From more than 15 years Heidi Schuppenhauer has been using Magic’s eDeveloper to build applications for a wide variety of companies for use on several hardware/software platforms. She is also one of the founders and guiding forces behind the Magic International Users Group (MIUG), having orchestrated that group's meeting for more than five years. Together with her husband, Heidi owns and runs Trillium Custom Software which uses eDeveloper in building its clients' applications and develops and markets the eDeveloper-based Trek software package for the airline industry.
Magic Link: How long have you been using eDeveloper?
Heidi Schopennhauer: I've worked with eDeveloper for about 15 years now. I was first introduced to it when I went to work for a small company that had already spent $50,000 on the development of a very complex system with no results, and now they had to deliver it in five months. From my previous job as a programmer productivity specialist, I knew that they were sunk. There was no way they could do this, I thought. But there was a box sitting on the shelf called "Magic" and I took a look at it and was intrigued. They'd bought it for $300 but hadn't used it much. They gave me $300 to get an updated version of the product, eDeveloper™, and I used that to complete the project in four months. From that point on, we used eDeveloper to build a lot of applications.
ML: Since then, how have you personally been using eDeveloper?
HS: My husband and I have our own company, Trillium Custom Software. We help companies build applications with eDeveloper. But the last couple of years we have focused almost exclusively on the airline industry. There are a lot of small and medium sized airlines that need help. Several of the other software suppliers to this market segment have left this business because of all of the compliance regulations that have to be built into the software—especially since September 11. It's just too costly for them to maintain their systems to comply with these regulations, but we can do it very efficiently with eDeveloper.
ML: I understand that you have also written books about eDeveloper and that you have a new book about to be published.
HS: I've actually written two previous books about eDeveloper. The first, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, was written in 1999 for Magic version 8 and rewritten for version 9. Then MSE contracted with me to write Mastering eDeveloper for Magic for version 10. This book will soon be available on Magic's Web site, so everyone will be able to access its contents. At the moment, I'm also just now finishing up a new and somewhat different book, eDeveloper for Everyone. It will be available through Amazon.com as well as some book stores.
ML: What's the difference between the two books, and why would someone want to buy a book about eDeveloper when they can get one free from Magic's Web site?
HS: A lot of people want a step-by-step, how-to book that addresses how to use eDeveloper from end to end. Mastering eDeveloper covers just about everything, but it's more of a reference book and it skips around a bit. eDeveloper for Everyone is aimed at individuals who might know HTML or C, but who don't understand Magic and can't seem to make the jump. This step-by-step approach is more of a classroom book that will teach them what a task might be in Visual Basic and shows them how to do it in eDeveloper.
ML: Do a lot of people have trouble making that shift?
HS: It takes a while for new people to get used to writing in eDeveloper. It's a paradigm shift from using text-based languages where you have to spell everything right, get the punctuation correct, and work procedurally. With eDeveloper you don't have to do any of that. Instead you're dealing with objects and not tying words together any more. People aren't used to working that way.
ML: Can some people make this shift more easily than others?
HS: Sometimes non-programmers are very successful in learning eDeveloper—especially accountants. They are already used to the concept that you don't have to tell the computer what to do all that much. They've all used Excel spreadsheets where you connect this box to that box and you make the rules that govern the relationships between the two.
ML: I understand that you were also very involved with starting the Magic User Group. How did that come about?
HS: Back in 2000, Magic was planning to have an international conference in Spain, but unfortunately it was cancelled. Everyone on the Magic list was complaining about it, so I offered to set it up if we could get 30 people to agree to come. We had about 100 people sign up, and we've been doing it every year since.
ML: Do you have one coming up soon?
HS: Yes. We're meeting in Las Vegas on May 6-9 for four days. The first day, Sunday, is always a "shoot out" where people bring their applications and the audience gets to compare them. This year our theme is developing applications in eDeveloper Discovery edition. Whatever is presented/published for the conference will be public and will go on the Web site so everyone will be able to download it. Also on the first day, we get a big room where people can drink beer and have their laptops open and talk together and share code. On Monday, MSE schedules the day. They talk about the company, and the R&D people talk about what they have planned for the coming year. Attendees have an opportunity to get up and talk about their "gripes." Last year was funny because Magic had done a really good job of fixing problems and no one could find much to gripe about. Monday night is our banquet, and then Tuesday and Wednesday we hold back-to-back classes with about 40 hours of training classes on things like Web services, developing for the Web, beginning Magic, tips and tricks, how the engine works, and more. The full agenda is on our Web site: http://www.magic-iug.com/MIUGWeb3/index.html. We can still take reservations and will right up until the last minute if anyone is interested in coming. The cost is $595 to attend.
ML: You mentioned a discussion group list. How active is that?
HS: The magicu-l discussion group has been in existence on Yahoo! for almost 10 years. It's very active and has more than 3000 members, and it's very helpful to users of eDeveloper. If you post a question to the list, someone generally answers it in a very short time. We also archive all questions and lots of times people can go there to get answers. Jut recently we added a WIKI list of general questions that are quite helpful to the Newbies and people who are evaluating the software. Anyone is welcome to join.
ML: Do you have any comments about the releases and the pricing of eDeveloper?
HS: I'm very pleased to see what Magic’s done. Some people, often individuals, who bought the software years ago stopped using it when the cost went up. They paid $300 for it, and they were a $300 audience. The repricing will help a lot. eDeveloper is back within the realm of affordability, and it's a greatly improved product. With Discovery available, the average person who wants to try something cool can download the product and, with the help of a good book [wink], will be able to get something up and running quickly. When people like this get ahold of it, they'll bring everyone else along with them.