Vim and the future

[Bram Molenaar]

I have had a lot of questions about what is happening to Vim. So I decided to
post this to keep everybody informed. In case you don't know Vim: It is an
improved version (clone) of vi. If you don't know vi you can skip this
message.

Version 2.0 of Vim seems to be very stable. I got only a few serious bug
reports. I don't think I need to release a patch for the reported problems.
Exceptions are for the Silicon Graphics Indigo and for Amiga DOS 1.3. In some
situations Vim will crash on these machines. Ask me for a patch if you are
running one of these.

What will be included in the next version? Multiple windows! Thanks to Looc
Grenie, who made the first implementation on version 1.27. I am currently
merging his patches into version 2.0. Then we need to do a lot of testing. So
it will take a few months before this will be released.

I hope to finish release 3.0 during the summer. Why? Because I have plans to
go to Uganda in September! If you have read "uganda.txt" you'll know where I
will be going. I hope to help the Ugandan people with setting up water systems
in 25 villages. Will this stop the development of Vim? NO! I plan to buy a
notebook PC and take it with me. I'll work on Vim whenever I have time. E-mail
will be possible, but expect long response times.

While I am in Uganda I won't have any income. I can manage to make ends meet
for a year. But I noticed that notebooks are quite expensive. If you like me
to continue working on Vim, please consider sending me a donation. Read
"uganda.txt" for details or ask me.

After including support for multiple windows I hope to support a swap file and
extended memory. And there is a large number of good ideas waiting in the todo
list...

===============================================================================
Bram Moolenaar | DISCLAIMER: This note does not
Oce Nederland B.V., Research & Development | necessarily represent the position
p.o. box 101, 5900 MA Venlo | of Oce-Nederland B.V. Therefore
The Netherlands phone +31 77 594077 | no liability or responsibility for
UUCP: mo...@oce.nl fax +31 77 595473 | whatever will be accepted.