Is TextPad still being developed?

[kengrubb]

I intend to sit idle on this fund raiser.

[SteveH]

If the Textpad developers don't respond (and I fully expect them not to respond), then the Kickstarter fund could be used to implement a Textpad replacement with all the basics of Textpad, but open-source and actively developed by the community.

Something has to change, because 6.0 is too little, too late. Or we could just wait around for 7.0, in say 4 or 5 more years, no doubt still without UTF-8 support.

I would come back to the point I keep making on this issue. As users we don't have a right to future updates. If the application continues to meet our needs we may choose to carry on using it and, if not, we are free to go elsewhere.

Complaining about the future development of TextPad is like hating a television programme and posting about it on Twitter. There are other channels available

The Kickstarter idea works well where one needs a finite amount a money to push a product through a manufacturing cycle. It's going to be tricky approaching a business with a conversation that begins "If we manage to raise $5,000 will you...". As for the viability of this approach and costs involved, I would suggest it's worth looking at the funds raised to convert the excellent programming font Pragmata Pro to a creative commons licence.

[Tomas Eklund]

I think you're splitting semantic hairs.

I'm sorry. I just used your comment as a springboard to leap into another discussion entirely. No offense taken, I hope.

I would come back to the point I keep making on this issue. As users we don't have a right to future updates. If the application continues to meet our needs we may choose to carry on using it and, if not, we are free to go elsewhere.

Complaining about the future development of TextPad is like hating a television programme and posting about it on Twitter. There are other channels available

I think the comparison is somewhat flawed. While it's true that watching and/or complaining about bad TV is a waste of time (I haven't even had TV since 2004), many of us using TextPad need a text editor for our daily work. It's not like we could all shut down our computers and go read a book instead.

Maybe we don't (technically) have a right to future updates, but we do have a right to express our opinions and concerns. TextPad is, for many of us, what a hammer* is to a carpenter. Sure, there are other brands of hammers, but TextPad is the only one that feels good in the hand. Too bad it can't be used with 2½ or 4 inch nails, nor on drywall or outdoors...

While I think the Kickstarter fund raiser idea is interesting I am also a bit skeptical about it. I think it would take a lot more money than we could raise that way to actually make a difference. I'm thinking more along the lines of a major venture capitalist investment. But how to make that actually happen... I have no idea.

*) Yeah, I know. I just replaced one bad analogy with another...

Edit: enabled emoticons

[SteveH]

TextPad is, for many of us, what a hammer* is to a carpenter. Sure, there are other brands of hammers, but TextPad is the only one that feels good in the hand. Too bad it can't be used with 2½ or 4 inch nails, nor on drywall or outdoors...

"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail."

-- Abraham Maslow

[Tomas Eklund]

I guess I walked straight into that one...