I’ve been using RW since its earliest public beta incarnation.
I was always an avid supporter — my blog at https://rapidweaver.ninja/news/ is testament to that, but whilst the update to V7 was painful. The upgrade to V8 is more than catastrophic! More in line with BREXIT!!
The RealMac decision to release an App-Store version of RW in the middle of a major update was (IMHO) the poorest decision in the company’s history. . Even with the consequence of taking a 30% cut of revenue for each copy sold, they seem intent on “Making The Grade”, no matter what the cost to devout followers.
Internal testing to catch some of the basic bugs like blog pages not publishing have not been followed up, Version 8.1 is on ‘something like’ its 250th beta iteration and still there is no sign of a final, final, final version in sight.
RealMac — we call for a No-Confidence-Vote and demand that you get your ducks in a row without bothering about the dying (if not already dead) App Store!
Get rapidWeaver back on track!!
Ha! Well, I don’t use RW’s built-in blog page as I don’t see the point of a blog you can’t update from your mobile phone but my own experience has been that RW8 has been the the most pain-free update ever.
Actually the update to RW8 was very smooth. I am working with productive projects for clients with RW 8.1 and so far everything is running well. Using the betas I discovered some hickups (as expected). What I do have to criticize is the time RW8 was launched - I would have extended the beta period until all errors found in 8.0 had been fixed. I will not comment on App Store or not App Store - if RM sees reason here, I do not complain. But I would not need it either…
But since I earn my money using RW - I want it to be available in the coming years and I do not mind lengthy beta periods at all, if it serves this cause
We’re continuing to work on making RapidWeaver better with every release, the AppStore has nothing to do with making RapidWeaver better (or worse). It’s actually to do with Sandboxing RapidWeaver. Sandboxing is something that is becoming increasingly important in the future of macOS (and user security).
We have to Sandbox RapidWeaver if we want to secure its future on the Mac platform for many years to come. Although it’s been a struggle, it’ll all be worth it in the end.
Hopefully you can see that we’re regularly releasing betas and with each release more and more issues are getting fixed. This should hopefully show that we’re committed to supporting RapidWeaver and our users. I’m not sure what else you want us to do.
You can call for a “No-Confidence-Vote” if you like, but we’ll just continue shipping new builds of RapidWeaver making it better and better like we’ve done for the last 10+ years.
I’d much rather general releases be slowed down and be as clean as possible rather than rushed out.
As for betas if it bothers you that they require many builds and sometimes breaks things and might make project non backwards compatible, then simply wait until the general release is ready.
Beta testing is for testing and finding, documenting and helping the developers get a clean and stable release. It’s voluntary and you need not participate if you don’t want to help out. It’s not for you to get to use new features early. This isn’t just for realmac releases but anybody’s beta testing.
I’m happy the way it is and works. If you want a stable version don’t use betas
I tried the 8.1 beta in the beginning and opted out of beta updates since they didn’t work for me. I’m more than happy with the 8.0.3 and will wait for a final 8.1 release…
@mabinogion I guess ones assessment on this upgrade depends on what you do with it. I personally thought this upgrade was the smoothest of all upgrades, and whilst I occasionally go back to 7.5 I mainly now use 8.1 plus, plus, plus. There are some great additions to V8 and I really like Darkmode. Whether it’s luck or experience I just don’t seem to pick up the faults that get fixed in Betas. I always upgrade to the latest beta, and certainly don’t endorse your harsh view.
Just to be clear…
… I have no problem with beta testing, I do it for numerous developers – not only for RW.
The Final Release Candidate should, however, have something to do with the FINAL release and NOT go through 244 iterations.
I just received a project from a Stacks/Theme developer that I’m unable to open because I refuse to install the “Final Release Candidate 245”, but I never saw any mention that there is no backward compatibility for RW 8.1
AND the smoothest upgrade, without a doubt, was RW 1.0 to 3.0!
LMAO, love it when people throw all the toys out the pram.
Seriously though, we’ve put out 6 final beta’s so far. We’re not the first company to do this and won’t be the last. Apple recently released 3 or 4 final GM’s of macOS. If you don’t like it, don’t use the beta. We’ll release it for reals when we’re happy that we have a solid build that everyone will love.
Why would you include that first sentence Tom? That’s made it look as though Realmac doesn’t take issues seriously. I haven’t seen a Realmac employee do that before and it’s not a good look.
Because it’s totally fine for users to make unacceptable comments? Can’t be doing with sugar coating stuff all the time, that’s just not me.
What is the issue here though? The fact that something is called a final beta and doesn’t get release because a problem is found? Sorry, but I have actual problems to worry about.
I manage six websites, one commercial. I’ve used RW for many years. I update every time, beta versions and all.
My experiince is different than the OP. It has virtually always been smooth sailing, and the few times there has been a glitch, the folks at RW have solved it for me swiftly.
I suggest RW keep doing what they have always done: keep releasing the best product available.
Rob, I don’t understand your criticism at all. RapidWeaver 8 is one of the best runningRapidWeaver versions and just updating from version 7 to version 8 was completely uncomplicated (we already had other experiences, think of switching from 5 to 6 or 6 to 7).
Basically, I prefer a software that is developed slowly but thoroughly. I compare this with two other programs I use: Luminar - a final release came out in December that promises a lot, but doesn’t deliver; in the end the software isn’t safe to use at the moment. The other program is the indispensable DEVONthink: It’s been on the market for 15 years, so far only in version 2. Now version 3 has been in preparation for a long time, but the developers are taking their time - and that’s a good thing. Version 3 will be good for that, as the alpha version already shows. And that’s exactly what I want for software development - also for RapidWeaver.
If you have problems with beta versions: Nobody forces you to use them. The AppStore is a different story, though - it’s hard to understand why there’s another version 7 vagabonding; it simply has to be removed
You are right with the additions. But I do not se any advantage in the dark mode - I tried for weeks and then I switched back
Hyperbole aside, would you consider this a smooth release process? Can you not understand that this would be frustrating for some? I haven’t bothered with betas this time but the first final candidate was released about 8 weeks ago (and I quote: “This is the Final Candidate version of RapidWeaver 8.1 - That basically means this version should be good enough to be released as the final version of RapidWeaver 8.1 ”).
It, presumably, had fixes for bugs found in 8.0.3 but non-beta users can’t take advantage of that.
The backwards compatibility seems odd to me as well. I can see it for major release (i.e. from 7 to 8) but within a version makes it seem like it wasn’t completely thought out. It happened with RW7 as well, so maybe that’s normal.
Lastly, if not a criticism but a request - can you consider “stable compatibility with Stacks” as a required checkmark? When one of the FC’s is yanked from the updater because it pulls a fast one on developer who’d I’d say is critical to your success, that doesn’t inspire confidence.
Now, I’m not in on any internal discussions so I can’t accuse you of penny-chasing or anything else (and I enjoy RW and the community around it) but you’re not being honest to be so dismissive.
But, @jabostick, there are occasions when final candidates are found not to be ready for release. That’s why they’re still in beta. I agree with you about always having backward compatibility to the last stable release.
I don’t often feel the need to reply . I was quite vocal about the 5 to 6 ( I think it was ) transition , which got my account closed btw, ( a bit mean I felt ) but since then the upgrades have been sweet and this last one , the best I’ve experienced. In fact perfect no issues at all. 8 is running lovely , Sluggish on preview but I’m using it on el capitain. Which shouldn’t work apparently. Could not be happier with rw now and of course it’s 3rd party developers. Considering the cost of rw its peanuts really , look at illustrator at £20 per month for ever !! Any way it’s easy to let ppl moan on and on. Mac and Mac software loyalty is a strange beast indeed . Thx you allow me to look like I know what I’m doing in the world of websites
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