this post is going to be about our release policy. Some people here, are aware of the policy and philosophy, but some are confused. Many people, whether here on the forums, or directly by mail, have asked when we will release 1.0. The answer from us always the same: we don’t know. The thing is, that, after several missed release dates and estimations, we moved to feature-based planning. Our roadmap has no dates, just features and versions. I will publish current roadmap soon, but until then, I’d like to make clear what stages are waiting for us. Currently, as you know, we are in alpha stage, constantly moving towards beta stage. But what does it mean?

Well, the current alpha stage means for us building of features. So we are planning, designing and implementing features along with fixing them. The crucial point here is to keep stability on the highest possible level, to give you more pleasure of testing by using, not by trying. We ourselves are still trying various changes of the development cycle. Our latest, and most important, change is to limit the feature count for each release. The 0.3.5 is last of the big releases, because we are changing the background UI-layer and also implementing features to keep up with the roadmap. So when you get 0.3.5, it will be like getting 0.3.2-0.3.5 versions pointed in a roadmap. After the 0.3.5, each minor version (milestone) contains a little set of features, so the release rate will significantly increase. After the alpha, the beta comes.

Now, somebody may think, that with current rate of delivering the milestones, there is going to be 65 more milestones (from 0.3.5 to 1.0.0), but that ain’t true. By the current roadmap, we will be entering beta stage at 0.5.0. The beta stage means, that we will stop adding more features (only those really needed, nor considered yet) and this is where the pre-payment comes to the game. The beta stage should be a short one. We will implement all pending optimizations over all the features, and keep removing any bugs you may come to.

And after beta, 1.0 is here. This is where we are now heading to. However, it does not mean that we are going to stop. There is a whole bunch of features planned up to 1.5 all based on the current code, so no global changes (as changing the UI backend) are planned (we have to do global changes now).

Now: *Why oh why is development so slow?”. It is not slow, actually. Many of you currently love how Intype is fast, simple, and powerful in comparing to our competitors. This approach requires many design cycles, mockups and discussions. Also, we like to have the beauty not only on front-end, but also in the code itself. So every time we find something that can be changed, that can give us a lot more maneuvering space, we go for it, and we squeeze as much juice as possible. The same is happening to 0.3.5.

I hope that you are going to attend our discussions here, in News section, and give us your opinions on features we are about to implement.

i’m looking in “UNSTABLE..” every day and waiting, like many others I think.

gl.

Intype is fast, simple, and powerful in comparing to our competitors

Fast and simple, and even beautiful, but not as powerful as competitors: both E and sublime text editors have scripting support. This is the one feature I wait from Intype.

About release policy. Just look on releases of sublime text, one of your competitors. Author doesn’t give time estimates for releases, but every week we have at least one beta, and it gives users understanding on what are current plans, development speed etc. E has similar release policy. And this doesn’t contradict to “many design cycles, mockups, and discussions”. Quite the contrary – users get involved in this process.

mvm: I don’t really enjoy comparing to competition (I was just summarizing opinion of the community) — I feel we are different in the philosophy and attitudes in many development aspects. The thing that we have to work is to merge our style with your expectations. There is one thing I forgot to mention in this post, that is really important (shame on me). We are planning to merge the Unstable and Stable branches to create one primary et recommended branch. The Unstable releases are rarely unstable, and if, the fix is available within days. Together with merging these two, we will publish the Cutting-Edge releases, that are similar to what you call “weekly builds”. We’d like to do a test drive with 0.3.5 and full drive with 0.4 (together with a new site).

I like that intype is rock solid and i think for an editor this is crucial. When you are in the “zone” writing error free code :) and bam the editor crashes it really kills your mood.

So i can put my money in this intype business. For if it maintains the standard as it is it will be the de facto editor for WIndows.

I develop software doing mostly user interface work and we deploy a release every week no matter what. Of course we make sure stuff isn’t broken, but having 2-4 weeks of bug fixes isn’t abnormal, it’s welcomed more than anything. So +1 for a rigorous release schedule.

dangdang: I know that feeling. When the last OS X was released I have almost sold my PC to get an iMac. Like you I just couldn’t do it. I don’t like their pricing policy and I don’t like Steve Jobs too much ;)

brakszysz: Link related: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=269.

I hope that it doesn’t end like the story ends. :D

brakszysz: Link related: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=269.

I’m afraid that strip hits the nail pretty good :D.

http://www.e-texteditor.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2767&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

There are SO MANY people that like Intype. The discuss it on the e -texteditor’s forums, and most of them are always switching back to intype because of bugs in e. C’mon comments like:

“It will blow you away. I am a paid E customer but if you look at where Intype is in the last forum release you will see that it is on track to overtake E in stability and features. They are only a few days away from the next big release that may make me leave E for good. “

... on the competition’s forums should be a very strong motivator here :) Dont let us down, go compile a release EVEN if it has a glitch or two or a missing feature.