FocusPad Development
Erik Westra
As you may have seen, I am in the process of taking over the
development of the FocusPad app. I spoke with Tony yesterday about
the logistics of the hand-over, and we now have a plan going forward.
In the short term, very little will change. Tony, through this
company 7Actions, will continue to sell FocusPad through the App Store
and will continue to host the FocusPad web site and web app, while I
concentrate on development of the FocusPad app itself. For version 2
of FocusPad, I will aim to keep the app pretty much in its current
beta form, except that I'll be making a number of internal changes to
make the app more reliable and a good base for future development. I
can (and will) make some improvements to the app, fixing bugs and
perhaps adding a few new features, but my main focus will be on
stability and simplifying things internally so that I can make bigger
changes later on.
Once version 2 has been completed, this will mean the end of Tony's
active involvement in FocusPad (though I'm sure he'll want to stay
involved in terms of beta testing, participating in the mailing list,
etc -- all of which I'm very happy for him to do). For version 3, I
will be working on adding a number of major new features. I have a
very clear idea of where I'd like to take FocusPad, turning it onto an
incredibly powerful and flexible task-management system. This
includes making it work well with Mark Forster's newer time-management
systems which require multiple-column lists. I don't want to get into
too many details yet, as we have to get version 2 out of the way
first, but I do want you to know that version 3 will be, in many ways,
radically different from version 2.
Now, with the change from version 2 to version 3, we will switch the
FocusPad app from Tony's App Store account to mine. Unfortunately,
Apple don't make this easy. Here's what they say about this:
I sold my app to another developer and can no longer distribute on the
App Store. Can I transfer the app to the new developer's iTunes Connect
account?
At this time, apps cannot be transferred to another developer account.
If you would like the app to be sold through another developer account,
you will need to remove the app from sale in the current iTunes Connect
account and upload the app under the new iTunes Connect account.
Uploading the app to a new iTunes Connect account will disable current
customers from receiving automatic and free updates of your application.
All customer reviews, rating and ranking information will also be reset.
What this means is that FocusPad 3 will essentially be a whole new app
in the App Store -- you will have to buy and install it again. Of
course, I'm hoping that the features in FocusPad 3 will make this
worthwhile to you -- especially as it won't be all that expensive.
But I'm afraid that there's simply no way that we can keep FocusPad
development going and give everyone a free upgrade. Sorry about that!
So, that's the plan. I'll keep you all informed about my progress on
version 2, though it will take me a while to get all the
behind-the-scenes changes implemented to make the app stable and to
simplify the internals so that we're ready for version 3. In the
meantime, please do keep using FocusPad, and think about what *you'd*
like to see in the app. I'm definitely happy to listen to suggestions
once version 2 has been implemented -- though like Tony I will be
aiming to keep the app uncluttered without having too many obscure
features that make the app hard to understand and use.
Onwards!
- Erik.
Tijl Kindt
Good luck :)
Tijl
--
Tijl Kindt
Rooseveltstraat 7A
2321BK Leiden • The Netherlands
+31-(0)6-1033-9865 • ti...@kindt.me • http://tijl.kindt.me
Christopher
switched to a paper notebook as I've implemented the latest iteration
of SuperFocus, but if you manage to find a way to electronically
implement the two-column aspect of SF, I'll gladly fork over some more
money.
Best wishes on your work,
Christopher+