JO site

[daver6]

I love the idea of the Android app.

Halliday has an iPhone app. If he had an Android one I'd buy it. I queried the lack of Android app and was told no plans as no demand for one. Seems a bit crazy to me to neglect the biggest market in the world.

[Jeremy Oliver]

Allan,

Thanks for your thoughts.

My team had every reason to believe that we would be in full swing by now with the new site, but like a large and complex house, this site is taking some building and it is both self-evident and deeply regretful on my part that the launch date has been delayed on several occasions. I expect that we will shortly be in beta testing, and I will indeed be inviting people to participate in this phase.

Naturally, as far as I am concerned, this cannot happen quickly enough. However, we are dealing with a large development here, with features and concepts that have not been built before. Once the new site goes live, we will begin to roll out a range of new applications and features, the list of which includes some of the ideas you suggest.

My development team assures me that we will be at the beta stage shortly.

Jeremy Oliver.

[daz]

Allan,

Thanks for your thoughts.

My team had every reason to believe that we would be in full swing by now with the new site, but like a large and complex house, this site is taking some building and it is both self-evident and deeply regretful on my part that the launch date has been delayed on several occasions. I expect that we will shortly be in beta testing, and I will indeed be inviting people to participate in this phase.

Naturally, as far as I am concerned, this cannot happen quickly enough. However, we are dealing with a large development here, with features and concepts that have not been built before. Once the new site goes live, we will begin to roll out a range of new applications and features, the list of which includes some of the ideas you suggest.

My development team assures me that we will be at the beta stage shortly.

Jeremy Oliver.

The beta stage, is that the second step on the way to the zeta stage? The whole project sounds comparable to the development of the F35 strike fighter, the final product costing significantly more than initially expected and perhaps not delivering the promised performance.

[csimmo]

Thought i'd check how the site is progressing after ?? 2 years?? Still not there hey? This must be the collins class of website projects. I can only think how this is financed by JO. Ahh well, i'll stick with the next wine annual. Good luck JO, P.S I worked on a difficult software project once... not a fun experience.

[Gavin Trott]

Thought i'd check how the site is progressing after ?? 2 years?? Still not there hey? This must be the collins class of website projects. I can only think how this is financed by JO. Ahh well, i'll stick with the next wine annual. Good luck JO, P.S I worked on a difficult software project once... not a fun experience.

Seemed to start the new site, offered us previous members 'free' access to try it out.

Free access time limited, ran out after a few days, so now cannot access to see progress, or new site??

Seemed a short sighted idea to me, lost me?

.

[Brucer]

If it were me, I would be hiring a new development team. One that can actually develop things to a working order in a reasonable time.
Simply seems crazy that JO would let this fiasco go on for such a long time. (Unless he is the development team!)

[Craig(NZ)]

Oh not this thread again. It just keeps reminding me how time flies and how bullshit always stinks

[csimmo]

Jeremy,

I see the beta site is up and running. Congrats. Of course i'm keen to try this out as a previous subscriber and miss the updates of days gone by (probably missed afew good wines too). Do I need to re-subscribe or wll we get a trial period?

Kind regards
Craig

[rens]

I sent off my email for 1 month free trial (as part of the book promo) a week or so ago and have not heard back as yet. I think JO is on hoildays (which he is entitled to) so it may be a little while before you hear back.

[fluba]

I have always been a big fan of Jeremy Oliver's ratings and reviews and relied heavily on his website of new and historical tastings. After letting my web subscription lapse for a year or so out of frustration I finally re-subscribed to his new Beta site on the hope that it would be better, or at least as good as the old site.
I can't say I am impressed. It is just not very user friendly. Anyone else agree?

[wiggum]

An update 3 years after starting all of this.

Someone had mentioned JO was offering free trials of his new old site. So probably 2 1/2 months ago i tried to log in using (from memory now) my old login. The site allowed me access. So it took me a little while to get comfortable with navigating around his site but I am comfortable with it now. So my mini critique of the positives and negatives;

Positives
I have picked up at least 2 fantasic wines which i wouldn't have otherwise known about. They are Houghton Wisdom Cab 2010 and Gramps Shiraz 2010.

Negatives
He seems to be pretty slow with new release ratings, or so it seems. (to put this into context I do not have a grudge against JO but he had such a good/fantastic tasting review rate previously. Maybe too hard to keep up with). I have tried to find a few recently released wines without luck. This is why I previously subscribed, with a view to purchase when the wine was still available. Older reviews don't seem to be accessible or haven't been uploaded yet. Seems prior to 03/04 have been forgotten about. Numerical ratings are there but no reviews. I find the new way of finding the wine (with an automatic search function) a little frustrating. This might be me. I can't help but think when something is not broken don't fix it. Perhaps change for the sake of change. I enjoyed the old list on the right hand side of the main page, 'most recent reviews' or similar. This is now on a different page titled 'Wine discovery' on the left hand side and provides you a sample (i.e. half the written review) of 5 of his most recent reviews. Or is it his most recent reviews?? They are dated 7 & 8th November for 3 D'Arenburgs and 2 Katnook reviews. lastly I have his most recent book (2013) and there are reviews and ratings in the hard copy that are not yet loaded onto the web site. The Chalambar 2010 is an example of this. I do not know how long my access will last as I cannot access any membership details or expiry date etc.

However I am grateful that I have been provided an opportunity to sample his new site. I can't help but feel that it was nothing less than deserved and compensated me for the for the last period of my paid membership in 2009.

Would I subscribe again? No I think his book purchase every couple of years will do.

[daz]

It's surprising that anyone is still interested in Oliver's site. I never subscribed to any of his earlier sites, let alone the saga of his stillborn, way past accouchement latest, intended-to-be greatest. For all of the criticisms of Halliday's ratings, at least he still provides the most comprehensive online wine resource there is in Oz. Only criticism is that there are some omissions and reviews of the latest, current vintages are often not available. I just ordered a 6pk of Bleasdale Frank Potts 2009. The most recent vintage reviewed on The Wine Front was 2006, Mattinson 89+, JH 91. I'm comfortable with my order of the 2009, expect it'll reflect the JH rating of 94 which on average would be 92 or so at TWF. TWF seem to increasingly review a lot of only-just very good or slightly better overseas wines that aren't generally nor readily available to the majority of keen wine drinkers, let alone those with a mild interst in wine. Renewal of my TWF subscription is in serious doubt unless Mattinson, Walsh and Bennie decide to descend from their self-constructed pedestals and start to get back to basics. Regardless of how boring it may be to them, that's what I pay them to provide.

[Polymer]

I'm surprised he hasn't given up getting his site up.

When that kid offered to do his site for 3000 5 years ago, he should've known it wouldn't work out...

But in all seriousness, it isn't that hard to build a very good website if you put proper resources behind it. Maybe he doesn't have the resources and is trying to do it on a budget..I'm not really sure...Either way it should've been much further along than it is..

Same thing with many wine experts though...They're hopeless when it comes to technology.....Hey, I'm still sore at JH for his iPhone app...