Hi folks,
Now that things are calming down a bit with support and the new licensing system seems stable, we can start looking forward to SGPro 4. Before specifics though, I want to take a moment to discuss the new licensing model and how it will impact SGPro versions 4 and beyond.
The first point is that, with our new licensing model, versions numbers in SGPro are much less meaningful. They will still exist going forward, but they will mostly be for the purpose of referring to intangibles (i.e. so we can all refer to the same thing during discussions). One of the major selling points of our new model is that we no longer feel obligated to save up a whole bunch of features and release them all at one time in order to justify the value of a major (paid) version release. That style of release is inherently fragile because it holds so many new things at one time and it also serves to hold some features “hostage”. If we wanted to release ten new features and nine are complete, but we are having difficulty with the last one, those other nine may be held hostage by a last set of problems. Our current model allows us to release features as they become available. It’s better and easier for us as developers and it’s definitely a better deal for our users.
As for the subscription part? Is less than $5 per month too much for unlimited access to SGPro upgrades? maybe too little? I’m not sure and, in any case, that kind of value is certainly in the eye of the beholder. What I can say is that we have taken great care to present this new model in a way that does not force anyone to pay something for nothing. At any point in SGPro’s lifetime, you can stop paying and you will always have a version of SGPro you can use… forever, and never spend another penny. Further, if you want to take a break from your subscription and later decide to re-subscribe, you will never be charged the initial sign-up fee again. If we never produce another feature that you value more than $5 a month for a single year, you will never need to pay anything again.
It’s too exhausting to try to convince everyone of this, but I will say that you should feel free to share this if you have the opportunity (meaning… if you happen upon external conversations that, for the sake of outrage, take this model out of context, compare it to modern day highway robbery, etc, I hope that this may serve as an explanation). Ok! Enough of this… let’s talk about 4.0.
Given the context above, nobody should panic that the initial scope of SGPro 4 includes only one feature or is maybe not what you were hoping for. We will usually have a pretty clear line of sight on the next couple of things coming out (because we are actively working them), and probably a pretty good, but less clear, notion of the next few things to be released afterward.
Some time this week, it is my hope to release the first 4.0 beta (any active subscriber can use it… keep in mind that when the first version of SGPro 4 is officially released we will reset all new active subscriptions such that they will remain valid for 1 year from the date of that release… in other words, don’t worry about “wasting” your subscription time on a beta). Here are the upcoming releases that we feel pretty confident about (all in the context of SGPro 4):
- Full support for ASCOM and PrimaLuce Eagle switches. Control all your switches manually through the control panel (and a floating module in a future release). Set a complete “switch state” at sequence start and end. Coming soon afterward: control switch state in a variety of other sequence states: auto focus, manual focus, calibration frames, error states, etc.
- Fully compliant 64-bit support. It will be referred to as 64-bit SGPro for simplicity, but SGPro doesn’t actually have a “bitness”. This refers to SGPro’s ability to use and communicate with drivers and external software that is actually 64-bit. You will no longer be required to install the 32-bit version of drivers and for some larger format cameras, this could be very meaningful (if you were having memory issues with 32-bit).
- Small pause for stability and minor enhancements (sequence start scripting, add some of the switch state support mentioned above and several others)
- Refactor the “Target Display Window”. Resizable view area (to some extent), expand to expose and edit common settings without opening the target settings dialog.
- Bulk target editor (think spreadsheet-like interface)
- Official support for dual (or more) SGPro coordination. First release will only support dithering coordination, then maybe later, support for synchronized auto focus and synchronized error handling for failure in secondary imaging train.
- TBD: Session planning tools… this is a deep topic, more on this later in a dedicated topic.
As always, please do request features. We do read and consider all suggestions (even if we don’t respond to all of them).