22nd June 2009

The bundle deal has now finished, I hope you enjoyed it!

Currently, I'm looking at DragThing on Snow Leopard. I expect I'll have a small update ready if there are any problems found, but it's looking good at the moment.

Follow me on Twitter at @jamesthomson for more frequent updates!

31st May 2009

You can now buy DragThing as part of a brand new software bundle at TheMacBundles.com - you can get it with eight other great applications for only $49.95. That's only $21 more than a single copy of DragThing, for well over $200 more in software.

It's all the brainchild of Mac developer Stephen Becker. A few months ago, he contacted a group of us and suggested the idea of a what I would call a "fairtrade" bundle. Instead of most of the profits going to a third-party company with a background in marketing, he would organise it himself, and we would all split the proceeds equally. He's been working hard to get all the pieces in place since then - it's been a real labour of love.

I was happy to lend my support to the project with DragThing. The "bundle culture" that's developed over the last few years has been a great thing for the users - at least in the short term - but not so great for the developers in my opinion. Everybody is looking for the next big bargain - which is especially understandable given the current economic climate of course - and that's been driving the prices down. But it's also getting to the point where it's hard for the smaller developers to stay in business.

But with this deal, instead of getting way less than a dollar per copy, or - even worse - only getting a flat fee regardless of the number of copies sold, we'll all be getting roughly five dollars from each sale of the bundle. So if it sells, say, a couple of thousand copies in total, that's a much better return than we might see from many tens of thousands of sales of some other bundles.

I think Stephen won't mind me saying that this bundle doesn't exactly have the slickest marketing in comparison to the likes of MacHeist or MacUpdate. But that's ok, it's still a really good deal when you get down to it - they're all solid apps, most of which you will have heard of before now. And hopefully, if this proves to be a success, it will be the start of something big that's good for the whole Mac community.

So, if you like a bargain, but also like the idea of developers getting paid a fair amount for their software, please check out the whole story at TheMacBundles.com. It's only going to be available for the next two weeks, so hurry!

4th September 2008

I've got a new version of PCalc for Mac OS X out - the first in two years! You can download it here.

10th July 2008

Touché

PCalc is now available to buy (a day earlier than expected!) for the iPhone and iPod Touch on the iPhone App Store! You can find out more details here.

I think it's a really cool iPhone app, so please check it out and I hope you all like it!

2nd July 2008

PCalc In Your Pocket

So I can finally talk a bit about what I've been working on for the last six months!

PCalc for the iPhone (and iPod Touch) is now ready for release, and has been submitted to the iTunes application store this afternoon. All being well, it should be available immediately when the store opens for business.

Apple has asked us not to show any screenshots from iPhone apps until after the store goes live, so I will respect their wishes (and mighty legal teams) and not put anything up here yet.

But I can still tell you some details.

LIke the desktop app, PCalc for the iPhone includes an extensive set of unit conversions, constants, a paper tape, an RPN mode, engineering and scientific notation, as well as support for hexadecimal, octal and binary calculations. It has been redesigned from the ground up with the handheld experience in mind. It looks great too!

It's going to cost $9.99 in the US - pricing will vary in other countries, but in that range.

More details to follow soon. I hope you like it!

4th June 2008

As promised, there's a small bug fix release of DragThing available now on the download page.

DragThing 5.9.3 works around a number of bugs that were introduced in Mac OS X 10.5.3. Specifically, there were some problems that stopped dock windows from coming to the front in a reliable fashion.

In order to fix the problem, the Desktop Trash will no longer appear in all Spaces by default. If you use Spaces and want the Desktop Trash appearing in all of them, set DragThing to appear in all Spaces in the "Exposé & Spaces" section of System Preferences.

This release should fix all the known issues, but do let me know at the address below if you see any more.

No new features for this one I'm afraid, but I'll hopefully get back to DragThing soon after WWDC and when PCalc for the iPhone is finished.

Thanks for your patience!

3rd June 2008

Another quick update. I believe I have found a good workaround for the 10.5.3 bug below - a new build has just been sent out for testing, and all being well, it will be released tomorrow afternoon.

In the meantime, keep the Desktop Trash switched off and everything should be fine.

30th May 2008

It looks like there's a bug in the new 10.5.3 that's causing DragThing's dock windows not to come to the front sometimes.

I'm working on the problem right now, and have made a pre-release build of 5.9.3 with some changes which I am hoping will work round the bug. Once it's been tested, and I'm sure it does the right thing, I'll get an official release out as soon as possible.

If you're able to reproduce the problem, drop me a line at the address below and I'll send you a copy of the pre-release build.

A quick follow-up. The pre-release build seems to fix most of the problems, but not all of them, so I'm going to spend more time this weekend trying to come up with a comprehensive workaround.

However, I believe that if you disable the Desktop Trash in the Trash section of the Preferences, 5.9.2 should otherwise work correctly with 10.5.3. Something about the Trash window is now confusing the system about whether DragThing's windows are at the front or not, and switching it off should do the trick.

1st April 2008

Sorry for being a bit quiet!

I'm currently deep in R&D mode, looking at the iPhone SDK, and learning how things work by producing a version of PCalc for it. I don't think it's particularly likely I'll be making DragThing for the iPhone, but who knows!

And yes, I did consider making an elaborate hoax press release for the 1st of April, but I was too busy actually working :)

More to come soon...

1st January 2008

Happy New Year! Thanks to everybody who has helped support us in 2007!

20th December 2007

DragThing is 50!

To be precise, this is the fiftieth separate release of DragThing counting all the way back to the very first version 1.0 in 1995. I very nearly didn't notice, but I was just adding up all the different versions in preparation for the release today and realised the significance. That's a whole lot of releases...

Have you used all 50? Let me know! You can find a nostalgic look back at the early days here, on a page I put together for the tenth anniversary.

Anyway, the latest release, 5.9.2, is waiting on the download page.

Sorted!

It's mainly some bug fixes, but I've also added the ability to sort the hierarchical folder menus by date or by kind. Plus, there's a new dock theme "Panthera Lite" which is similar to the default Leopard theme "Panthera Pardus", but it's been working out at the gym...

The full list of changes is here.

Here's to the next 50! Thanks to everybody who has registered over the years!

17th December 2007

There's a small 5.9.2 update coming later this week, but in the meantime check out this excellent video by Jason Snell of Macworld, explaining the basics of DragThing. It's like DragThing TV!

Thanks Jason!

1st November 2007

I've released a small update to improve Leopard support and add a couple of new features. You can get DragThing 5.9.1 on the download page now.

I Need Space To Reflect

Notably, it fixes a couple of problems with Spaces, but it also includes a new dock theme that matches the appearance of the side Leopard Dock. With or without reflections, it's your choice!

The full list of changes is here.

18th October 2007

Regular readers will know that my DragThing mantra is "ready on day one".

Well, I'm a little early this time... DragThing 5.9 with full support for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard is now available on the download page!

I Can Has Reflekshunz?

Highlights include:

• Full support for 10.5, including a brand new look to match Leopard, live document icon previews using QuickLook, and more.
• You can now finally insert and rearrange items in your docks without needing to make space first. Just drag and drop to your heart's content.
• Mirror up your docks with optional icon reflections, even on Tiger and Panther.
• Three more cool dock themes to match Leopard.
• Enhanced previews with display of EXIF data for photos.
• Browse the contents of your folders through contextual menus. Not really a new feature, but we didn't take it away either like some people :)
• And lots more...

The full list of changes is here.

I'd recommend that everybody who upgrades to Leopard also upgrades to this new release - earlier versions of DragThing may have problems under Leopard, and should be considered unsupported at this point.

However, this is a free upgrade for existing registered users of DragThing 5, so there's little reason not to! It costs $12 for registered users of DragThing 2 and 4, and $29 for new users. Five and ten-packs are also available, as well as a bundle with our excellent calculator PCalc for $34.

I've also added another competitive upgrade, this time for refugees from Softchaos' WorkStrip - registered users can upgrade to DragThing for the reduced price of $19. You can find the offer on the order page here.

Enjoy! Let me know what you think on the forums.

12th October 2007

A Time To Reflect On Things To Come

And let the teasing commence :)

3rd August 2007

Just a quick status update. I'm currently working away on a free update for DragThing that will be released alongside Leopard in the coming months.

At the moment, I'm mainly ensuring compatibility and adding some Leopard-specific new features. Of course, since Apple hasn't yet announced exactly when they are going to release Leopard, I can't tell you either! But, as usual, DragThing will be ready on day one whenever it is.

Also, the 1st of August marked the official ten year anniversary of DragThing being sold as shareware. So, thank you to all the people over the years who have help to ensure DragThing has a future. To tell the truth, the actual anniversary of our first sale was back in July, but I used to fiddle the release dates a little back then!

And if you've been using DragThing since then without paying... Well, after a decade-long trial, don't you think it's about time you did?

More later!

31st May 2007

DragThing 5.8.1 has been released.

DashThing

This is just a small update to fix a couple of annoying bugs in 5.8, but there's also a cool new dock theme by Martin Harding called "Dashboard", as well as a new option to lock docks firmly in position.

The full list of changes is here. Enjoy!

25th May 2007

The forums are back online! If you see any more problem at any time, please let me know at:

Thanks very much!

23rd May 2007

The forums are currently offline because of a database problem. I'm hoping they won't be down for too long, but I'm waiting on a reply from my hosting company's tech support folk right now. Now I know what it feels like when you mail me with problems :-)

I'm also working on a small DragThing 5.8.1 update right now to fix a few problems in 5.8. Expect that next week. I'm hoping to sneak a few new features in too, and maybe a theme.

In the meantime, I haven't printed any interesting statistics for a long while, so here you go:

16th May 2007

DragThing 5.8 is now available on the Download Page.

DT hearts DD

Sig Software and TLA Systems are pleased to announce that DragThing is now the official upgrade path for all existing users of Sig Software's Drop Drawers. We've been working closely together for the past few months to make this transition as smooth as possible.

Beginning with this release, DragThing can now directly import settings from Drop Drawers, including the contents, keyboard shortcuts, and appearance of drawers. Lots of new features have been added to this release specifically to make Drop Drawers users feel more at home, and we're confident DragThing users will enjoy them too.

Most of the improvements relate to how drawers work in DragThing, including:

• A new option to move drawers completely offscreen when they are minimised, just like the Apple Dock. So you don't need to sacrifice any precious desktop real estate, but can still have your docks close to hand.
• You can now align tabs anywhere within a dock, not just at the beginning, middle or end. This makes it a lot easier to have multiple drawers occupying the same edge of the screen.
• An option to open drawers when you move the cursor over them, even when they are obscured by other windows.
• An option to only open drawers when the cursor is at the edge of the screen, plus a complementary option to close them again when you click at the edge of the screen. See Fitts' Law.

The full list of changes is available here.

Registered users of Sig Software's Drop Drawers can upgrade to DragThing for the special price of $19, a $10 discount on the normal cost of $29. This update is free for registered users of DragThing 5.

This release also includes two new dock themes from Martin Harding - updated versions of his "HUD Panel" and "Light Panel" themes. Thanks Martin!

I hope you like the release - let me know on the forums. Now with added RSS feeds so you can keep track of the discussions more easily.

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Previous news stories are available here.