Fast status update.

A couple of recent documentation and sample code releases by Apple have finally offered me the opportunity to implement a significant portion of everybody’s wishlist for Quay. In particular, I now have code running that does an exact imitation of the Tiger clicking behavior – open on left-click, pop up menu on right-click – with the option of inverting it. Early tests of allowing dragging files onto the Quay icons also are positive. Several other frequent requests from users are also being implemented, and I have some significant new functionality waiting in the wings, so to speak.

So what’s the downside, and when will it come out?

The past week has seen a sudden peak in non-related problems that had to be solved offline; also my ADSL connection has been hit by some instability. I haven’t been able to log onto AIM with any reliability, and I’ve even had to resort to dial-up now and then. No idea when this will normalize; if it’s due to the seriously unstable weather, it could go on for months.

In addition, I’ve had to return to do work, whenever at all possible, on my Objective-C 2.0 book which is now behind schedule. I’m grateful to my Gentle Editor for not emitting any too-drastical threats, but I agree with him that I need to seriously catch up. In addition to all these considerations we’re way overdue for a trip; there’s been no opportunity for any significant travel this year, and now we’ll be finally off this coming Sunday.

It’s going to be a short working vacation though: a week-long Amazon Cruise on the Iberostar. And I’ll be taking my old iBook G3 to work on the book… as usual I expect to make excellent progress. We’ve been to the Amazon twice before, so we won’t feel obliged to do all the excursions.

Coming back to Quay. The new schemes implied yet another significant recoding effort. Most everything has changed, including installation procedures. So I’ll be extra-careful with testing after I return, and I hope to have the new version ready around Christmas.

During my trip I’ll probably be offline most of the time, too – (it’s the Amazon, remember?) – so please be patient if you e-mail me.