Re: Why Compete With Poker Tracker?
I have to agree with Sniper, you should drop the Peer-to-Peer file sharing, at least for Party. Your product looks professional and I'm sure you've put a lot of work into it, the last thing you want is for it to get screwed over because of Party. I really don't think there is any difference between PE and peer-to-peer sharing. Sharing files is sharing files. I don't personally have a problem with it, but be ready for backlash, not just from Party, but the "purists" who will flame your product.
As for taking on PokerTracker, I'm not sure that it is doomed. People do have a lot of time invested in PT and are accustomed to the interface, but the PT interface really isn't intuitive or that easy to use.
Your product has good performance and the main interface is pretty intuitive.
You have two big problems right now.
1) Support from other rooms. You know this and are working on it I'm sure.
2) The HUD. You're using a separate window instead of drawing on the Poker window like PV and PA do. GameTime+ uses separate windows but I think they make a parent relationship where you are using an owner relationship. This works well except for the jerking when you move the screen. PokerScores actually does the same thing, except they hide the window when you drag the table so you don't see the overlay jerking around.
I wouldn't really focus on the HUD much. I would work with someone like PokerAce and just add support for your product to it. This will ultimately help you get customers from PT who want to keep their HUD settings. Writing a good HUD will take a lot more effort. I think you should focus on getting other poker rooms up and running.
Firebird is a heavy duty db, so performance shouldn't be a problem. I tested version 1.0 and it was still buggy, but 1.5, which you are using, is supposed to be much better (so i've read).
One thing that is annoying is the popping up of the Hand History window. You can just read the file from the PartyPoker directory to acheive the same result.
Overall, you've got a decent product with a lot of potential. Good luck.
Jack
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