update timeline

[Matt H.]

Richard,

Almost two years ago I asked this question, "Any updates on when the
recurring actions might be available. I used
Tudumo in it's beta phase and quit because of two things, no recurring
actions and I couldn't format the printouts the way I wanted them.
With that said I love the program and think you have done a great
job."

I really want to use this program ;-) so I keep checking back. During
the beta phase you were making changes all the time and seemed very
receptive to suggestions. It seems like things are taking much longer
now. If you go back through the discussion group and search you will
see that recurring actions were promised almost 3 years ago. I
understand a delay but 3 years?

I really do want to give you my money but . . .

[Richard Watson]

Hi Matt,

Yup, that's why I don't promise features and timelines anymore, and
why I won't give you an estimate now. Now that the sync is out the
way I'm looking at other requests. Most will be much easier to
develop than the sync so releases will come faster.

Regards,
Richard

> --
> posting: tud...@googlegroups.com
> website: http://www.tudumo.com
>

[Daniel]

I'm one of those that checks here every so often for updates, too.
I'm fairly satisfied in general (would love a moveable bulk-add
window). If I may be so bold as to say I took your response as a bit
too defensive. Look, I may be reading this all wrong. It's your
product and forum, so you're the boss. My angle in bringing this up
is that there are many people out there that will purchase niche
products such as yours when there is a clear indication of vivacity in
the product - bustling forums, frequent updates, direct developer
interaction and the like. It is a confidence builder and buying
motivator to see that the product isn't stale. Fresh bread always
sells better than stale bread, regardless of cost. Two cents...

[Richard Watson]

There's no question that more frequent updates are better. On the
web, freshness affects every measurable outcome - traffic, pagerank,
downloads, sales, blog referrals. I'm personally happier to get back
to a more regular update schedule, since it's good for both you and I
to have a better sense of steady improvement. I'd like to release
approximately every month but that'll depend on time available and how
tricky a given feature is. However, same story - no promises on what
will be done when :)

Regards,
Richard

[Daniel]

Bypassing any discussion on specific features/functions, do you have
any direction or theme in mind? Performance, task management,
collaboration, that sort of thing...

[Richard Watson]

Yes, definitely. In no particular order:
- Multiple languages. I regularly get mails from users who would love
Tudumo in their own language.
- Much better date support. Recurring dates, and a more elegant
notification system.
- Hyperlinks, so you can link to a document or a URL.
- A web view. Many users have phones/iPads etc and it's a logical
extension from the sync to view tasks online.

There are also smaller features that I'll try to fit in where
possible, and features that are requested a lot but not quite as much
as the ones above. E.g. now I'm working on improving the quick-add
parsing. I tried outsourcing improved printing but that didn't work
out as well as planned, so I'll try to find time to either outsource
again or do it myself. Also, user-editable states, so you can have
e.g. a "Today" state. That's not quite as simple as it sounds, because
you'll also need icons for that and have your created states synced to
the web. Then, changes to the startup view, and maybe an ability to
save specific views. The trick there is not to make it complex and
ugly. I'd rather not have it unless it can be done nicely.

There are many other sets of requests, but those are probably the most
frequently asked.

Regards,
Richard

[Tony]

> - Multiple languages. I regularly get mails from users who would love
> Tudumo in their own language.

I would enjoy translating it in russian.
Just let me know when its needed :)