Artisanal software sale

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Jun 28, 2021 at 11:50 AM

What follows can be considered a brief ode to artisanal software, so in topic :)

I think I bought Easy Data Transform briefly after it came out. I used it for one particular thing which would have taken me hours to do otherwise, so it paid for itself straight away.

Since then I have used it no more than a few times, but each time it is the same: I need some data manipulation, I think that perhaps EDT will do it, and then find that it does.

(I remember years ago Steve Z. writing something similar about Zoot.)

On one occasion it didn’t (concatenate rows) so I thought of writing to Andy to consider adding it. By the time I got round to this particular to-do, version 1.18 was out and, of course, it had that function too:
https://www.easydatatransform.com/easydatatransform_v180.html

This ethic of constant improvement is characteristic of what I can only call a craftmanship attitude, going far beyond corporate kaizen.

I am certain that Mark Bernstein has chosen well other participants to this sale. It’s one of the few times that I wish I had a Mac.

The following video on the value of craft may be of interest to others who think alike:
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2019/02/new-documentary-the-future-is-handmade-reflects-on-the-values-of-craftsmanship

Amontillado wrote:
>Anyway, I hate to gush, but Easy Data Transform is really cool. IBM
>InfoSphere would do the trick, too, but I don’t know how I could hide
>the $2,500/month subscription from my wife. Altair has a nice solution,
>too, but at $2,000/year it would still leave a mark on my wife’s pesky
>spreadsheets.
> >Given the price of other solutions, I owe you an apology for buying Easy
>Data Transform at the SummerFest pricing. Really crass of me, but, see
>above, my wife’s spreadsheets are a force.