Plans for PG Commander 2.0

Since publishing PG Commander 1.0 a bit more than a year ago, I've pushed out five big updates and lots of bugfixes. I've added functions like SSH Tunneling, Filters, Query History and more.

When Apple announced OS X 10.10 Yosemite in June, I thought that I'd quickly adapt PG Commander to take advantage of the new design. I thought I'd be done by the end of the summer. But as I started to work on modernizing the interface, I realized that minor tweaks wouldn't do Yosemite justice. Despite superficial similarities, the new operating system's design has changed dramatically.

I decided that it was time for a redesign. A version 2.0, optimized for Jony Ive's new design language. This comes at an opportune point in time. Over the last year, as I've added features, my app's interface has become somewhat cluttered and lost its original clean simplicity. If I start fresh, I can try to combine all the new things in a more coherent user interface.

New things in PG Commander 2.0

Considering the large number of feature requests I get, I assume that just releasing a new design would be a bit disappointing to some of you. Many of you have emailed me with great ideas for future enhancements: inline editing, syntax coloring, tab completion, queries with parameters, gesture navigation, tabs, a query monitor or additional export formats. The wish list is never ending. There is no way I can fulfill every one of these requests in any reasonable time frame, if I still want to spend any time with my kids.

But there is one thing that keeps popping up: a table structure editor. A way to quickly see the table structure at a glance, and edit it graphically. A way to add columns and change types and define constraints without tediously typing SQL statements.

This feature is dear to me. I've planned on including a structure editor from the beginning, but it is such a major undertaking that I've had to postpone again and again while working on other things. I've decided to finally include it in version 2.0.

In case you are just skimming this longish blog post, here's the definite list of new features in PG Commander 2.0:

New design optimized for Yosemite
Table structure editor

I'll try to add more things as time permits, but I don't want to make any promises. Besides, I need to leave some good stuff for the point releases (2.1, 2.2, ...).

When is the release date?

If you use PG Commander, chances are you're a developer yourself. You probably know first hand how difficult it is to estimate when a software product will ship. Therefore I don't want to provide a specific date, and I'll just say late 2014. That could be in time for the public release of Yosemite, but don't count on it.

I believe that is a reasonable estimate. I'm already pretty far along with the table structure editor, and I think I have a good grasp on the Yosemite redesign.

Will 2.0 be a paid upgrade?

If you buy PG Commander on the Egger Apps Store on or after September 1st, 2014, the update to version 2.0 will be free. Unfortunately I can't offer a free update to Mac App Store customers.

If you bought PG Commander before September 1st, 2014, it will be a paid upgrade.

I've been thinking about this for quite some time now. I would love to give the update away for free to everybody, but I think it would be a very stupid decision from a financial point of view. PG Commander has grossed about 16000 € to date. Assuming that at least a quarter of existing customers would upgrade to the new version, I'd be giving away at least 4000 € of potential revenue. I'd love to be the generous indie developer who gives his work away for free, but I think it would be smarter to spend those 4000 € on improving PG Commander.

What about version 1.x customers who don't want to upgrade?

If you've purchased PG Commander and decide not to upgrade, you can continue to use the old version as long as you want. It works perfectly on Yosemite, it just looks a bit dated. I will continue to publish bugfixes and make sure that version 1.x continues to work.

Interested? Stay in touch!

I prioritize feature requests by the number of emails I get, so if there's something that you really want to see in version 2, let me know: jakob@eggerapps.at.