Any news on parity between WinLDS Tools and Android/iOS?

Discussions around the LDS Tools application for Windows 8 Pro and RT.
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pahollow
Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Dec 14, 2014 11:48 pm

Any news on parity between WinLDS Tools and Android/iOS?

#1

Post by pahollow »

Hi all. Thanks for the increased effort for the Windows version. Is there any news about improved parity of features between the platforms? Working together in the ward and comparing information is currently a confusing experience as members with varying platforms try to coordinate service efforts.

It is kind of embarrassing when Android and iOS users ask Windows Phone users like myself to use a feature and we have to say, "that feature is not on my version on my phone" :o It would seem in the next few weeks the world will be flooded with Windows across everything PC, Tablet, Phone and Xbox and yet this app (let alone as a universal app) is so limited... It would be great if the Church and the Win team could throw us a bone!
russellhltn
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Re: Any news on parity between WinLDS Tools and Android/iOS?

#2

Post by russellhltn »

From what I understand the Windows effort is entirely volunteer and is literally years behind the Android and iOS efforts. They're working as quickly as they can given the amount of time they can devote to it. No amount of advocacy or "voting" will change that.

But I'm sure anyone volunteering programming experience to help speed the work would be welcome.
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ToManyLetters
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Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 1:16 pm

Re: Any news on parity between WinLDS Tools and Android/iOS?

#3

Post by ToManyLetters »

I'm a member of the Gospel Library for Windows team, but I can chime in here.

The team behind LDS Tools just rewrote the application. From scratch. Not only does this modernize the code and entirely revamp the UI, it killed a number of bugs the old app had and introduced a few new features.

And this is just the team's first release.

Now that the LDS Tools for Windows (and Windows Phone) team has something to build off of, new features can come at a much, much faster rate. They've thrown you a bone, but you want their hand, too. Give them some time--programming apps takes quite a lot of it, and they're all volunteers giving up time with their families to make these apps happen. And as I've told you before, universal apps don't work like magic. The Gospel Library team is in a similar situation as the LDS Tools team. We KNOW people want features, we KNOW there is a disparity between platforms, and we ARE working on it. We use Windows devices and Windows Phones as our daily drivers. We want the features, too. And they are coming. We just need time. We assumed members would be happier with apps that have some of the features if it meant they could have these apps much earlier. Sometimes, I'm not sure we were right in that assumption.
Learn more about Gospel Library for Windows 10 Beta at the link below:
https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Gospel_Library_for_Windows_10
pahollow
Member
Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Dec 14, 2014 11:48 pm

Re: Any news on parity between WinLDS Tools and Android/iOS?

#4

Post by pahollow »

Thanks once again Letters and thanks also russellhltn. I really wish I could program or knew others who could help. Knowing that Windows apps are years behind is disappointing and unfortunate that until recently the vision and people wee not there to build what was needed. Not sure I ever told you boys that I was taking about the tools and library to David Swahili and Tom Welch as far back as 2011 - hence the gravitas and enthusiasm predates what is being said in 2015...thanks again!
ToManyLetters
Senior Member
Posts: 530
Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2013 1:16 pm

Re: Any news on parity between WinLDS Tools and Android/iOS?

#5

Post by ToManyLetters »

Knowing that Windows apps are years behind is disappointing
Being years behind is a historical thing, not a permanent doom on the Windows projects. The iOS and Android projects have existed for years before the Windows projects. Even if they had started immediately after the release of Windows 8, they'd have been years behind time-wise, and we'd probably be using the old, dramatically inferior UI for the Windows 8 Gospel Library application.

The fact remains that the LDS Tools team and Gospel Library team for Windows are working quickly to play catch up. They've set out to match and, if possible, beat, the feature set of iOS and Android in any ways they can. iOS has a feature? We'll make it easier to discover and to use (See "Collections" for Gospel Library on Windows). Android threw an accessibility tweak in? We'll go one step further (See "Open Dyslexic" for Gospel Library on Windows). The LDS Tools iPad app for iOS looks like a blown up phone app? We'll make a proper app interface for tablets, desktops, and laptops on Windows. I'll echo what I feel is quite important here: the people who volunteer their time for both LDS Tools for Windows (and Windows Phone) and Gospel Library for Windows (and Windows Phone) use these devices as their daily drivers. We love the platform. We want the features. They will come.

The iOS and Android apps may have the time advantage on us, but we have advantages on them, too. We have been able to learn from their mistakes, expand on their ideas, and deliver great experiences with the features we already do support. Yes, adding all of the features from iOS and Android versions of the apps will take time. But, you'll note, if you've been following the evolution of Gospel Library for Windows, we've come a very long way, very quickly. We have tons of new features, bug fixes that have been introduced since we first hit public beta on Windows 8.1 in August of 2014--and we've come even further since we made first public release in mid-November of 2014. LDS Tools has only just pushed out their "August", if you will (though their "August" is considerably more stable than ours was). Given time--not petitioning or rallying or general crying of wrongdoing--both projects can and will hit feature parity with iOS and Android and, we'd like to believe, offer the features of the other platforms with the best experiences of any of the official apps on any platform.
Learn more about Gospel Library for Windows 10 Beta at the link below:
https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Gospel_Library_for_Windows_10
pahollow
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Posts: 53
Joined: Sun Dec 14, 2014 11:48 pm

Re: Any news on parity between WinLDS Tools and Android/iOS?

#6

Post by pahollow »

Thanks Letters, I will leave it up to you guys to sort it! I promise I will not petition, rally or do any more "general crying of wrongdoing". Windows 10 (for PC's) is looking good in the latest build (10041) and as soon as my Lumia 920 phone is listed on the supported phones list (for Windows 10 on mobile devices RT/non-intel Soc's) I will try that too. Thanks for the great work...
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