Edinburgh developer Angus Hardie’s radically simple software
A couple weeks ago I was working on a project that required me to design a fairly complicated database. Usually I use an application call OmniGraffle to do this, which lets me create a graphical representation of what I’m doing. But as I got started, I thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be cool if there were a tool that let me design the tables visually, create the relationships, table types, all that stuff, and then when I was done, it would export out the code that actually created the tables?” Figuring that if I thought of it, some bright developer had already thought of it and written it, I headed to my favorite place to find Mac software, VersionTracker.com. And pretty soon I found a couple of products that looked like they had potential. I downloaded them both.
The first one I installed was called Data Architect. After installing it I was immediately presented with a bewildering array of options, tabs and tools. After trying to figure it out for a few minutes I gave up, and installed the second one, SQLEditor. Bingo. The interface was beautiful in its simplicity. I simply started using it, and it did exactly what I imagined, without fanfare or fuss — and without giving more options than I needed or wanted. I liked the software so much, in fact, that I immediately paid the developer, Angus Hardie (who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland), the $69 bucks he was asking (even though the price is about twice what I’m used to paying for simple apps of this kind). And I invited him to join Biznik. He did, and he took some time recently to answer my questions about his platform of choice, the Macintosh, his approach to software development, and his city, Edinburgh.
Q: How and where did you learn to write software?
I’ve been using computers for years and years and I think the programming developed out of that. I think the first program I ever wrote was in Logo, which is a kind of educational language where you draw shapes, I think it was supposed to teach geometry. There was also a robot that schools sometimes had, although I don’t think our school had one, which was obviously devastating at the time.
I took various classes in school and did programming on various computers that I had access to, first in Basic and Pascal, later C, C++ and Java. Not to mention Hypercard,
Academically I have a degree in computer science from Edinburgh university, which has a great computer science and software engineering program. I learnt a great deal there, probably more than I realized at the time.
I did some web development for a while, I originally thought of doing it as the main activity of my company, but I quickly realized that I enjoyed writing software much more and went in that direction instead.
Q: I’ve always thought of Edinburgh as a place full of culture, incredible architecture and history. Is it also a great place to be a software developer?
It’s a great place to be, there are regular meetings of the BCS (British Computer Society) and other professional bodies and there are always things going on. Later this year the World Wide Web Conference is being held here.
Unfortunately wireless access is still very expensive, so I couldn’t work in a coffee shop as the people at Delicious Monster are said to do.
Edinburgh is also a great place to be because in a really short time you can be completely away from everything, there is a lot of open country around here which is nice to get away from the computers sometimes. Though I guess I should reassure my customers that I don’t spend all that much time away from them. 
Q: Your product, SQL Editor, is a example of a trend in software these days – a simple, elegant solution that does one thing well. And, I should add, is priced reasonably. Do you think this is a trend in software development, and if so, why?
Thank you! I think especially on the Mac that there has been a tendency to follow Apple, iPhoto, iWeb, Pages. They all do a few things well, rather than trying to be the kitchen sink and I think that indie mac developers have tended to follow that style.
There is also a practical aspect to it as well, writing an application that does one thing is easier and faster than writing an application that does three things, which in turn is faster and easier than writing an application that does 10 things. It’s also easier to explain to potential customers what exactly the application actually does, which means that people can slot it neatly into a mental category. Having to think up a new category, or worse, having something that could fit into several categories tends to lead to confusion.
Q: Do you focus solely on developing for the Macintosh? If so, why – aren’t you cutting yourself out of 95 percent of the market?
At the moment almost all of my development effort is on Mac OS X. I do a bit of web development work occasionally, my company website is getting a redesign at the moment for example, but this isn’t really a major thing.
The main reason is that I like the Mac platform. I was thinking about this today and I realized that I’ve been a Mac user for nearly 14 years. I first got access to a mac in 1992 when my grandfather bought one. At the time it was totally different, previously I’d been using 8 bit computers that ran Basic and the change to the graphical user interface was revolutionary. Today I still use a Mac as my main computer, and although it sits on my desk next to a windows machine, the windows machine hardly gets switched on at all.
One of the great things about the Macintosh is the online community, it’s really amazingly strong. There are dozens of websites and the whole tone is different from the linux and windows sites. That’s not to say that those are worse, but the Macintosh way just seems better to me.
Again there are also practical advantages: the number of configurations of Macintosh hardware is smaller and there is more standardization of software and drivers. Developing for windows can be more complicated, there are many more combinations that ideally you need to test against which is more difficult for a small company.
Q: Tell me a bit how you juggle running your own business with writing software. Is it just you, or do you have other people working with you? And how can a business networking group be useful to you?
At the moment it’s just me, and I try to spend most of my working time writing software, which means that business networking is really, really important. If I need something done that I can’t do then I need to find someone I trust to do it for me and I think networking groups are the way to find people to trust. I’d feel much happier going to George the graphic designer I meet regularly at the business networking group than somebody from an ad, like “G Smith – Graphic Designer – All work considered”.
Payment processing is done by a company called SWREG which deals with accepting customer payments and then sends me a payment each month, having removed VAT or sales tax. The icon for SQLEditor was designed by a great designer called Johan Basberg. And friends and family have tried early versions of the software and helped me proof read the manual. Lots of people downloaded the beta versions of SQLEditor and sent in feedback which was really amazing. Many of the suggestions have been brilliant and improved it all considerably. Without this network of people SQLEditor wouldn’t be where it is today.
I think software development is an ideas led business: the more ideas, the more business. And I tend to get ideas by talking to people. Someone may say “I wish there was something that does this”. Which generates an idea, or someone may complain about some deficiency in an existing product. It all comes together and if I can create a piece of software that meets that need, we get a mutual benefit, which is what we all want in the end.
Angus’s website is www.malcolmhardie.com