Definitely getting Deja vu!

Sorry, I missed earlier post.

A carrier pigeon with a degree.

It's a shame it can't be tested if people are willing to pay a little extra and some one is willing do do the app for free (ish) don't see how that can be a problem , or another idea just start a new forum/app not too hard too do as I no a few people how could set me/someone

You can make an app for free from ipone you sent it to them so I been reading

I'm really trying to make this read nicely, but no matter how many ways i try it reads as somewhat aggresive to me. That is truly not how it is intended. Mods if this is unacceptable, please feel free to delete/ smack my bottom etc.

aarongs, you keep mentioning "people" paying a little extra to subsidize an app you want, yet it seems that you yourself have been on here since 12/05/11 and your name's still in blue? Why would anyone else pay when they don't have to?

Well do it then.

It does seem that charlie_croker has already suggested a no-cost solution if you do have a problem accessing the forum on your phone.

That's the point you don't have to pay and you get the same benefits dont you apart from you can't gain asses to members section, I'm not in anyway trying to put the site down, as I spend most my day in and out for the forum like I said its was only a idea.

No you don't get the same benefits.

For example members get discounts from suppliers up to and including being able to buy new Fiat cars at the discounted prices they offer their employees - typically around £2.5k from the price of a new Fiat Punto.

Members get priority when it comes to taking part in club-organised events such as SpaItalia,and Curborough, together with (almost) free insurance against damage to to trackside equipment at Spa.
At non-track events organised by the club, members are protected by insurance against 3rd party claims for any accidental damage they may cause.

As a non-member you don't get access to the complete coupe workshop manual either, you only get to use a partial copy missing an entire volume.

Long term members also get the opportunity to vote at the AGM where the way the club is run is decided. They can even stand for election to the board and help run the club if they wish to give the time.

Which has prompted me to notice that my club membership has expired

Fill in the form on the "join the club" link on the top left of the page then please Mick if you can't find the renewal link which was sent to you earlier.

Ah sorry skimmed past that bit, my apologies

Regs Alex

To be honest, I don't think most people pay the membership fee to be "protected by insurance against 3rd party claims for any accidental damage they may cause" at non-track events or for most of the other reasons listed.

I think people join the club and pay the £15 because they want to make a contribution as the forum is very resourceful and if you take, you should also put back in.

Therefore I think that suggestions like a forum app or a chat room for instance shouldn't just be dismissed, especially if someone offers to do it for free or knows someone who does.

I think B's comments about joining the club is largely correct for most people.

I also agree that an offer of an application is unlikely to be dismissed - but the big 'but' is that the people running the club (come along to an AGM and meet them sometime!) are all volunteers and have neither the expertise to create such an application nor the time to liaise with someone who may have, no matter how noble their intentions.

I do software (and hardware) development in the day job, doing some pretty esoteric stuff right on the bare metal. Nonetheless, I wouldn't even *look* at such an application unless you were prepared to pay my professional consulting rates... and most of you couldn't afford them.

As I mentioned earlier, I developed the widget and the various incarnations of startrek because *I* had a need. I made them available - startrek in particular - so that coupe owners (and a few others with similar engine control units) could benefit - and I give startrek away, source code and all if you want it, unlike, say, FiatECUScan. Which is not a criticism of FES, just that he's done even more work than I did, and extended it in a direction I had neither the time, the resources, or the desire to do.

Asking for 'some software' on the assumption that it's easy is unlikely to win many friends among software engineers. It's *not* easy, trust me on that. Certainly, most of the basic functionality is there in standard libraries - but your developer still has to know those libraries, know how to use them, know the bugs and pitfalls... and when he's finished, he'll still have nothing more than you get from Firefox or one of the other browsers. And it will have cost him a fortune in time and effort.

The club's not going to do it, and if it even hinted that it was thinking about it I'd be on the PM to them to advise strongly against it. I appreciate that the OP may not have the software skills to create such an application (if he had, he would not have asked, he'd have *done* it, or realised why it's a bad idea) but in general, if you want software you have to either find something good enough already, pay someone to do it, or roll your own.

In this case, as demonstrated by a number of smartphone users upthread, the existing browsers do all that most folk need.

I totally agree with what you are saying there, although it is also more important than you seem to think that a member should be protected from potentially huge 3rd party liability claims when attending club events.

If you really want to put something back into the forum, perhaps you could volunteer some of your time.



There is a chat room available for anyone who wants to use it, very few seem to.

It would be silly for the club to spend our members' money on something for which an alternative already exists such as this app.

If an individual or group of individuals wish to do so using their own resources, that is up to them.

Perhaps an app could be useful, not one to browse the forums as such but possibly one that works like this with various sections:

1. History of the Coupe, with some photos and video etc.
2. Buying guide
3. Useful info like various bulb types, fluids, pressures etc.
4. Maintenance guide and intervals
5. My Coupe wont start. with flowchart etc.

But i don't think that's a project for the Club but should an individual choose to that's different.

On a separate but related subject, for some years a Coupe Book has been muted and talked about, I recall someone actually getting some info from Chris Bangle. But it never seemed to arrive, or if it did, I never saw it.
Perhaps an ebook would be more useful than an app and would certainly be easier to produce and distribute.

Yes, it is going off at a tangent, but it is worth mentioning that the person who took the information collected by forum members disappeared having done nothing with it.

The club is trying to get the material back.

I can't say I am surprised, I thought it was not looking good.
Pity as an ebook could be created quite quickly and be quite stunning http://www.apple.com/ibooks-author/ lets you create some pretty amazing publications. (Though I would prefer standard epub for compatibility with other devices)

I can format a standard epub book... Calibre, Open(Libre) Office, and Sigil between them will do all that is necessary.

Not wanting to cause an eruption here but I find most apps are useless.

I use my phone web browser for eBay,my bank,and various other sites as the apps are intrusive and rather limited in there functions.

Further to that I don't agree with the ever growing poor literacy and grammar that phones create on forums.
For those on computers it doesn't make good reading.
But as its the future its inevitable it will flourish in time.

You also have to show the queens head alot to get these.

Not cheap and money can be best spent elsewhere IMO .

+1. At least I assume it's the phone, and not the operator!

Don't agree with me as it makes me feel uncomfortable.

So does a plus interior come to think of it

This is how i see it. I dont know what the intercourse you are on about !

I know i am in the minority,but hey my vote counts here at least !

Unfortunately in the "Post PC era" with more and more mobile devices sold and declining sales of Personal Computers, it is likely that Apps and "phones/tablets/NG devices" will be the future of net communication.

Apple allegedly sold more iPads in Q4 of 2011 than worldwide computer sales. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/post-pc-era-means-mass-extinction-for-personal-computer-oems/20514 for more

Surly a better option than a bespoke FCCUK app that would be specific to each platform (iPhone/Android/Windows etc) would be to have responsive site with a mobile specific style sheet?

We've already got multiple skins for the site, Kayjey, Koniro, White and the default theme. We could add to the CSS file a theme that hides any unnecessary parts of the forum (signatures, avatars etc), simplifies the sidebar and post layout if it detects you're browsing on a mobile device.

In theory it would be less work than an app to get pretty much the same results - a mobile friendly forum.

I'd be happy to spend some time working on it if its something the club would want to look into.

What i see here is;

horse, dead, flogging

That is a suggestion with a lot of merit.