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Please digest this slowly. It's not really a formal
press release as much as it is a mission statement and a vehicle for
letting you know our short, intermediate, and long-term strategy for
PMMail. Ready? Take a deep breath and read on!
- Item 1: We are extremely proud to announce that Mr. Peter
Nielsen will be taking a position as President of Product Development
at Blueprint Software Works, Inc. Mr. Nielsen will be moving to the
USA from Finland in 2Q 2001. We anticipate, however, that he will
begin his career with Blueprint prior to relocating. I'm sure you
all recognize Peter Nielsen as the developer of PMView, the award-winning
image viewing and editing program available for both OS/2 and Windows.
Mr. Nielsen will oversee the continued development of our flagship
products which is a task he is uniquely suited for.
Mr. Nielsen will be accompanied by his spouse, Marina Nielsen, who
is in the final stages of completing a doctorate in French studies
and upon relocation hopes to take a position at the University of
North Carolina which coincidently just established a French studies
department in Wilmington.
- Item 2: For our loyal OS/2 users, please rest assured that
we consider the continued development of PMMail for OS/2 to be of
paramount importance. Yes, it is true that it is not going to make
anyone rich - let's face it. On the other hand, where would we be
without our OS/2 users? Just another face in the crowd. Out of a sense
of loyalty we collectively agreed that the OS/2 version shall continue.
This does not mean that it will always be on par with the Windows
version, or that releases will be made at the same time. And the previous
sentence is not code for "It's abandoned, they just won't say
it." How long have we been around and heard the same thing....
Well, you just have to trust us. You won't be sorry, but we must all
be realistic. Support for some of the development tools used to create
the OS/2 version has been discontinued by IBM and at the same time
tools and widgets for the Windows platform seem to be multiplying
like rabbits. There's precious little we can do about that and no
matter what our patriotic feelings may be, we can't re-code from the
ground up continuously or rewrite major chunks of code just to tread
water. That's just how it has turned out.
- Item 3: This version will have over 2 pages of bug fixes,
tweaks, and improvements. I regret to say that IMAP support will not
be one of them. It was a tossup - offering IMAP support would delay
the release for more than 6 months. By leaving out IMAP support, we
can get a solid release out this year, hopefully before Christmas.
Hold the tomatoes folks - you may not have heard a lot from us as
far as development goes, but it's hard to talk with your mouth full.
We've been working on this next release for more than a few months
and there are some things the original code was never intended to
do. IMAP support is one of them. To say it another way, we have to
rewrite a very significant amount of code to give you IMAP. It will
be available in a future release; just not the next one. You may be
interested to know that we mailed out thousands and thousands (literally)
of emails announcing the PMMail survey and IMAP support came in with
19% of 1900 licensed users voting 3 or higher on a scale of 1-5 with
5 being "got to have it". (4 hours after the announcement
was initially made)
- Item 4: We have not decided if the next release will require
a modest upgrade fee. I'm shooting straight with you. It all depends
on the final development costs. I'll promise you this: If we charge
an upgrade fee, we have plans to release a slimmed down fully functional
demo that does not expire; similar in concept to Eudora Light (tm).
- Item 5: There won't be a Mac version unless someone steps
forward and says "I can do it." Then there will be a Mac
version. We'd simply love to have PMMail available running on the
Apple OS; but alas, we know of no one and have no contacts in this
area.
- Item 6: We get asked about BeOS about 10 times a week. See
item 5. Actually, this was discussed seriously about a year ago, but
the starch seemed to go out of the effort.
- Item 7: The only thing we get feelers about more than BeOS
is a Linux version. Hold your hat: This is an area I can say we are
going to pursue earnestly. The market is there, the momentum is there,
and our customers are there. We'll be there too, as quickly as possible.
- Item 8: Are you a developer with credentials? If you have
input on #5, #6, or #7 above email me at info@blueprintsofwareworks.com.
- Item 9: Now that we have began to discuss this in earnest,
please check this list every once in a while as it is a living document.
One day soon there will be a #10, a #11, and so on.
Once more, I thank you for your loyalty, support,
and especially your patience. We will not let you down!
Thomas Bradford, CEO
Blueprint Software Works, Inc.
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