[topicmapmail] [ANN] Topic Map Explorer Version 1.0

[rick coope]

Hi Tom, 

Thanks for you honest and open feedback, this is version 1.0 and we are
looking to improve the product through user feedback. 

I would like to say that we are not trying to give Topic Maps a bad name, in
fact we are trying very hard to get your average desktop user to embrace the
core concepts and make them work for them.

I put some answers to your comments below but would encourage you to try
Topic Map Explorer having read the documentation that does ship with the
install and is located (as the download page states) in Start -> Programs ->
Topic Map Explorer -> User Documentation.

This documentation provides step-by-step guide on how to use and benefit
from the different features of Topic Map Explorer.

If there are exceptions in the product we would be grateful if you could you
report them to support@tmexplorer.com.

The Topic Mappy ness issue. As I mentioned in the rdf interest list posting,
we are trying to embody the basic concepts of Topic Maps, (topics with
identity, associations and occurrences). There are of course limitations in
representing things as a tree and as you and Murray have discussed this is a
design decision. We felt at this stage that representing things as a tree
was familiar to users but that the added level of adding the relationship
type made useful groupings and added value and aided navigation.

We will support XTM but more importantly we will support TMQL and a topic
map remote access protocol as these are provable and testable things.

Things such as PSIs are not yet exposed in the user interface but are
supported in the model and are used in the peer-to-peer capabilites. Again
scope is not something we were clear how to expose to the user and so didn't
for now.

Although you made a loop you didn't want to, you can correct that simply by
selecting the topic and pressing delete. You could not set a topic type as
probably you had not created any. 

Tom, we do appreciate your comments and there are things that need to be
addressed however I feel you have been overly harsh given you haven't read
the documatation that accompanies the product (we need to make it clearer
where to find this) and thus you havent used it in the way it is intended
and thus not gained the benefit it is designed to deliver. Even simple
operations like deleting a relationship or assigning a topic type, have thus
caused problems.

Regards, 

Rick





Tom Passin wrote:

I have downloaded this application and tried it out for all of ten minutes.
I am disappointed to report the following -

1) This is not a production quality release, event though it is styled
"verson 1.0".  I got numerous exceptions (which were at least
recoverable) and many anomalies, including a mislabled dialog component.

2) This is not a topic map application in any way, shape, or form.  It does
not export or import any recognized topic map format.  Instead it exports
rdf!  But it does not import general rdf.  Or rather, on the simple rdf
files  I tried, it claimed success, but the display showed nothing.

The designer appears not to understand the basics of topic maps.  There is
no way to indicate the subject of a topic.  There are no scopes. 
There are only binary relations.  The only display is a tree view. 
There are no PSIs.  I was unable to delete a relation I had created.  I
could not find a way to change a relationship type once one had been
created.  You are supposed to be able to designate the "type" of a topic,
but that didn't work.  You can't relate property types to each other.

I was also able to (unintentionaly) create an loop between two topics I
tried to relate, so that the tree view display kept unfolding the same two
topics ad infinitum (if I had wanted to keep expanding the tree).

Of course, the fact that there was no documentation probably didn't help.
Still, it is *inexcusable* to call this a "topic map explorer" 
and not have a *single* characteristic that disinguishes topic maps and
makes them rich and valuable.

Setting aside the issue of whether this application has anything to do with
topic maps per se, could it be useful in and of itself?  Setting aside
current bugs and questionable interface features - which are numerous - in
my view, not with just a tree view, and not with the apparent limitations of
the internal model.  I say "apparent limitations", because it is possible
that the internal model is richer than the app exposes (maybe there can be a
hierarachy of association types, for examples), but one could not know by
the current interface.

What really bothers me is that this app could give topic maps a bad name, or
at the least mislead people into thinking that topic maps are very limited
and don't do anything that hasn't been seen in many apps before.

I almost feel like I should apologize to the developer of this product for
my strong words, but I mean them all.  Whoever you are, this product would
have to go a long way before I would even consider trying another evaluation
copy.  I don't even feel like encouraging you to try to modify and extend
it, because the current starting point is so weak.

I hope I am wrong about my last statement, because I would really like to
see a modestly priced, easy to use topic map application.

Regretfully yours

Tom P

--
Thomas B. Passin
Explorer's Guide to the Semantic Web (Manning Books)
http://www.manning.com/catalog/view.php?book=passin
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