I have a big announcement to make. For the first time ever, iFixit is branching out from our core business of selling parts and tools. We’re going to start selling software—the same software that we use to run iFixit. This is something that astute observers may have expected from the development, and success, of Make: Projects.
User manuals are stuck in the 20th century. Even the best manuals are still distributed as static PDFs. Service technicians are often stuck with documentation that is months, if not years, out of date. Users hate IKEA-style manuals with vague instructions, confusing graphics, and no photos.
We started iFixit with the idea that there was a better way—that useful documentation could help people do amazing things.
Our intuitive, step-by-step repair manuals changed the world. Millions of people have fixed their own electronics using iFixit’s manuals—making it the most popular service documentation platform ever created.
Today, we are announcing Dozuki: the software behind iFixit’s manuals. We’re taking the site that you all know and love, and turning the technology behind it into software products that we’re going to sell to manufacturers. Dozuki has two products, Guidebook and Answers. Check it out at dozuki.com, and let me know what you think.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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Great idea, but I’m a little put off by the cost. $99 for a small startup company with a handful of products is a lot of money, compared to creating a document in word and PDF’ing it. I know Dozuki is more than that, but minimum requirements are a pdf. (you can drive a fiat to work, rather than a ferrari…)
If Dozuki had a lower cost plan for small startups (at around $15 per month) for around 10 manuals, I would be in like a shot.
Just to show that I’m not a complete tight *ss when it comes to cloud-based software, I’m actually a paying subscriber to http://www.aligni.com – a great tool for component management.
Great idea, but I’m a little put off by the cost. $99 for a small startup company with a handful of products is a lot of money, compared to creating a document in word and PDF’ing it. I know Dozuki is more than that, but minimum requirements are a pdf. (you can drive a fiat to work, rather than a ferrari…)
If Dozuki had a lower cost plan for small startups (at around $15 per month) for around 10 manuals, I would be in like a shot.
Just to show that I’m not a complete tight *ss when it comes to cloud-based software, I’m actually a paying subscriber to http://www.aligni.com – a great tool for component management.
Cheers
/Rochey