Rank 2
Iron
Veteran
...like where does this fit into teleriks plans
...is it just a playground?...does that make sense?
5 Answers, 1 is accepted
Thanks for the interest in the Kendo UI beta.
Kendo UI is a new product for addressing the rising tide of JavaScript/HTML5 development being done for sites and apps, on both desktops and devices. It is a fresh take at creating a complete "stack" of tools and framework components specifically designed to make front-end development with standards a more seamless, productive experience.
Kendo UI further benefits from its connection to Telerik, which brings unmatched professional support and disciplined engineering to the table.
Other products created by Telerik will also adopt HTML5, but the adoption will be more gradual, and it will be done in ways that make sense for the large base of existing customers. Kendo UI does not represent the end of other Telerik tools for HTML. Rather, Kendo UI is for a new expanded audience of web developers, agnostic towards server-side technologies (PHP, Rails, Node, .NET, etc.).
Finally, Kendo UI is definitely not a playground. It's a serious engineering effort and we think, even in the early betas, it offers some very compelling JavaScript front-end tools. JavaScript, HTML5, and Mobile/Devices are rapidly expanding developer spaces, and Kendo UI is a precision toolset for those developers.
I hope that helps answer the "end goal" question. :) If you'd like any additional clarification, we're happy to elaborate. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the Kendo UI beta!
-Todd
Rank 1
Can you expand on the "end goal" in relation to existing projects built with Telerik MVC?
I understand that Kendo is supposed to be "server agnostic" and that it is focused on client-side HTML5/jQuery/CSS but what's the roadmap and possible migration path for projects built with Telerik MVC?
Meanwhile, after significant investment on some projects with Telerik MVC, I'm an example of a developer who's frustrated with the slow pace of progress on Telerik MVC wherein needed feature requests that have been voted up high on the list in PITS have not yet even been scheduled... so who knows when or even if they'll be added???
And now yet another product in the Telerik suite of products? This raises the question about the validity of the criticism heard about companies that spread themselves so thin over so many different products in their product suites that the quality of each one does not in fact match the marketing hype? Is that what Telerik is now doing?
So what should we do? Continue to invest in the Telerik MVC product waiting for even the highly voted feature requests that just don't seem to get added fast enough? Here's just one example of an issue that's been going on for a long time, and that just does not seem to get addressed:
Forum issue
http://www.telerik.com/community/forums/aspnet-mvc/grid/custom-commands-in-grid.aspx
PITS feature request:
http://www.telerik.com/support/pits.aspx#/tracked/aspnet-mvc/5485
So what should we do? Switch to the next latest greatest product Kendo now being hyped by Telerik? And then hope that Telerik will advance Telerik Kendo faster than it's advancing Telerik MVC???
Forgive some of my frustration and impatience but I'm left wondering just how the "user voice" is heard at Telerik and whether Telerik has spread itself too thin over too many different products...
Carl
I can understand from the outside how rapid growth and expanding product lines can create pause for concern, but our ability to introduce new products is driven completely by success of existing products and the feedback from customers like you. We do not cannibalize one product to introduce another. Telerik is expanding to serve the needs of an ever increasing pool of developers.
In the case of Kendo UI and ASP.NET MVC, there are many similarities, but we intend to fully support our ASP.NET MVC customers. In fact, regarding the issue you mentioned, that has already been added to the road map for the next release of the ASP.NET MVC Extensions:
http://www.telerik.com/products/aspnet-mvc/whats-new/roadmap.aspx
As you can see, MVC is continuing to evolve, and time invested in Kendo UI only benefits the MVC tools. For example, the recently introduced Chart in MVC exists directly as a result of Kendo UI work.
Your user voice is heard loud and clear, and it's at the center of all of our planning and road maps. We wish we could do everything that's asked for, but obviously there are constraints. Hopefully the improvements in MVC and Kendo UI will continue to serve what is ultimately our "end goal," helping you be a more productive web developer.
-Todd
Rank 1
PITS has been in beta a long time, and there are problems with it... Will it be replaced by a new and different issue tracking system? Or will PITS ever be fixed, finished and out of beta?
How many thread views does an issue in the forums have to get before it really gets the attention of Telerik? 2000? 3000? 5000? How many quarters in PITS does a feature request have to be at the top of the votes list before it gets the attention of Telerik to be scheduled for the next release? Do bugs, feature requests, or issues ever get prioritized by Telerik because of tactical and strategic technical reasons even if they are not getting a lot of forum thread views or PITS votes? What about a committee of passionate Telerik developers who are consulted for feedback on the prioritization of issues for development?
The Telerik points reward system to incentivize and motivate developers to participate in feedback, use of PITS, voting on issues, reporting bugs, etc. etc... appears to be used (at least for me) in a very inconsistent manner meaning sometimes my bug reports get Telerik points and sometimes they do not... and who knows when. If you really want to incentivize more developers to participate (other than the most passionate who will do it without worrying about any points), then your Telerik points reward system needs a significant improvement in the consistency of its use.
Better execution and completion of some of the programs in place could do a lot to improve confidence that the "user voice" is being heard. But this gets back to the whole issue of whether better execution of existing programs can be accomplished if a company has spread itself too thin over too many programs.
You'll be pleased to know that we are doing many of things you mention to incorporate customer feedback in our planning and releases. Telerik has always built it's road maps with heavy input from customers, and that is true more today than ever. Systems like PITS try to help provide more transparency, but we agree we can continue to improve. To that end, some additional insights:
- PITS is being completely overhauled. A new PITS will come soon that will solve many of the shortcomings of the current version, so stay tuned for that.
- We have several active forms of "customer panel" that contribute feedback early and often to the product planning process, so we do utilize that channel to help gauge our plans
- And we have forums like this where everyone in the company is actively involved- listening, engaging, and trying to help the Telerik tools evolve in the best interests of all customers.
Ultimately, there is no "formula" for building road maps; they are built by collecting the input from a number of different "signals" (strategic plans, customer feedback, PITS, MVP feedback, etc.). Thankfully, with our agressive schedule shipping 3 major releases per year (+ service packs), things that don't get addressed in one release often get picked-up quickly thereafter if the feature makes sense for many customers.
Hope that helps. In the spirit of transparency, you're welcome to email me directly if you'd like to discuss further (anglin@telerik.com).
-Todd