why would you be mad? i think €49 it's absolutely worth it's money for TM1 — but that's only my humble opinion. ok — i registered long before allan started to work on TM2. so maybe it's different if you pay €49 now or years ago … i'm not sure.

i did not expect TM2 being a free update to TM1 and i think that's the only mistake allan made: promising TM2 to be a free update.

however: as i said in my previous comment: it's something a had to learn, too. i started complaining about the TM2 release, too … than i tried several other editors / IDEs out there, including eclipse, coda, subethaedit, etc. and i came back to TM1 and stopped complaining …

People are not complaining about TM's quality. It is the BEST text editor for most people in here (that's why they bother to write stuff in here). The "problem" is that the author said it's 90% complete. To most people it sounds like soon, but it seems like waiting forever by now. Things are worse when the author does not want to speak about the release date and he does not care much about releasing it earlier if it affects his "art" not finished 120% perfect. I would be mad if I paied €49.

i would really love to see TM2 anytime in future — but: as long as TM1 is the best choice for me, there is really no reason for me to complain anything.

best wishes for you allan for 2010 …

Without question Textmate is one of the best applications ever written for developers, and I'll pay for version 2.0 even if it's an optional donation.

I hope Textmate will see many future releases, but please pursue the path that is best for you.

Best of luck.

Obviously… I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing you feel a seemingly insurmountable pressure to live up to all the hype built up around this application. And you're trying to get things to a point where you feel 'ready' to show your work. The longer you spend trying to polish your app the more the perceived expectations of your community build and the more pressure you feel.

If I'm right you have two choices.

You can keep trying to push through until you reach a point where feel safe releasing (which you almost definitely won't be able to do), or you can say screw it an release what you have now and resolve the rest with updates.

While it may seem like you have a virtually unappeasable audience at this point, the reality is that the majority of your users would be absolutely ecstatic to receive an incomplete alpha at this point. Not to mention that they would feel like your care about what they want, which is really what a lot of the dialog is really about.

Just something to consider. There's always lots of ways to come out happy from a situation.

If I'm right the alternative, is completely burning yourself out and either scrapping the project or open sourcing it. Either of which I don't think would make you happy.

I think it would feel amazing to just let go, get some points on the board, and move to the next thing. You'll have far more internal resources to put towards your project once you discharge all this tension that's in the air.

We've all been in project limbo and it's hellish. Think about it.

Best of luck.

I know you said "you're working on it" (back in June?), I know you said you said you're working really hard to finish 2.0 (sometime in the future), I know you have hired another dev to help you out… but.. Just try to imagine how long people have been waiting for something they really want, they pay for (or willing to do so) but they have this really weird feeling they'll never get.

Its really a shame to see TM has inspired many more applications out there and they seem to prosper while the original app seems almost "dead" or at least "hibernating".

Personally I think you wouldn't be playing around and promising TM2 for nothing. I really do believe that you're a man of your word. And to prove that I'm pushing the "buy now" button this very instant.

Apart from all of this let me wish you a happy new year and some strong morale. Good luck.

Peter

bravo — beautifully put: hard to see how anyone could have issues with that post, except perhaps some exasperation and/or disbelief at the fact that you're not motivated the almighty Krone.

All the best for 2010, Paul

I for one still use and will continue to use TextMate for the foreseeable future. You've created an extraordinary text editor that has blown away all my previous expectations. When the time comes, if it comes, to replace TextMate – the successor will have some big shoes to fill.

In the end though, it's your life and your product. As much as I might like this or that or whatever, it's your program and you can do what you want at the pace you so desire. Or you could not do anything, your call. I hope you still enjoy developing TextMate as much as you did in the beginning, or at least enough where TM2 is a goal that you believe is reachable and worthy of the effort.

Good luck, happy coding, and I look forward to your next release. :)

Don’t put too much in the above, I will finish 2.0 because I am passionate about realizing my vision. As for customers lost that I will never get back due to my careless management: that is a shame both for me and them, but TM has never been about customers, only about building a great text editor, I will strive to do that regardless of number of users / income associated with it.

Not to say users are unimportant, I have gotten great insights from exchanges with users and they have certainly played a big role in the evolution of TM, I am just saying that “you are running your business into the ground” is spoken to deaf ears — maybe not the best saying, as it’s not like I am completely indifferent to the situation, but everything said, I already know, and I don’t think there is much to do right now other than get 2.0 out — yes, I could write some more, but me personally writing is not something I want to pursue anymore, it is just not in my nature, outsourcing it was a fiasco, and presently I don’t want to spend any more resources on that when all that matters to me is just getting 2.0 ready for release (which I pretty much use all available time on).

As for my question to Peter, the things people have translated his statement to is pretty much what I said myself, I don’t take offense with that “translation”, it was his original statement which I think is unfair, because I am not ignoring anyone, I may ignore the wishes of some/many, but it’s my life and my prerogative.

I am reluctantly posting this comment, hopefully it won’t start an avalanche of comments telling me what I should or shouldn’t do, what my mistakes were, how I have let everyone down etc.