My latest project, “The Big Mean Folder Machine” after being put on hold while the new artwork was being finished is now back on track. The 1.0 beta 3 release should be ready for next wednesday (my traditional “release day”).

My policy has always been to “get it out early and see what people make of it”, so I’m thinking about going “golden master” with this third beta.

I could, of course, continue releasing new betas that add more features, but I’m not really a fan of the new “endless beta” strategy where your golden master is 1.0 beta 28891 build 65839-20a and comes after 3 years of saying “don’t blame me if it does not work”.

It’s only a 1.0 release, so somebody is going to knock it because it doesn’t do something scheduled for release 3.4, but that’s going to happen anyway.. so unless I find a show stopper that’s it as far as betas are concerned..

I would like to take his opportunity to thank those of you who have contributed their insights and suggestions to the project.. I know version 1.0 is still far from fulfilling all requirements, but it’s only the beginning of the journey.. expect a point update with new features and refinements every 4-8 weeks.. and don’t worry you have free upgrades up to (but not including!!) versions 3.0.

Funnily enough, I haven’t mentioned bug fixes yet. This is because nobody’s reported a bug yet.. this either means that I have finally managed to get a 1.0 beta 1 release out that is 100% bug free (in my dreams), or that you’re holding back your reports on the assumption that “somebody else is going to report this”. Well, nobody has so far, so please get emailing!

As a sweetener: anybody who reports a genuine bug (“it doesn’t make coffee” doesn’t count!) before the 1.0 final release gets a free single user license.