Taking Geany Portable Another Way

Geany Portable has been in development for over a year and a half now. Almost a month ago, I received what I had hoped was promising news on the forums. I originally posted this comment, made after updating Geany Portable to version 0.19.1:

The question now becomes is it worth it for me anymore to promote Geany Portable on this site with the development splash screen, which makes my app look less polished then it actually is?

I was excited to receive this reply from John T. Haller, Lead Developer of PortableApps.com:

"You think it’s ready for a pre-release? If so, I’m up for it."

That was exciting news. But I have heard nothing since. Now, from what I gathered on IRC John’s time is a little stretched. I do not want it to seem like I’m saying that John is not doing something valuable. However, with the exception of current application updates, I see no new applications or updates to the PortableApps.com Updater or Menu. I see the PortableApps.com Updater and the PortableApps.com Menu as PortableApps.com’s “flagship” apps, and their lack of development is discouraging. John’s doing what he thinks is right, but I unfortunately can only see these actions as ineffectual.

I’ve been a member for three and a half years. I’ve been a developer for probably two of those years. As an official “Developer” with PortableApps.com, I have one officially released app. When I first began developing, I had many apps, and many hopes. Now I have two apps, and few hopes. I show my one official app with the meager pride due a past accomplishment because no new accomplishments have come for me to keep higher pride in PNotes Portable as a stepping stone to something greater. There is only one other app in development (Geany) that I still care about. I no longer wish to entertain any hopes for my role as developer with PortableApps.com to extend beyond PNotes Portable.

For the record, I want to state that I am still interested in seeing Geany Portable officially released through PortableApps.com. Also for the record, I am not disparaging PNotes, or PNotes Portable. It is a stable app, built from a stable base. But I’m not going to hold my breath that Geany Portable will also become an officially released app in the near future.

I'm not going to rant, rave, poke, prod, provoke or anything else silly and useless. I’m just going to move on. I can no longer wait with bated breath while Geany Portable gathers dust in the dank recesses of the Beta Testing Forum. Geany Portable is a mature release, built on a mature base. Both are stable. It has had over 1,000 documented downloads of version 0.18.x.x alone. There have been almost 500 downloads of 0.19.x.x, in the relatively short time that it has been available, with no reported troubles. It is ready for release.

That being said, the purpose of this post is to provide public notice of my decision to remove Geany Portable from the “PortableApps.com”-only realm. Geany Portable will now be made publicly available on its own domain name and as a separate entity, GeanyPortable.org. Soon GeanyPortable.org will feature a contact page, forums so that users can provide bug reports and make feature requests as is befitting a mature app.

I’m hopeful that John will also contact me so that Geany Portable can be promoted as via PortableApps.com as a PortableApps.com Format Release. PortableApps.com has entered into similar partnerships with the developers of Database Browser Portable, Canabalt Portable, Inkscape Portable, Skype Portable, Foxit Reader Portable, SpyDLL Remover Portable, and 2X Client Portable. It is my hope that John will consider allowing myself and GeanyPortable.org to enter into the same sort of agreement that he has made with the Inkscape Team, Foxit, and the others.

I view this revamping and disentanglement of Geany Portable into its own entity as an opportunity for expansion for Geany Portable, and also PortableApps.com if it so decides. PortableApps.com’s decision to enter into a partnership GeanyPortable.org will mean that I can control the releases of updates to Geany Portable, unburdening PortableApps.com from the loss of time required to manage Geany Portable’s releases to the public.

If you have a drink, raise it. This one’s to the future. Something bright, shining. I see it bringing new horizons and new successes in more then just the online world. Off we go.