how long before leaving TP due to lack of upgrades?

[elric]

I post this with some sadness, but maybe this post and poll will motivate Helios to respond.

[VoxEcho]

The lack of upgrades is distressing, but changing to another editor will only happen if I find an editor which has more features, and works better then TP... Not simply as a protest.

Isn’t this whole premise just a little childish?

-Echo

[joe nobody]

Hmmm. Maybe you should leave Windows - notepad hasn't been upgraded in a decade....
TextPad rocks! What more do you want??

[MudGuard]

Hmmm. Maybe you should leave Windows - notepad hasn't been upgraded in a decade....

Which is not true.

Early versions of notepad (up to Win98 or ME) were not unicode-enabled and could only load files up to 64 kB.

[elric]

Folks,
This is not childish nor petty. TextPad is a PRODUCT! I payed for it and I think I deserve to know if it is going to be updated.
The fact that some people (including myself) get emotionally attached to this piece of code, should not mask out the fact that it needs updates AND support. If it was an OSS, the story would be different.
There is no excuse for Helios not responding to questions regarding the future of this product. Including the plans to support Linux.
Just to clarify (for the ones who will protect TP's honor with their lives) : I am not demanding updates, I am asking for information about the possiblity of updates. That is all.

[s_reynisson]

This was posted by Helios last month:

I can assure all of our valued customers, that TextPad is most certainly still being developed. It may have been a while since the last upgrade, but all good things come to those who wait.

See here. I decrypt this as err... TP is still being developed and that a new version will come to err... those who wait, but that's just me!
If you're looking for a roadmap for this 30$ software then good luck to you, I don't remember seeing that for a small program like TP. (But I'd sure like one! 8) )

..snip.. I am asking for information about the possiblity of updates. That is all.

[elric]

No, I don't need a roadmap, and I don't expect one. A clear NG post would suffice. TP is significant enough in my work to be considered in future plans.

Thanks for pointing out the message you quoted.

[s_reynisson]

Agreed, but not many users depend on TP to shuch extent, guess it's up to Helios to implement some business plan for that one, should they feel the need to. For that to happen I'm guessing it would take at least several big corporate customers to lean on them!

... TP is significant enough in my work to be considered in future plans.

[jeff_schiller]

There are things I'd love to see in TP being updated:

- more than 2 splits per window (or being able to get a New Window view of the same document). I'm finding increasing need for this one.
- an actual macro scripting language (ecmascript maybe?). I can't even get their Save Macro thing to work so I can look at what the file has.

To name two.

[Tomas Eklund]

I have been looking for a TextPad replacement for quite some time but I always find that I have become so accustomed to the TextPad specific features that I become frustrated and can't work efficiently with other editors. Also, trying another editor is a lot of work and hassle so I haven't really taken very large steps away from TextPad yet.

Before using TextPad I used EditPad, which I had quite some influence on because I was one of the first users and bugged Jan (the developer) a lot with my feature requests, ideas and suggestions. It was really gratifying to have so many of your requested features implemented in your editor of choice. Later on EditPad started to suffer from really bad performance that took Jan too long to fix (he had to rewrite the editor core I believe), so I switched to TextPad. Today EditPad Pro is probably as speedy and stable as TextPad or any other editor but when I try to go back to it, I miss all those little quirks that makes TextPad so special. (I have yet to define exactly what those are though...) Another problem with EditPad is that it has become so widespread and popular that I don't get much response on my feature requests anymore. (So it's almost as bad as TextPad in that regard.)

However, it is essential that Helios starts updating TextPad on a regular basis. Over a year between minor updates is, seriuosly speaking, just too long. The list of feature requests for TextPad 5 (let's hope it's not version 4.7.4 we have been waiting so long for) is getting longer and longer each day. If a significantly improved version of TextPad isn't released soon, I will just have to face adapting to a new editor even though I don't like the idea of doing that.

No software application is ever finished, unless you by "finished" mean "dead". The day Helios decides to kill off TextPad by stating that it will no longer be developed, I truly hope they will release the source code to the public so that others can keep it alive. It's a really nice editor. It's not broken but it needs to be fixed.

EDIT: I rephrased my last sentence to better reflect my view on TextPad's current status.

[SteveH]

It's a really nice editor, but it's "broken" and it needs to be fixed.

TextPad is not 'broken' given that we all continue to use it everyday. There are a large number of feature requests and a small number of bugs (go to the known problems forum and display messages messages from the last year) but at some point a developer has to draw the line and say that version X.Y.Z is mature and bundle applicable upgrades into X+1.0.

Having said that it does appear to be a long quiet spell we are currently enduring and you are certainly not alone in continuing to look into alternatives as these are clearly developing faster. One might argue that alternative text editors are able to do this because they are earlier in their lifecycle and have got bigger changes to make.

[Tomas Eklund]

TextPad is not 'broken' given that we all continue to use it everyday.

You are right. I was just thinking of all those annoying "don't fix it if it's not broken" comments that pops up everywhere in the forums and wanted to address them in some way. I don't really think TextPad is broken - it's actually a very stable application and I love that. That's why I put the word broken within quotes. From a certain point of view I think you can say that an application that lacks important features (features you really need to get your job done) is "broken". I was never happy with my wording though, and I have now edited my first post to be less offensive and more to the point.

but at some point a developer has to draw the line and say that version X.Y.Z is mature and bundle applicable upgrades into X+1.0.

Valid point. I think everyone would be a lot happier though if Helios had made an official statement about it earlier. I didn't read this post from Helios until after I had posted (and I still don't consider it to be an official statement, they should have made it in a sticky post).

[s_reynisson]

Here's the latest post from Helios on the current development status, just to include it in this thread. See bottom message over here. Here's the main thingie from it for those who don't bother to click: "TextPad 5 is currently under development". So there!

[ds0934]

It might help to sooth everyone's feelings if Helios would at least give us a rough time frame for v5. The whole attitude of going silent and being mysterious is antagonistic and doesn't make sense if you're running a business to sell a product. If they were open source and giving it away I could live with that. But I'm trying to plan my budget for the next year and what I should do to support my development staff. They like TextPad, but they're all asking the same questions and getting the same feeling of being let down.

Say what you want, but this is not a good way to maintain a customer relationship. How about something like "Q1-06" at least. Otherwise, I may have to put the nail in the coffin and plan to buy a different product for next year. SOmething that has features being added that they've been waiting for in TP for a long time now.

The comment of "it ain't broke" is arcane and pessimistic. If we applied that to everything else, we'd live in a MUCH worse world than we have now. Software was originally conceived to be changable and flexible. The idea of "hard-coding" was considered inferior. Change is part of software products and technologies. The day that stops because "it ain't broke" is the day we all have to stay on Slackware 1.0, Windows 3.0 and BASIC. Why not use vi, EDLIN or Notepad then? They're certainly not "broke". Give me a break.

[s_reynisson]

I understand and agree with most of your points, BUT. A lot of companies base their timelines on MS timelines. The constant delaying of Vista has put a lot of MS partners up some dark creek. It's a state of "not knowing" and "do we jump and possibly loose out on some incredible Vista feature?". Surely you can't put all the blame on Helios.
TP5 has been comfirmed to be "under development". I'm guessing it will come out after Vista final beta and before Vista. A safe bet would be same Q.