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Meet the Developer - Ep 2 : Alfonso Presa - Part 1

Today we chat to Alfonso Presa who has given us some great apps like ThrottleLauncher, ThrottleLock, etc. People who are in to customizing the look and feel of Windows Mobile would have definitely come across ThrottleLauncher. You can find all his apps on his website : throttlelauncher.com. Thanks for chatting with us mate.

Tell us a bit about yourself ?

I’m Alfonso Presa (aka. APBilbo) from Madrid, Spain. I’m 27 years old and I work on IT. Currently I’m on a project in a multinational bank working on web development over Fatwire.

Tell us a bit about Throttle Apps?

To be honest I never intended to start a “big” project like ThrottleApps… It most of happened on the run :-). It all started one day when I was trying to customize my Herald (around December 2007)… I was searching for the perfect freeware UI and I realized that there where lot’s of great apps out there but none of them was complete. rltoday was customizable but very hardly and themes where fixed to the point that you have to change the files to suit it to your needs, MortButtons was a perfect launcher but it was fixed to some buttons in a grid layout, the cube was very cool but very limited in space (only 9 contacts, only 9 apps, etc), HTC Home was good but functionality was fixed. I thought, hey I just want a simple kinetic scrolling row of icons… what a good chance to learn C#! Then I released a proof of concept app on XDA and people started asking for clocks, registry info, etc… An that’s how ThrottleLauncher was born :).

About ThrottleLock, I seen someone’s post at XDA asking if it was possible to make something like the Android lock for Windows Mobile… I though… “Hey! that can be funny!!”… and there it is!

What mobile devices do you own and use?

All ThrottleApps where developed for my “little” Herald but I got an Omnia i900 recently. I always test my apps on both of them.

How can we contact you ? ( twitter, facebook, etc )

I’m not a fan of IM applications or social networks… I prefer forums and email (I feel I’m starting to get old… I’m sticked in the old technology). I’ve a facebook account though ;), but I just check it from time to time. You can always find me at my web’s forum…

Are you going to list your Apps on the WM MarketPlace ?

I will have to see which conditions does Microsoft offer in order to get your app listed. I don’t like how microsoft handle homebrew developments… if you want your software to be distributed without the user to get a warning about unknown software provided you have to send your app and pass through “Microsoft’s controls”… If that’s a precondition to get my apps published there I will definitely not do it…

What are your thoughts on WM MarketPlace ?

From the user’s point of view I think it’s a great idea to have a software catalog where you can access and download with just one click (just like linux systems has the apt catalog). Though I think this can kill the new developers creativity and will give Microsoft the complete control over WM software… If they don’t like it or if it’s against their policy they can remove it and no one will ever known of it’s existence… May be I’m a little bit paranoid here :-D.

Any plans to expand to other platform like Android , iPhone ?

Some time ago I started porting ThrottleLauncher to Android platform but I didn’t have too much time for it and that project is currently abandoned… Any way I like developing mobile apps and I don’t discard developing for those platforms someday if ever I get a device to test on :-). May be when 1.0 arrives… who knows ;).

How many hrs a week do you spend on WM development ?

Depends on the week… but it may be arround 20/30 hours… I also have to provide support and documentation for the apps ;-).

How many hours have you put into ThrottleLauncher ?

Many many more than my girlfriend would have liked :-). It has been about a year and a half of work so I guess it may be arround 1200 hours.