Adam’s Peace

I have been working towards this day for a long time now, ever since I first had the idea to turn a joke into a useful tool.

I have reached the first true milestone in the Placebo Project. I am officially in Alpha Testing for the program TimeAgent.

All of the features for the version 1.0.0 release are in place, and I am working with what I am calling version a0.5.0. (For those who are not familiar with version numbers, here is how I’m breaking them down: The ‘a’ at the beginning means that I am in alpha testing. The first zero is the placeholder for significant versions; that is, when I make major changes to the way that TimeAgent deals with information, such as adding in E-Mail and RSS support, then I will bump this number up. Zero here simply means that I have not yet released TimeAgent to the general public, and updating this number to 1 will follow shortly. The second number, in this case, 5, signifies feature additions to the same major version… In this case, I have five main features, the ability to display information, the ability to sort by priority, the ability to schedule items for the future, the ability to save items (so that you can shutdown the program if you wish), and it is currently bug-free (as far as I know… but that’s what the Alpha and Beta testing periods are for). The minor version number gets reset when there is a new major version number (for instance, I won’t go from version 0.5.0 to 1.5.0… I’ll go to 1.0.0), so this second number is only a count of added features since the last major release. The final number is how many times I’ve gone through and fixed bugs or security holes. Even though I won’t be releasing them, I’ll probably have versions 0.5.1, 0.5.2, etc., until I reach Beta testing, and I reset the version to b0.6.0.

Hopefully, the Alpha testing will go so smoothly that I won’t need to have a version 0.5.1, but it is the nature of computer programs to always need tweeks and additions.

So, the current roadmap is, I expect to be in Alpha Testing for another two weeks. After that, I will release the Beta version, and give the testers at least a month to find problems and make suggestions. (If there are a lot of problems that slipped by me, then Beta testing could, and should, last longer than that month.) Once Beta testing is complete, I’ll be releasing TimeAgent to the public, and I’ll be “forking” the code…

Forking the code is just jargon for splitting the project into two peices… One peice will represent the current version, and the main priority for that will be to fix bugs, and if there are easilly added features, to add those as well. The second peice will form the foundation for the next major version, 2.0, and I’ll likely rip out the vast majority of the code, refactor it, and add in the major feature, releasing another beta version and finally a new full version.

So, for the next two weeks, I am looking for Beta testers. I already have some lined up, who have agreed to help me out already…

To be a Beta tester, I have a few specific requirements… You must be willing to test out a program that could crash at any time for at least one month. If it does crash, you must be able to describe how you made it crash. (Being able to make it crash several times in a row is a definite bonus.)

You must be in the target demographic… that is, a person who either spends at least two hours on a computer per day, or who derives at least a portion of their income from working on computers. Examples include, but are not limited to, bloggers, digital photographers, and programmers. This way, you can tell me whether the program is useful or not, and can hopefully describe ways to improve the program so that it will be even more useful in future versions. (Hopefully, it would be more useful in the first general public release. )

Here’s what you get in exchange for being a Beta tester: Free Beta versions for as long as you agree to be a tester… In other words, you get to work with the new features at least a month before everybody else gets to. (Of course, you’ll be asked to give feedback to improve those new features. ) Also, for those who are working on the first Beta version (version b0.6.0), you’ll be getting free public release versions for life. (I may have different incentives for future Beta versions.)

To sign up to be a Beta tester, please use my contact form. Any request to be a tester that is found in the comments section of any post will be removed… This is for your privacy.

Now, I promised a first look of TimeAgent in the title of this post… so here it is: (Click on the thumbnail)

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 10:07 am and is filed under Project Placebo. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.