Question about Textpad....

gan · Post by **gan** » Tue May 13, 2008 11:22 pm

I been using textpad for many years now and i still find it to be among the best editors even if there been few new features for some years. Some features been requested for a long time and by several users so i'm just curious if it's possible to get any update from Helios what we can expect in the close future? I'm not going to ask for the status of any specific features, but curious if there is any roadmap for future releases and if some of this could be shared with the textpad users?

I would really appreciate a reply from Helios whatever the answer will be.

This is not mean't to be a complaint and not mean't to start a new thread where people post any frustration they might have. So please do not post a reply unless you could give some information about the questions asked. If someone have complaints about Textpad i would appreciate if they start a new thread instad of posting a reply here.

Regards
Gan

SteveH · Post by **SteveH** » Wed May 14, 2008 5:12 pm

It's a question that I suspect a lot of users would be interested in knowing the answer to I guess. I reckon that this could be achieved without building up expection for specific release dates by focussing on features but not timescales e.g. 5.0 - 5.4 overhaul UI, 5.5 editable macros and built-in FTP, 6.0 full Unicode support and native versions for OS X 10.6 and Linux

It's the sort of thing that has been done elsewhere with successful products and the last paragraph is perfectly understandable from the developer's point of view.

gan · Post by **gan** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:57 pm

Even if i was told that there will no further development that would be acceptable, but sad. It's not like a paid a fortune for textpad and i never had to buy any upgrades. So if i don't like the answer i could always switch to another editor even if that is not very likely to happen in any case.

I was just hoping for Helios to reply and give some kind of info what will happen in the close future and if we really can expect any of those features that been requested for some time like edit macro, unicode and so on. When i say in the close future then i would expect it to happen this year or early next year at the latest. The worst thing is not to get any kind of feedback i think......then i prefer bad news.

Regards
Gan

Cloink · Post by **Cloink** » Thu May 15, 2008 8:38 am

From past experience and responses to other people's posts, in short, No.

Version 5 waited an awfully long time to come out; it's my belief that the v5 release date intentionally coincided with the launch of Win Vista, but they never told us that, they just kept us hanging.

However, now they HAVE released v5-onwards, the releases are coming thick and fast.

I have read in the past in these forums that they have a policy, the gist being "We work to our own schedule." Although, I would add that I think their own schedule depends to a good degree on these forums - which is why they won't publish a schedule (I'm guessing).

This may get moderated off, but I've personally found that raising bugs gets a direct response from Helios if they believe there is a workaround (but check the known problems forum first).

On the other hand, if they don't want to fix it, they ignore the bug report:

There's a bug in Find that I've raised and re-raised and been ignored;

There's a bug in the EditCopyLine built-in macro regarding cursor placement, in respect of which they told me of an option which changes overall cursor behaviour instead of acknowledging the bug.

Hope that helped!

gan · Post by **gan** » Thu May 15, 2008 10:08 am

Cloink wrote:From past experience and responses to other people's posts, in short, No.

Version 5 waited an awfully long time to come out; it's my belief that the v5 release date intentionally coincided with the launch of Win Vista, but they never told us that, they just kept us hanging.

However, now they HAVE released v5-onwards, the releases are coming thick and fast.

I have read in the past in these forums that they have a policy, the gist being "We work to our own schedule." Although, I would add that I think their own schedule depends to a good degree on these forums - which is why they won't publish a schedule (I'm guessing).

This may get moderated off, but I've personally found that raising bugs gets a direct response from Helios if they believe there is a workaround (but check the known problems forum first).

On the other hand, if they don't want to fix it, they ignore the bug report:
There's a bug in Find that I've raised and re-raised and been ignored;

There's a bug in the EditCopyLine built-in macro regarding cursor placement, in respect of which they told me of an option which changes overall cursor behaviour instead of acknowledging the bug.
Hope that helped!

Thank you for your reply and i'm aware of the past and that they don't want to give any exact dates regarding new features and releases which is understandable, but as i said i don't want this to be just another thread where we talk about the past and what didn't happen. I was hoping for any kind of info from Helios even if it's we don't have any roadmap and have no idea what will happen to textpad.

Gan

Cloink · Post by **Cloink** » Thu May 15, 2008 10:21 am

You are unlikely to get a reply from Helios, don't hold your breath.

gan · Post by **gan** » Thu May 15, 2008 12:39 pm

Cloink wrote:You are unlikely to get a reply from Helios, don't hold your breath.

You might be right, but complaints about Helios is just the thing i was hoping to avoid in this thread.

Cloink · Post by **Cloink** » Thu May 15, 2008 1:01 pm

Sorry, it did veer off into what appears to be a bit of a rant, it wasn't meant to be, it was really just describing the experiences I've had that lead me to say, "Don't hold your breath."

They work to their own schedule - I have seen Helios themselves say that on previous postings.

Actually, think it was more like "We don't reveal our plans and we have no intention of changing." Which, at the end of the day, is prudent of them otherwise competitors could steal their ideas.

However, that doesn't preclude Helios from acknowledging bug reports, assigning a bug-number to them, attaching a priority, and providing an intended fix schedule. That is my only gripe (sorry Gan).

Helios?

(I'm not holding my breath....)

gan · Post by **gan** » Thu May 15, 2008 4:28 pm

Cloink wrote:Sorry, it did veer off into what appears to be a bit of a rant, it wasn't meant to be, it was really just describing the experiences I've had that lead me to say, "Don't hold your breath."

No problem. It's just there been so many rant threads here already so i was afraid that if people start to express their opinions it could easily turn into a new such thread. I didn't look at your post as rant though.

Gan