Illuminated Cloud 2.0 Release Details
Scott
A little over two years ago I released the first version of Illuminated Cloud with the goal of making development on the Salesforce platform a simpler and more pleasant experience through the use of modern tooling. Since then I've enhanced the product constantly, adding integrated Apex unit test execution and code coverage analysis; anonymous Apex and SOQL query tools; an integrated log viewer; an offline Apex debugger; support for new Salesforce technologies such as Lightning and Salesforce DX; developer productivity enhancements such as live templates; first-class integrations with third-party tools such as PMD Apex and ApexDoc; and much, much more.
I've said several times that my ultimate goal for Illuminated Cloud has always been to narrow the gap between the mature IDE feature set offered for more mainstream development languages and that which has traditionally been available for development in the Salesforce ecosystem. With Illuminated Cloud's rich support for context-sensitive code completion, reference navigation, integrated API documentation, a configurable source code formatter, etc., I believe that gap has been narrowed considerably. However, there still exists a general class of modern IDE features that completely change the way that development occurs.
Illuminated Cloud 2.0 brings features to Salesforce development that truly allow the developer to focus less on the way that code is written and more on the business value that the code provides:
- Refactorings significantly lessen the tedious and error-prone efforts required to evolve a code base over time.
- Code inspections tell the developer in real time when source code is invalid, inefficient, unused, or perhaps just fails to match established standards, all without ever having to contact the server.
- Code intentions allow the developer to address issues intelligently with a single keystroke.
- Intelligent source code generation means you never have to copy method signatures from an interface or base class again.
- Smart code completion ensures that the completions offered by the IDE are filtered by the data types expected in the current context.
For the initial release of Illuminated Cloud 2.0, I've focused on the refactorings, intentions, inspections, code generation options, etc., which make the most difference in day-to-day development:
- Rename, variable extraction, and safe delete refactorings
- Dead code, unresolvable reference, and illegal assignment inspections
- Code generation for automatically overriding/implementing methods from base classes and implemented interfaces
As always, new features will be added to Illuminated Cloud 2.0 on a regular basis including additional refactorings, intentions, inspections, and code generation capabilities. If you'd like to see the new Illuminated Cloud 2.0 features in action, you can watch my recent demo from Dreamforce 2017.
So now let's talk about specifics...
When is Illuminated Cloud 2.0 being released?
The initial feature set for Illuminated Cloud 2.0 is very close to complete. I'm hoping to release it in late November if possible, but I won't release it prematurely. Much of the remaining work is in preparation for a smooth and seamless upgrade for existing Illuminated Cloud customers which I'll detail below.
How much will it cost and what upgrade options are available?
With 2.0, the licensing model for Illuminated Cloud will be changing from perpetual to annual subscription. This more closely matches both the Salesforce subscription model and my own approach of constant product enhancement.
Illuminated Cloud 2.0 will be offered with two license types, Commercial and Personal. The base per-user license cost for an Illuminated Cloud 2.0 Commercial license will be $125 USD/year with volume discounts available on the following schedule:
|
Quantity |
Per-license annual subscription price |
|
1-9 |
$125 |
|
10-24 |
$120 |
|
25-49 |
$115 |
|
50-99 |
$110 |
|
100+ |
$100 |
The per-user license cost for an Illuminated Cloud 2.0 Personal license will be $90 USD/year. Due to their nature, no volume discounts are available for Personal licenses. Personal licenses may only be purchased by private individuals with their own funds and may not be purchased, reimbursed, or financed by companies in any manner. They may, however, be used for both personal and professional work.
All existing licensed Illuminated Cloud 1.x users will be eligible for a discount on the first year's subscription. The amount of the discount is based on how recently the Illuminated Cloud 1.x licenses were purchased and the type of 2.0 license being purchased.
The upgrade discount for Commercial licenses purchased on or after September 1, 2017 which are upgraded within 30 days of the release of Illuminated Cloud 2.0 will be $60 USD off of the per-license price, essentially the difference between the 1.x license cost and the 2.0 Commercial license first year subscription cost. The discount for all Commercial licenses purchased prior to September 1, 2017 or upgraded more than 30 days after the release of Illuminated Cloud 2.0 will be $25 USD off of the per-license cost.
The upgrade discount for all Personal licenses will be $25 USD off of the per-license cost.
I will make individualized discount codes available to all licensed users when Illuminated Cloud 2.0 is released. For those who have purchased 1.x licenses both before and after September 1, 2017, two discount codes will be issued, one for each period. For Commercial licenses, discount codes will be valid for up to the quantity purchased within that period. For Personal licenses discount codes will be valid for exactly one license.
Note that upgrade discounts and volume discounts can be used in conjunction at the time of purchase.
Also note that while a single Illuminated Cloud user license includes two activations, no individual should ever need more than one license for his or her own use. If two activations are insufficient for your needs, contact me at sup...@illuminatedcloud.com with your additional activation requirements and I’ll be happy to work with you to accommodate those needs.
As always, a free 30-day trial will be available to evaluate the enhancements offered by Illuminated Cloud 2.0.
What does this mean for Illuminated Cloud 1.x customers?
Illuminated Cloud 1.x licenses are perpetual and will absolutely continue to work. While all major feature development will be shifted to the 2.0 product, critical and blocker bugs in 1.x reported through the public issue tracker will be addressed based on business impact, and Illuminated Cloud 1.x will be updated for Salesforce seasonal releases through the Summer '18 release to ensure API version compatibility. It will not, however, be updated for major new features, language grammar changes, etc., introduced in those seasonal updates. Those types of major updates will occur only in the 2.0 product line.
What's next?
Once I establish an exact release date for 2.0, I'll notify all users, and of course again when 2.0 is actually available for evaluation and purchase. If you have specific questions about the information provided here, please don't hesitate to reach out to me at sc...@illuminatedcloud.com.
I want to thank everyone for the unbelievable reception to Illuminated Cloud over the past two-plus years! I've so enjoyed getting to meet all of you, and the feedback you've provided has been and continues to be instrumental in the constant evolution of this product.
Best regards,
Scott Wells