I Apologize to the Matterport Developer Team2640
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 WGAN ForumFounder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
Matterport's #1 Fan Dan Smigrod Dear Matterport Developer Team, I apologize that you had to spend your time disabling the functionality of: ✓ MP2SQFT Beta Square Feet/Meters Calculator Tool by @Metroplex360 ✓ MatterPoint XYZ Point Cloud Download Tool by @Metroplex360 ✓ 2D Furniture Planner Tool for Matterport Models by @Metroplex360 ✓ Howner.com Workshop by @bonduell You have created an amazing platform that has inspired Members of the WE GET AROUND FORUM to create tools to leverage your accomplishments. And we have been supportive of their efforts by promoting these FREE tools in the Forum that is now viewed by more than 10,000 Visitors monthly. As the-best-of-the-best engineers, I can imagine that you  creativity and innovation. I can not imagine what it must be like to spend your time disabling your innovative functionality to break other talented developers initiatives to build on your success.For platforms to succeed faster - for Matterport to succeed faster, Matterport need a talented pools of 3rd party developers excited, willing and able to build out new and exciting solutions. In some ways, pulling the plug feels like Apple disabling third-party developers to create apps. That's something that we could never imagine happening. Yet Matterport did exactly that. If I sound frustrated, I am. And, I am frustrated on behalf of 1,800 Forum Members in 73 countries that also love and adore your platform and were just starting to love and adore these third-party solutions that addressed pain-points and opportunities. Anyway, I apologize that you (probably) worked on the least exciting project - disabling functionality - that you could ever have hoped to work on. That's valuable engineering time, quality control time, testing time and leadership and management time that could have focused on new innovations sooner. Innovation is a messy process writes In Search of Excellence Author Robert H. Waterman Jr. Even if Matterport leadership was not happy with the third-party implementations, letting these solutions live would have enabled great, real-time learning for Matterport simply by listening to its customers. Friday, 16 September 2016 is not a good day for Matterport. Not a good day for its talented team and not a good day for the Matterport community. Somedays, it's hard to be Matterport's #1 Fan. Best, Dan |
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alx3D private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Chris is an all star and Matterport would be well served to put him on the payroll. This is a man you want working with you, not against you. | ||
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Frisco, Texas |
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Moved to new thread https://www.wegetaroundnetwork.com/topic/2642/cancelled-matterport-2d-furniture-planner/ | ||
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Cleveland, OH |
CLE3D private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Well said Dan. Hopefully you'll at least be heard... | ||
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suncoastskyview private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Excellent post, Dan. It needed to be said. For them to stifle innovation and creativity is to steer Matterport corporation onto the rocks. I hope they reconsider their viewpoint. Best, Rick Odato Sarasota |
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pirusan private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @DanSmigrod The good thing is that now they can go ahead and spend their valuable time in marketing to our same customers in the same market segment, trying to unload on them MP cameras at a discount. I cannot be more excited. (?) Gus Inspirational Views |
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 WGAN StandardMember Las Vegas |
VTLV private msg quote post Address this user | |
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suncoastskyview private msg quote post Address this user | |
| You're right, Gus. Marketing MP sales directly to Realtors probably will not be a good idea for Matterport -or- for us. The Realtors in this area who have tried it discovered that the camera is blindingly expensive, and using it is tedious, boring work that ties up the time that they should spend on selling houses. MP cameras once owned by Realtors tend to be sold on the used market pretty quickly. You and I know that it would be in MP's best interest to cultivate good working relationships with the photographers instead of doing an end-run and stabbing us in the back. Think it over, Matt. |
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Helen private msg quote post Address this user | |
| More and More I look forward to seeing NcTech's launch of their VR camera and it's capabilities it seems capable of 3D. Scheduled for next year at an announced starting point of $500. Matterport should have a similar philosophy to their's as technology advances they will not be the only one's in the market. "NCTech make great tools for business but also recognise that customers want interconnected solutions. Wherever possible NCTech are keen to integrate with third-party industry standard technologies to create customer focussed solutions, providing maximum user value and minimum deviation from existing workflow. This philosophy is manifest both through the use of industry standard formats wherever possible and also by offering open access software development kits (SDK’s) which enable NCTech’s unique capabilities to be incorporated into existing 3rd party solutions and software platforms. The NCTech SDK is simple to use and integrate for developers, with some functions having been implemented into third party software in less than a day." |
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ron0987 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I would just like to see Matterport put as much effort and speed into developing the ideas they released and focus on getting them published. It took forever to get Mattertags out, the developers tools for building 3d models advertise over two years ago still not on line. But the tools developed aftermarket have been shut down in weeks. Maybe they either embrace the input and accept it or work faster to take ideas we have spoken about and as users want developed. It seems the easiest way is shut down all ideas and input but like Helen pointed out when do user get fed up and move to another platform just for the easy of use and company support. Sooner or later Matterport will not be able to say they are the only tool on the market. I also see like we have pointed out in the past that it is hard to get Matterport to except input even if it is help like tools Metroplex360 developed or just good ideas. This again is very frustrating. I also feel we are being held hostage even if a new system is out because we all have hundreds of models hosted by them, so there is no urgency to move forward. For us even if we moved to a new platform we would have to continue to pay support fees until we could move to a new tool. again very frustrating. |
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WGAN Forum Founder & WGAN-TV Podcast Host Atlanta, Georgia |
DanSmigrod private msg quote post Address this user | |
| In addition to Matterport disabling these tools on Friday, 16 September 2016 ... Quote: Originally Posted by @DanSmigrod Matterport asked two developers to take down their Matterport to Google Street View solutions: ✓ MP2SV (backstory) ✓ MP2GSV (backstory) Dan P.S. Any other solutions that can disabled or Matterport ask to take down? |
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RGO private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Dan MP is so slow to create what 3rd party enthusiasts create quickly. What is going to happen, is that MP by changing CODE, it will piss off so many people, it will open a market opportunity for someone else to create a 3D system like MP with all kinds of options and then see how fast people leave MP. Too bad, but MP is the best out there, but playing games just to keep money flowing in……when 3rd party people will only expand the landscape….getting real estate agents to fully see this Technology working, which means….MORE SCANS…..MORE MONEY in MP pockets. Sad….. Keep up the fight Dan |
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 WGAN BasicMember New Brighton, PA |
frstbubble private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Business basics... Third party development=more uses for a product More uses for a product= selling more hardware and hosting Selling more hardware and hosting = more $$$$$ Seems to me Matterport is shooting themselves in the foot?!? |
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fsmith private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Matterport's focus seems to be on selling high-margin hardware (the cameras) to new customers rather than creating a better overall product and service which will make its existing customers happy :-( As the competition (hardware/service) continues to reduce price and improve experience and quality, Matterport had better watch out. |
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WGAN Standard Member Las Vegas |
VTLV private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Yeah, I just got another email focused on camera sales while they pull the 3rd party ideas off the shelf. Maybe I should go monthly this time around instead of paying yearly. I got about 2 weeks to decide. | ||
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Frisco, Texas |
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| I hate to be Mr. Sunshine - but I have to say, the high price of the Matterport camera has benefits for both parties. #1) It funds Matterport which has employees, R+D and marketing costs. #2) It provides a hedge to reduce our competition by pricing out a lot of people from the market -- thus we stand to gain more from the exclusivity. It's an expensive club with benefits for exclusivity. |
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Chris private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Metroplex360, I'm assuming you must know a lot more about what's happening at Matterport than the rest of us. I say this because of the NDA you previously mentioned and in every post you defend a company that from what I can tell has taken down every tool you've made for the community. I can only hope that they are planning on introducing these same features in the very near future and that's why they've taken those actions. If so it's understandable, but if you could ask that they deliver on these features sooner rather than later, it would be greatly appreciated by all.  |
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Frisco, Texas |
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user | |
| @Chris I signed an NDA when I joined the beta program like many people and there's absolutely nothing going on there. I am defending Matterport within reason. I absolutely love my camera and am experiencing success in providing matterport services to my clients. I love the matterport capture app and am a huge fan of the programming behind the entire platform. Matterport killed some projects that were based on using data that requires hijacking their platform to access which was a violation of the terms of service. They could have been a lot uglier about things, but instead they fixed the sloppiness that made these files accessible. I am taking their words at surface value. They have started that they want to foster an environment for third party developers. Great. I will rally behind that and be first in line to participate. I do feel that I have contributed to the wake up call that matterport is behind on bringing us a lot of features and functionality that they have written about on their website such as an API. Another thing. I can make educated guesses on what they are working on by analysing the workshop code. This is against terms of service and if they were [very bad people] that would be threatening many of us for even taking about that. There is only one area that I am not happy with and that is section 7 of the terms of service. I believe that we are all entitled to download full copies of our tours and all camera data and that US Copyright law on regards to photography guarantees this to us. I do believe that this needs to change and that services like mp2sv, mp2vr and howner sounds be allowed to peacefully exist. I want to amicably find a way to petition a proper review of that. All of the files that were removed were byproducts of matterport processing our tours based on camera data. I have no more right to that stuff than I do to @bonduell providing me with an explanation of how he mapped the sweep locations to the floorplan on his platform. That impressed me to no end. I even tried to disassemble his code to figure it out and could not. So consider that. What if I cloned howner workshop and used it for personal gain? Kinda crap, right? What if the matterport development team was working on their own sqft calculation tool for us and I pulled the results of their labor our from underneath them and acted like Robin Hood? Kinda crap, right? I don't know what matterport is planning to do next or what that data is being calculated for. I just know that I am willing to trust that the same brilliant developers who made matterport showcase have plans for it. Summsty. I am really curious, think that matterport is an amazing product, respect other developers and think that matterport terms of service needs serious work and review. |
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fsmith private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Metroplex360 I think you are being optimistically naive if you think Matterport can get these features that they just killed out in their products within the next 6 months to year. A few reasons I think this: 1. look at their track record - e.g. how long did it take to get out basic Mattertags and how long after that to get out links in Mattertags (still not officially released BTW) 2. they probably have other higher priorities than worrying about the small customers - e.g. enterprise customers such as Redfin, apartments.com, Vacasa and Airbnb. The features to support these will therefore get priority. 3. it won't help sell cameras - if so, then only marginally Love to be proven wrong :-) |
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Frisco, Texas |
Metroplex360 private msg quote post Address this user | |
Totally fine being optimistically naive  . But still want terms of service to be made compliant with copyright law as first priority voluntarily on matterports part. |
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grmngrl private msg quote post Address this user | |
| This proprietary attitude will get a lot of user jumping ship as soon as something else comes along. We are in a time of exponential change of technology and only the most user friendly and adaptable companies will survive if they also can manage to easy upgrade their products cost-effectively. The main problem is ignoring user needs and permitting alternative solutions because they can not be monetized. Which makes btw. no apparent sense since Matterport did not plan on monetizing on Google Street View service in the first place. I am not a familiar wit the law, but is it really violating copyright and against the T&C that a 360° image that is obviously not hosted by matterport? To my understanding any image is in the ownership of the photographer taken unless otherwise specified. So why can I not have my 360° jpeg? It is not that Ricoh owns my 360°'s or nikon my other images correct? I am just trying to understand the logic behind this system. Maybe someone can help me figure it out. |
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grmngrl private msg quote post Address this user | |
| Oh and I forgot to add. It is not about cloning and stealing somebody's workshop. It is about innovation, improvement and expanding service to the need of the customers. Example: web browsers Are they cloned? No Do they do the same thing? Yes Do I have to use Safari with my Mac? No Is this a better user experience? Yes Would Matterport be better of with being open source? Yes! They cold save their money on developing disabling feature for real innovation. |
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