Imatch 2021 release date?

[Aubrey]

We all know that Mario never gives release dates. The new version will be released when it's ready. This is an admirable trait that I wish other software vendors would emulate.

On reviewing the release notes for 2020.14.4 (not released) I see one bug fix, nothing more, how unlike Mario! Indeed 2020 is already incredibly good. This leads me to think most time is being  spent on final tweaking of 2021. I predict 2021 release may well be immenent. We'll see!

My piggy bank is full and ready to break open: it's about time we have the opportunity to give Mario some revenue stream after some 22 free updates. 

Aubrey

[mastodon]

Mario won't say anything about new features or release date. It is respectable. Altough I am really curious, too

[Aubrey]

Mario won't say anything about new features or release date.

2020 is so good, I can't even start to imagine what new features Mario is considering to add....

Mario's a bit like Steve Jobs(*): We didn't realize we needed smart phones until he developed them (I use Android!), same with iPad (I use android tablet!).

Aubrey.
(*) Meant to be a compliment as I think Mario is not Apple centric 

[Mario]

There is only one bug fix for now. I develop exclusively on the 2021 branch at the moment, and may roll bug fixes into the 2020 branch as needed - before shipping an update.
IMatch 2020 is very mature and stable. The last update for 2020 was shipped about 5 weeks ago and it just works great. When a bigger bug affecting many users is found, I will ship an update for 2020 of course.

Until then, there is still a lot of work to do on IMatch 2021 and the beta test has not yet begun.
I aim for major upgrades every 12 to 18 months, and 2020 came out about a year ago.

2020 is so good, I can't even start to imagine what new features Mario is considering to add....

Oh, you will enjoy this...

[sinus]

Mario's a bit like Steve Jobs(*): We didn't realize we needed smart phones until he developed them (I use Android!), same with iPad (I use android tablet!).

Aubrey.
(*) Meant to be a compliment as I think Mario is not Apple centric 

I hope Mario is not similar in private to what Steve was. 

[lbo]

On reviewing the release notes for 2020.14.4 (not released) I see one bug fix, nothing more, how unlike Mario! Indeed 2020 is already incredibly good. This leads me to think most time is being  spent on final tweaking of 2021. I predict 2021 release may well be immenent. We'll see!

I updated to IMatch 2020 two days ago, because the release notes have calmed down so now.

My photos don't show facess, no events and I don't fiddle with times, so I can't make use of most new functions introduced with IMatch 2020 but I was hit by some old errors not fixed in IMatch 2019.

My luck that there are users who try the new versions and test them thoroughly.

[Mario]

Don't forget that by purchasing upgrades you also support the IMatch project, this community (which runs on servers I have to pay for) and future bug fixes and enhancements.
And of course the free support you get within the lifetime of your product.

Not every user needs every feature.
But face recognition and related features are used by over 80% of the users participating in telemetry. Events are used by over 50%, which is both excellent.

but I was hit by some old errors not fixed in IMatch 2019.

It makes no sense for me to fix bugs in discontinued legacy product versions. I fix bugs as they are reported.
And I rolled out over 20 (!) free updates for IMatch 2020 since February. And always included not only bug-fixes but also enhancements and new features.

Sometimes a bug is not caused by my code but by one of the external development components and libraries used in IMatch. And frequently updating to a newer version of a 3rd party library requires substantial changes in IMatch - something often only feasible during major upgrades where the entire code base changes anyway. Newer versions of Chromium. Never versions of the Microsoft developer tools and runtime libraries. New enhancements in new Windows versions etc.

Software development is a dynamic process. IMatch does not stop to work just because you don't purchase updates. There are even still many users of IMatch 3 out there.
But don't expect that I provide infinite support or roll down all bug fixes done in newer versions to discontinued legacy products.

[lbo]

Mario, you should not read a complaint into something that is not a complaint.

I am absolutely aware of the diversity of user requirements and expectations, and I'm sure the face recognition is a great feature for a wide audience.

[Mario]

I just made a comment for future readers of this post and the search engines indexing this.