> The server hosting my application has failed twice in the last month
> (for about 3hrs each time) which I'm upset about, but there's nothing
> I can do (of course it hadn't failed for at least 6 weeks _before_ the
> deadline). If a judge had attempted to use the application during one
> of these periods they would have received a red message box warning
> them of the problem on the application's home screen (this was also
> explained in the supplied readme). It seems very unlikely (and
> unlucky) that two judges would have tested the application at these
> times; even more unfortunate if they are given an explicit warning
> that there was a problem connecting to the server but chose to
> disregard it.
Well, how do you know if wasn't down more than 3 hrs each time?
> What troubles me more is that the part of the application that is
> usable without a camera feed, barcode publishing, does not appear to
> have been tested either, even though it's a very accessible part of
> the application. One judge published one barcode. Is that the testing
> that an application which took 6 months to write merits?
Judges are not testers. i.e. The judge will not go through every
single feature to verify that it works. This is what I think is really
happening. First they read the first pages of your manual, or at least
the introduction (or watch a video demo if you have one) to understand
what your application is about. Based on this they'll know how to
rate it for the inovation criteria. Second, they may open it just to
check out the GUI. If they really like it they may explore more of
your app. However, if all it's doing is just scanning a bar code then
they believe you that it does that and they don't verify it
themselves. Or it could just be that your application failed and it
didn't allow the judge to continue. Only way to know for sure is to
ask the judges.
If you provided a video it could be that they are relying heavily on
that do rate your application and just opening your app for a minute
or two to verify that your app opens. I know I would if I had 76
applications to judge and running out of time.