FlexTime 1.0
August 17th, 2006I put FlexTime in the “cold-storage locker” one week ago yesterday and it’s been resting up for its official 1.0 debut.
FlexTime 1.0 is available starting today for $18.95. A free 30 day trial is available and automatically applies to the fully-featured download available here. If you decide to buy it, you may purchase from directly within the application, or online through the Red Sweater Store.
What is the cold-storage locker? It’s my off-the-cuff name for the process of leaving source code unmodified while continuing to test the product. Many smaller businesses fall into the trap of releasing software “hot off the presses,” which often means some bug was fixed mere hours before release, inadvertently introducing five undiagnosed problems for the public to uncover.
The cold-storage locker is a good idea, but this is the first time I’ve diligently employed it. In the past I’ve just succeeded (or to be honest, sometimes failed) on the basis of my relatively careful coding practices. But after hearing enthusiastic endorsements of the policy from friends at Bare Bones and Flying Meat, I’ve decided that I should also adopt this policy going forward. Not only does it give you time to think of the “oh crap” mistakes that you might have made, but it (ideally) gives you have a little pre-launch vacation time to relax and prepare for the (hopefully) large influx of new customers.
It feels good to have FlexTime 1.0 officially under the bridge, so I can get to work on updated versions of it, and some other products I have twinkling in my eyes.
August 17th, 2006 at 10:08 am
[…] Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater infamy has released FlexTime, a Mac OS X timer application. Of interest to me is that FlexTime might well be the first released Mac OS X application to make used of my Toxic Progress Indicator Cocoa Widget, as seen in the following screenshot: […]
August 17th, 2006 at 10:47 am
Congrats on the release! Good luck with it. You know what they say, “[Flex]Time is [Flex]Money. $$” :)
August 17th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Congratulations on the release! A good 1.0 and I hope it’s successful.
August 17th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
Good idea on the Cold Storage Locker.
August 18th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
Congrats on the 1.0 release. I like the cold storage locker idea as well. I think I’ll employ that with my up coming release.
August 21st, 2006 at 1:39 am
Congratulations! I would wish you luck, but you are very well connected with the Mac community that there is no need for luck.
August 25th, 2006 at 9:11 am
[…] Recently Compare Folders 2.5 had a problem when it was released with the way it had been linked against the DisclosableView framework. I fixed the problem and released 2.5.1 but the simple fact is that it shouldn’t have happened. Then I read a great post from Daniel Jalkut on his Red Sweater blog about a technique he decided to use for his FlexTime 1.0 release – the ‘cold storage locker.’ I let the concept rattle around my brain and when the 2.5 incident occurred, I knew it was time to follow suit. […]
August 27th, 2006 at 12:42 pm
[…] I’ll place the new Bullfrog code in Daniel Jalkut’s ‘cold-storage locker’ and hold on to it the for the next week to let the code settle and breath a bit. Then Bullfrog 1.2 will release on September 1 — I like round numbers. […]
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:18 pm
[…] of FlexTime, it had only been a few short months since it was first released. An idea that started brewing while I was developing complex AppleScripts to cue my yoga practice, […]