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> That said, this is basically what mobile developers do constantly. When you buy a "lifetime" license the software basically gets abandoned and a new version c

> That said, this is basically what mobile developers do constantly. When you buy a "lifetime" license the software basically gets abandoned and a new version comes out where you get updates. While I never encountered this (there simply aren’t many apps I use), I regularly encounter this in completely free apps. Like my supermarket’s app. There’s a new version, that’s almost identical, slightly rearranged interface. Only one of them gets updated now. What?

whatsdoom 4y ago
I think sometimes this happens to reset the reviews. If the score gets to low, they just publish a new app. Or they fix an issue that people have been complaining about for a while. Maybe they want to increase ad spend and those 1 stars from three years ago make it hard to promote?
- eropple 4y ago
  IME, review resets are definitely part of it, but not all. The other big one is "we lost control of the app namespace when we fired $vendor and while it may be ours (and sometimes we agreed to bad deals where it's not), we don't know how to get it back."
- Semaphor 4y ago
  Old app [0]: 4.6 stars 45.3K reviews New app [1]: 4.4 stars 13.8K reviews And they also seem to have enough rights left to actually upgrade the old app’s icon with "old app" in German. [0]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rewedigital.shop https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rewedigita... [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.rewe.app.mobile https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.rewe.app.mo...
muttled 4y ago
I've done outsourced IT work for a bunch of small companies. What I've seen so often was something like "we had a very talented programming intern who built this whole thing and then (went back to college | got a new job | accidentally deleted the codebase). So this time we went with an agency, but they called all the code garbage and said we need a complete re-write so now we have two systems we're moving between".
- Semaphor 4y ago
  It’s one of the biggest supermarket chains in Germany, though. Not exactly a start-up. And it was even very well reviewed.
  - drdaeman 4y ago
    The larger the enterprise the longer and more distant (and in some cases, more prone to corruption) is decision-making chain, the crappier the contractors ;) There are obvious exceptions, but that's just how it is in practice.

whatsdoom 4y ago

I think sometimes this happens to reset the reviews. If the score gets to low, they just publish a new app. Or they fix an issue that people have been complaining about for a while. Maybe they want to increase ad spend and those 1 stars from three years ago make it hard to promote?

eropple 4y ago
IME, review resets are definitely part of it, but not all. The other big one is "we lost control of the app namespace when we fired $vendor and while it may be ours (and sometimes we agreed to bad deals where it's not), we don't know how to get it back."
Semaphor 4y ago
Old app [0]: 4.6 stars 45.3K reviews New app [1]: 4.4 stars 13.8K reviews And they also seem to have enough rights left to actually upgrade the old app’s icon with "old app" in German. [0]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rewedigital.shop https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rewedigita... [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.rewe.app.mobile https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.rewe.app.mo...

muttled 4y ago

I've done outsourced IT work for a bunch of small companies. What I've seen so often was something like "we had a very talented programming intern who built this whole thing and then (went back to college | got a new job | accidentally deleted the codebase). So this time we went with an agency, but they called all the code garbage and said we need a complete re-write so now we have two systems we're moving between".

Semaphor 4y ago
It’s one of the biggest supermarket chains in Germany, though. Not exactly a start-up. And it was even very well reviewed.
- drdaeman 4y ago
  The larger the enterprise the longer and more distant (and in some cases, more prone to corruption) is decision-making chain, the crappier the contractors ;) There are obvious exceptions, but that's just how it is in practice.