Hi, 12 years after having had to abandon the brave Quickeys, I was thinking this morning that, since I have been using Keyboard Maestro, I have never had any crashes or malfunctions with this superb software… except for my own programming limitations that have caused bugs in my macros!…
So, great satisfaction and gratitude to the developers.
And finally, I was wondering how the software would evolve and if a next update was planned, an intermediate update in 11.0.4 or a major version in 12.0?…
NB: I do not have access to the beta versions or their dedicated forum pages…
Here's the previous release schedule (according to ChatGPT.) It usually releases every 2 years. New features are generally not advertised in advance. Based only on these dates, the most likely date is later this year. But that's a guess.
"Developers"? You should say developer. There's only one.
Your question about future versions is a valid question. The architect might answer you if he reads this thread, but based on my recollection, we (the public) don't get much more than gentle hints of upcoming versions, if even that.
Airy, thanks for your comment. As I wrote in my original post, I really appreciate KM and its stability. But some information from the one and only developer would be welcome. But hey... let's give him our trust...
I did say you can ask him, but he doesn't read all posts on this website, so if you really want to ask, you can tag/cite his username in your question.
I would word the request in a humble manner, like, "Are there any hints you can provide about the new features in the next major version of KM? Just hints?"
I can't speak for Peter, but as part of a two-person Mac software company (Many Tricks) that often gets this same question, here are some of the reasons that @peternlewis may choose not to share such information:
If you tell everyone what you're doing next, you're also telling your competitors what you're doing next.
If you set a release date for a new version, you will disappoint customers if something happens to prevent you from meeting that release date, regardless of what causes the delay (i.e. Apple changes the rules, COVID, whatever). And disappointed customers are not happy customers.
Once you publicize a future feature, it pretty much becomes a must-do, and what happens if you run into a technical issue that prevents you from doing it? What if this happens to many of the features you listed? All of a sudden, your exciting new release turns into one that fails to meet the expectations you yourself put in place. (See Apple and the recent "walk back" on the personalized Siri features.)
If you lay out a timeline and feature set for a new release, you greatly endanger "today" sales, as people think "Wow, the new one looks so much better, I'll just wait until it ships." What happens if it then doesn't ship, or doesn't ship with the features you described? Now you've probably permanently lost those theoretical customers.
In short, the upside of laying out your future features and timeline is very small compared to the big downsides associated with doing so. This doesn't mean you can't give out hints about what features you'd like to add, or perhaps suggest in private conversation with customers roughly when you think a new version may be coming ... but to do anything like a publishing a public detailed roadmap of features and timelines is incredibly risky, especially for smaller developers.
No, you are correct (I think) for Stairways. I was referring to my company, Many Tricks, where it's just Peter (different Peter) who does all the coding work and me who does the non-coding work.
It is our informal policy to have a paid major upgrade roughly once every 12 to 24 months. This allows us to have a reasonably consistent revenue stream with which to fund development of Keyboard Maestro, and ensures we are working as much for existing customers as to expand the customer base. It means you can keep what you have purchased and not have to pay a subscription, but also that we will still be around working on improving Keyboard Maestro and adding features for when you choose to upgrade.
I’ve really liked your recent major updates, and especially when you released the new icon for your application. I use the icon a lot on my blog site. So in terms of updates, what’s your process for working out the upgrades? Do you work on coding a little each day, or do you work on it in spurts? Do you beta test features with a few users? In general, what’s you overall process for doing development work, and how long does it typically take to get new upgrades developed and released?
The process for each day tends to be similar. Usually I start by clearing the support (and other) email, including the forum, and then the remainder of the day is spent programming.
The overall development cycle for Keyboard Maestro follows a fairly consistent pattern over a period of about two years (preferably more like 18 months, but it has tended to be more like two years). After a major release there is a lot of general support and maintenance work, so not much programming gets done. Fixing up any issues that were missed in testing and polishing any rough edges. This continues on through several minor and bug fix updates over the next year or so, rounding out some or the major new features, or adding other minor changes. Each of these releases is beta tested by a small group of customers.
After that work starts on the next major release. By that point, I usually have the outline of the major features I want to do. I usually try to have a good mix of engine features (new facilities that Keyboard Maestro can perform) and user interface features (improvements to the editor and the look of the various features). Because a lot of Keyboard Maestro is in flux at this point, I usually just work on it alone with only me beta testing. When the major version is mostly complete, then I start formal beta testing while writing the documentation for the new version. The beta testers inevitably find some issues, but more importantly they point out features that would better complete or compliment other features. When everything is ready, the new major version is released and the cycle repeats.
That's nearly a decade old, so any portion of his process could have changed, but the major-upgrade release schedule has held to roughly two years since 2011 (version 5) according to the information Airy posted.
Actually, I meant to say "prospectus". That's the word the OP was probably trying to use. In the context of his sentence, I'm quite sure this is the word he was reaching for. I just mistyped it myself, for which I am very sorry.
PROSPECTUS: a document describing the major features of a proposed literary work, project, business venture, etc., in enough detail so that prospective investors, participants, or buyers may evaluate it:
The next version will likely be 11.0.4. I don’t expect to do version 12 this calendar year. I don't commit to release dates or release timelines for many reasons, some of which are touched on in this thread, some are simpler "under promise and over deliver" - I don't tend to promise anything about the future until its the past.
