we will structure it and how much already written code we can leverage. I will have more on that when I finish the analysis on Thursday. Until then have some fun in the kitchen…

Lucito

As you might have noticed we have started again to post regularly. We also have been very busy working on the first version of the recipe viewer, and as we work on it we have been broadening the scope of the core product. What started as simple way to share recipes will grow into a much more useful product for the cooking enthusiast community. It is a bit too early to start listing too many features, but let me assure you it will be a nice product that will be worthwhile to wait for. With the help of Kurtito in Austria, who by the way still has not delivered the blog entries he had promised me, I am building the core database of the product. To help make creating recipes easier we are creating a logically-arranged list of ingredients that we will be able to use in the recipes. We have gone through 3 revisions already and hopefully we will finalize the final structure in the coming days.

The primary database, as most of our software is, will be in English, French, Spanish, and German since they are the languages in which we work internally in our group. Other languages will later be added as we get demand and find external resources to translate. We are also currently working on a universal unit converter so recipes written using one system of units can be transparently converted to the user’s system of choice.

Once this basic database is completed, we will release the first version of the basic free viewer and all our posted recipes in the .rxf format. We also plan to establish a repository of recipes on our main website at www.igourmand.com. I will keep you posted regularly as we progress on this project.

Lucito

Later this week, if time permits, I will be posting a fist draft of the recipe exchange software program. This first version will be a simple recipe viewer running on the Windows platform. It also will be able to create files in the Recipe eXchange Format (.rxf) that people can submit to this site or trade with others. This program will be a free viewer that will be regularly updated with new features. I have a good idea where we are going with the software, but before announcing any specific plans, I prefer testing those advanced features internally to make sure that they are useful and that we are going in the right direction. The ultimate goal will be to create a useful suite of tools that can be used by everybody from people who are interested in cooking to professional chefs. As all the software we design it will be modular in nature and users will be able to customize it to suit their exact needs, and add features as they need them. The basic viewer and tools will always remain free and unencumbered by advertisement or other forms of annoyance. I do not like using software that nags me all the time or that is always trying to push things down my throat. We will eventually release some commercial versions of the software that will build on the basic set of features. The method of distribution or the exact features still remain to be determined and will ultimately be decided based upon the feedback from users. We will setup a discussion forum for the software once the project starts to be operational, and a user base is established. I’ll have more on this project later today or tomorrow once I have time to prepare things for distribution.

Lucito