It feels like an eternity since I last wrote any sort of product news on this blog, so today is a long-awaited one for me and judging by some of the emails I receive, some of you too!

I released version 2.0 of KIT today and it’s now called Together. I decided to shorten the name to make it easier for people to find.

Amongst the new features in Together 2.0:

• Folders! Considering the number of emails I’ve received on this subject, a billion people should be cheering right now.
• A new tag browser with special tags for ratings, labels, etc.
• Widescreen mode for editing and previews.
• Edit can now be done directly in the main window and in tabs.
• Editable text documents, web archives, bookmarks, etc.
• Quick Look previews for all kinds of files.
• A new system-wide Shelf for dragging, browsing and making quick notes.
• Spotlight searching and improved smart groups, with content searching and relative dates.
• Encrypted documents.

And much, much more. The release notes tell the full story. Together improves on KIT in every single area.

I have been working almost constantly on Together since February, although the design process began before the release of KIT 1.2 in the summer of 2006. With that version, I intended to revive KIT after its extended break (due to my other app, Feeder, getting sucked into the podcasting whirlwind) to see if there was still interest in the application, because I had a lot of ideas I wanted to try. Thankfully, KIT 1.2 was very well received and I released KIT 1.3 in February of this year to follow that up.

However, while working on 1.3 it became clear that I was reaching the limits of what the app could realistically handle in that form. KIT was originally released for Panther in August 2004 and continued to support Panther for two years afterwards. In the meantime, things had moved on, and with Leopard, would move on again.

Considering KIT’s age and the need to retain my sanity, I decided to start version 2.0 immediately after releasing 1.3. I also decided that it should be rewritten as a Leopard-only application to use the latest technology and everything I have learned in the last three years. My aim was to create a compelling new version that would serve as a solid foundation from which the application can grow.

As such, this has been the biggest single development project I have performed to date. I wanted to blog about Together before its release but, for various reasons, the time vanished. However, I know from the emails I receive that KIT users really care about the app and write very thoughtful suggestions on how it could be improved. Much that is new in this version is the result of that feedback. So, in the next week or so I will post some more in-depth details about the new features in Together 2.0.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 at 9:05 pm by Steve Harris and is filed under Together. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.