how's progress?

[Kevin]

Just curious how things are going with development

[kf2]

I second that!

Actually this is something I've noticed for a while: if there is silence people start getting rather antsy and agitated. If there is some word (doesn't have to be much), things are generally calmer (one other example would be traffic jams... if only you knew why you were stopped the wait would seem a little easier!).

Please, I am not yelling or nagging... I think a personally acceptable "form of contact" is just to write one sentence every couple days. Just so people know things have not stopped. Also, don't feel the need to include probable dates, those just get people all worked up!

So, take your time, but a little 'hello' or quick update (eg, "still working, having problems") every now and then would be cool!

Thanks for the time investment,

Kevin

Kevin

[Tim Penrose]

Hello Gentleman!

I appreciate your interest very much. As you may know, I'm a software developer by profession. What you may not know is that I do contract work. The unfortunate nature of this work is that I don't know how busy I'm going to be from month to month. I had built some expectations with my preliminary timeline, and then promptly missed the date. But development of the product has never stopped. I have made significant progress, along with the little developmental-hitches that go along with software development.

Whats left to do before a beta is released?

1) Remainder of find functionality (the find feature is more powerful than your average find dialog, so this is taking some coding.

2) Help. As I've mentioned, the product is going to provide a number of runtime-output targets.. One of those is "help file".. In other words, users can simply select the help output-target, specify a filename, and generate a fully-blown help file that can be distributed royalty free with their own products. I want to use my own help generation tools, rather than buying someone elses!!! Now you know why I'm completing the find functionality before releasing a beta! The help system will be the application itself, in a read-only help-system mode.

3) Window management. I haven't yet implemented docking, though I'm within a few days of doing so.

4) Licensing. This always takes more time than it seems like it should.

5) Deployment. I am going to offer two installation methods. The first method is ClickOnce. Users simply click a button in their web browser to install. When updates are available, the application asks you if you would like to update. The second method is the traditional install.

How long do I think these items should take?

I will be very upset if it doesn't happen within the month.

Thanks for your patience,

Tim

[Tim Penrose]

PS. I apologize that I forgot to answer your concern more directly, Kevin. I will begin giving more frequent updates, even if its just to say that I’m still working on things.

[kf2]

That's fine... small updates (regularly) are great!

Kevin