Sunday morning, I started developing the next major release of ClipboardLan: ClipboardLan 2.0. Since I published the first release of ClipboardLAN February last year, I have been asked for updates from some users who are interested in it. That’s good news!
Why 2.0 instead of 1.1, 1.5 or 1.X (where 0 < x <= 9)?
In first place, because I will rewrite it from the scratch. I will not be working on the earlier code base because it was ad hoc code and by no means it was worth to extend. I know that this is the kind of things I should never do. But hey, I am not a commercial shop so I don’t care indeed.
I will also rework the architecture to make ClipboardLAN totally extensible and portable. I am interested in a Windows version and a Gnome version. So it is essential to make it easy to port. I will also look for some collaboration: extending it must be easy.
What will be the major changes?
Probably, the most breaking change will be the use of P2P and autodiscovery. ClipboardLAN uses web services to work right now. We need a web server and an ASP.NET process to simply pass a snapshot between computers. This is wrong no matter how hard you try to convince yourself. I would like to reach average users, so I cannot expect them to know how to set up a web server. This new version will be as easy as 1-2-3. Just double click the executable (we would not even require an install) and it will automatically be paired with the other computer running ClipboardLAN. Easy, isn’t it?
There will be a complete makeover of the user interface. Currently, there is nothing such as a preview of what is being sent until you replace the contents of the clipboard. In the new version, there will be a preview for each notification so you can dismiss it or do whatever you feel.
When could we download a beta or a release?
I expected to release the Windows version in March 2009.
These are good news, but it sounds like vaporware to me. What have you done so far?
Well, I personally expect it not to become vaporware. I will try to do my best. At the moment, I set up a Subversion repository and created a new bugzilla product on my server and developed some mock ups. Besides I start writing a protocol specification which will be public within a few days.
Why are you doing this?
Because I need it at home and I think it could be of public interest.
