[TxMt] Re: Honest assessment of TM2's state please!

[Gerd Knops]

Folks,

My post wasn't intended as flame bait.

I use TextMate every working day for many hours. I simply care about this the most important tool in my arsenal to be the best it can be. And at least for my workflow there is still no alternative in sight.

When it came out it was leaps and bounds ahead (or could be made so for many cases by the ingenious bundle system). But that was quite a few years ago. It is now lacking features that can't easily be added as a bundle, and are a lot of work to add as a (not really supported) plugin if even possible.

Examples are tighter integration with source control features, or integration with compilers and debuggers just to name a couple. And then there are the weaknesses that have been identified on this forum over the years.

Brandon's post shows me that I am not alone holding back on bundle or plugin development due to the looming TM2 threatening to invalidate a lot of the time and work (and therefore money) we would invest. Being a consultant that would come out of my own pocket, which isn't very deep.

So knowing if TM1 is the end of the line, or if there really is a TM2 and a rough idea when it would really come out would make TextMate a better tool for me, because I could gauge ROI better for spending time writing, updating or polishing bundles and plugins.

Allan has made a few announcements regarding TM2. I believe them to have been in good faith. They didn't work out. Life happens. I have no qualms with that.

If it's about the money, Allan should apologize for the (in hindsight ill-advised) promise of free upgrades, and move on. Many folks will complain, but I am sure that I am not alone in stating I couldn't care less if TM2 is going to be free or not.

And if work on TM2 just isn't doing it for Allan any more, I don't have a problem with that either. As said life happens, and it is to short to force oneself to work on something that no longer holds one's interest.

In that case it would still be unreasonable to ask Allan to open-source TM2. I am sure he has spent countless hours on it, and should be compensated for it. So why not let the community buy it from you with the goal of open-sourcing it? We could all pledge whatever we would be willing to pledge. If we meet Allan's number, he'd collect on the pledges and put TM2 onto github or elsewhere. Everybody wins.

Gerd