Updates on progress with commercial product?

taylor · 08-29-2005, 05:39 AM

Hi Laurens,

I've been looking forward to the release of your commercial product all summer. Do you have any updates on your progress? Are you looking for beta testers (or even alpha testers)?

Thanks!

Laurens · 08-30-2005, 05:37 AM

Thanks for your interest! It's much appreciated. :-) Although I've invested a lot of time and energy in the PalmOS version, I decided to concentrate my efforts on the PocketPC version for now. This has nothing to do with the negative PalmOS news of late. (I believe there will be a large enough Palm userbase for at least the next two years and probably well beyond that if Palm Inc. stays afloat.) Rather, it's a business-driven decision: in my experience developing for WinCE is a good deal easier than it is for PalmOS, meaning I can get the product to market faster and put in more features and more polish. I will reevaluate the feasibility of the PalmOS version at the beginning of next year.

The PPC beta will hopefully be ready in November, considerably later than what I originally had in mind. The scope of the product has changed significantly during development, however. For instance, I've rewritten the desktop portion in C++, abandoning the Java codebase entirely. (It was a huge mistake to use Java in the first place.) One major benefit of redesigning and rewriting the spidering engine in C++ is that it now also works on the handheld. You can do without the desktop/laptop and update your channels through a network connection from the PDA.

Alexander Turcic · 08-30-2005, 05:43 AM

Laurens I envy you that you can switch so easily between Java and C++... to me it seems hard enough to excel in only one programming language.

taylor · 08-30-2005, 06:38 AM

Darn. I had been holding my breath for the PalmOS release late summer or early fall of this year.

Thanks for letting us know.

MartinXXX · 09-08-2005, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laurens

For instance, I've rewritten the desktop portion in C++, abandoning the Java codebase entirely. (It was a huge mistake to use Java in the first place.)

does this change your thoughts on eventually making the Java implementation open-source? (if you have no commercial interests in it anymore)

Martin Jelen

Laurens · 09-08-2005, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MartinXXX

does this change your thoughts on eventually making the Java implementation open-source? (if you have no commercial interests in it anymore)

I have no plans to make Sunrise open-source. Even if it were to be made open-source, it's doubtful that people would actually take the effort to study the code and maintain the software. Last year I had e-mails from several people saying they were going to fork the JPluck code, but I still haven't seen any actual releases. Only goes to show that supporting a relatively rich application is far more work than you might think. Most developers like to add new features, but hate to maintain an existing codebase, especially if they're not getting paid for it.

omarh · 09-11-2005, 08:56 PM

I'm very interested in whatever commercial viewer you're developing for the pocketPC. I have an xscale processor based powerpc2002 handheld, and can't run vade mecum to view the file format that Sunrise outputs to. I wish I could because offline browsing of RSS feeds is something I really want to do. I've tried some programs like Egress etc, but they're too slow or crash a lot. I think it would be better to use my desktop to assemble and collect all the pages and feeds and then sync it to my handheld every night.

Laurens · 09-12-2005, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by omarh

I'm very interested in whatever commercial viewer you're developing for the pocketPC. I have an xscale processor based powerpc2002 handheld, and can't run vade mecum to view the file format that Sunrise outputs to.

Thanks for your interest! :-) Unfortunately, in your case, the product will be for Windows CE 4.x only. (PPC2003 and later.)

The technical reason for this is that the code relies heavily on C++ compiler features that are only available in Embedded Visual C++ 4, which, unfortunately, only generates binaries for Windows CE 4.x.

earthsound · 09-15-2005, 06:37 PM

There is no chance of porting to Palm or anything besides Windows CE 4.x?

Laurens · 09-16-2005, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by earthsound

There is no chance of porting to Palm or anything besides Windows CE 4.x?

I'm not ruling out anything at this point!

It's just that I'm fully concentrating on the PocketPC version right now. I will reevaluate the feasibility of a PalmOS version at the start of next year.

08-29-2005, 05:39 AM	#1
taylor Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2004 Device: T\|T3	Updates on progress with commercial product? Hi Laurens, I've been looking forward to the release of your commercial product all summer. Do you have any updates on your progress? Are you looking for beta testers (or even alpha testers)? Thanks!

08-30-2005, 05:37 AM	#2
Laurens Jah Blessed Posts: 1,295 Karma: 1373 Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The Netherlands Device: iPod Touch	No PalmOS version for now Thanks for your interest! It's much appreciated. :-) Although I've invested a lot of time and energy in the PalmOS version, I decided to concentrate my efforts on the PocketPC version for now. This has nothing to do with the negative PalmOS news of late. (I believe there will be a large enough Palm userbase for at least the next two years and probably well beyond that if Palm Inc. stays afloat.) Rather, it's a business-driven decision: in my experience developing for WinCE is a good deal easier than it is for PalmOS, meaning I can get the product to market faster and put in more features and more polish. I will reevaluate the feasibility of the PalmOS version at the beginning of next year. The PPC beta will hopefully be ready in November, considerably later than what I originally had in mind. The scope of the product has changed significantly during development, however. For instance, I've rewritten the desktop portion in C++, abandoning the Java codebase entirely. (It was a huge mistake to use Java in the first place.) One major benefit of redesigning and rewriting the spidering engine in C++ is that it now also works on the handheld. You can do without the desktop/laptop and update your channels through a network connection from the PDA.

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08-30-2005, 05:43 AM	#3
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,175 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	Laurens I envy you that you can switch so easily between Java and C++... to me it seems hard enough to excel in only one programming language.

08-30-2005, 06:38 AM	#4
taylor Enthusiast Posts: 30 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2004 Device: T\|T3	Darn. I had been holding my breath for the PalmOS release late summer or early fall of this year. Thanks for letting us know.

09-11-2005, 08:56 PM	#7
omarh Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2005 Device: Dell Axim X5	I'm very interested in whatever commercial viewer you're developing for the pocketPC. I have an xscale processor based powerpc2002 handheld, and can't run vade mecum to view the file format that Sunrise outputs to. I wish I could because offline browsing of RSS feeds is something I really want to do. I've tried some programs like Egress etc, but they're too slow or crash a lot. I think it would be better to use my desktop to assemble and collect all the pages and feeds and then sync it to my handheld every night.

09-15-2005, 06:37 PM	#9
earthsound Junior Member Posts: 8 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Birmingham, AL Device: Palm Tungsten C	There is no chance of porting to Palm or anything besides Windows CE 4.x?

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