To everyone who has given us feedback on Attensa for Outlook .97 - thank you.
Because we are giving bleeding edge access to our pre-releases, there are going to be times when features are missing and new features "just don't cut it". To an extent this is intentional. There is so much we want to add to the Attensa RSS network, it is our hope that your feedback on these pre-release features will point us in the right direction on performance, fit and finish as we move toward a 1.0 release.
With the release of Attensa for Outlook .97 we focused on adding new capabilities rather than fixing known problems. We've been sifting and sorting the feedback and have come up with a prioritized list of fixes and features we are working on for the next release. We completely understand that everyone wants their specific issue addressed or feature request implemented first. In this case we decided to go with majority rules rather than the squeeky wheel axiom.
Here's our prioritized list of upcoming fixes and features:
- Tackle Outlook performance
- Publishing debug
- Adding "update now" control to manually update feeds
- Add auto update UI
- Next new feature - Categories/Folder Management
In addition to putting out .97 we've been working on a number of major projects behind the scenes. Between meetings with customers and VCs, we are working to bring up Attensa for Web, the free online RSS reader providing a personal and privacy protected Web page for reading and managing RSS articles and subscriptions.
Attensa for Web and Attensa for Outlook will use a uniquely scalable bi-directional synchronization system to keep subscriptions and articles up to date whether they are accessed from the Web or from Outlook.
With the introduction of Attensa for Web you'll be able to choose between using Attensa for Outlook as a stand-alone, using Attensa for Web or using both to take advantage of the convenience of being able to access your RSS feeds in Outlook at work and online from any PC and having your feeds and articles up to date.
There's more to come. We will be opening an controlled beta of Attensa for Web soon. Look for an invitation to participate.
Scott:
Thanks for the update. This is just the kind of transparency and information flow that we end users need to have in order to stay the course during these .* releases whereas not knowing the road map and priorities is demoralizing.
Keep up the good work - and the information flow. We'll keep up with the input from our end.
Posted by: Robert Banghart | July 29, 2005 at 09:57 AM
Scott,
This is great! It is really nice from my point of view to know the what & why of changes from one version to the next. For me (and I would guess many others), this insight into why certain features/fixes did not make the release is REALLY important. It helps me understand what you are doing and focusing on for a particular release, and keeps me from thinking "they didn't fix problem x, so they don't really care about what I have said".
As a suggestion, I would suggest that you post this (and future posts like this) in the Attensa forums as a pinned item. That way, if someone does not subscribe to your blog, or is not watching your blog daily - I know, that would never happen :) - then they would be able to easily find this information.
Later,
EricB
Posted by: EricB | August 01, 2005 at 09:46 AM
Eric - great idea. Done.
Posted by: Scott Niesen | August 04, 2005 at 02:51 PM