Allan:

First off, let me tell you how much I respect you.  You've created a tremendously valuable product which has literally logged more than a 1000 hours of usage for me. I've enjoyed extending it (RubyAMP, Git textmate bundle, contributing to many more), and have really gotten full leverage out of it.

Now the sobering part.

I use both Emacs and VIM. There are many strengths that TM has over it, so I still consider it to be a superior editor in many regards.  Some of these I've articulated in my blog post, http://tim.theenchanter.com/2010/02/emacs-baggage.html

I can't help but wonder if your promise of "free upgrades" has blasted a crater in your motivation to work on TM2. Is there a possibility of this, Allan?  If so, I would suggest the following:

* Release a version of TM as TM2 with all the critical bugs fixed. Everyone gets their free "upgrade" (except the macheist users as you've previously stated).  Perhaps include one or two new features.

* Post a public apology for over-promising TM2 features, and state that you miscalculated how much you would be able to include in it as a free upgrade, and from a business standpoint it's impossible to fund all of new development as a free upgrade. Say you are terribly, terribly sorry, that you are doing your best, and hope that people will be forgiving. (I know I will).

* State that TM3 will be released with those features, and will be a paid upgrade for everyone.

I would prefer to have a paid upgrade to TM3 than a non-paid non-existent upgrade to TM2. Right now I can't pay any price to upgrade to TM2.

I think you have a shot at this to make this a profitable move for yourself. Lots of people still use TM and many may come back.  If my hunches are correct, then I plead from you: don't sell us all short by selling yourself short.

With the highest respect I'm capable of,

Tim Harper