Development drought
So here we are, six months after Emily posted the following:
"I'm really sorry for the lack of communication on our end about the Remember The Milk service in general. This one's my fault, and is something we're working to fix right now. You can expect more frequent updates on the blog (and social media, if you're following us there).
I also hear you that we're slow on feature updates and improvements. We've had some big updates (e.g., MilkScript), but I totally appreciate that there are other areas of our apps that people would like to see given some love too. :) We're working to change this -- I realize these are just words, but I'm hoping through our actions that we'll be able to earn your trust back."
Since then, all that's happened is the return of Tips & Tricks - content which is provided by users.
This simply confirms the impression that Remember The Milk is abandonware, despite Emily's reassurances, which is seems really are "just words".
The price has gone up but we're not getting anything more than before.
So no, I'm afraid you haven't earned my trust back. You've simply confirmed my view that RTM is no longer being developed or marketed.
This is so disappointing.
"I'm really sorry for the lack of communication on our end about the Remember The Milk service in general. This one's my fault, and is something we're working to fix right now. You can expect more frequent updates on the blog (and social media, if you're following us there).
I also hear you that we're slow on feature updates and improvements. We've had some big updates (e.g., MilkScript), but I totally appreciate that there are other areas of our apps that people would like to see given some love too. :) We're working to change this -- I realize these are just words, but I'm hoping through our actions that we'll be able to earn your trust back."
Since then, all that's happened is the return of Tips & Tricks - content which is provided by users.
This simply confirms the impression that Remember The Milk is abandonware, despite Emily's reassurances, which is seems really are "just words".
The price has gone up but we're not getting anything more than before.
So no, I'm afraid you haven't earned my trust back. You've simply confirmed my view that RTM is no longer being developed or marketed.
This is so disappointing.
zurbit says:
Agreed. No visible changes after the assurance from Emily. The updates via blog and social media are in frequent and do not provide insight into what comes next ? Ive read about software considered feature complete and bug free. When you review comments and request in the forums, there is an opportunity to enhance functionality. Is the platform, slowly being abandoned ? Asking you users to stick around and support your endeavours (also paying more), needs to be rewarded by showing some level of commitment.
I came here today to post about a problem with the software that's bothering me.
That said, however, Remember the Milk is a great product at its current level of features. It never loses my data. I use it all day every day on my phone and the web, it does 99% of everything I need successfully and reliably.
I would be SO happy if while yes, development was abandoned, yet still the service was maintained in good working order.
I fear, however, that bit rot will accrue and it'll start getting more and more unreliable.
Meaning, there's a difference between new features and bug fixes (positive change) and maintaining the status quo (vs degradation). I would be very happy with maintaining the status quo.
And it does feel to me today 05/25/2024 (happy Memorial Day) as solid and reliable as 5 years ago.
And Andrew often replies to my posts here.
So I am hopeful for a well-maintained service going forward in the future.
That said, however, Remember the Milk is a great product at its current level of features. It never loses my data. I use it all day every day on my phone and the web, it does 99% of everything I need successfully and reliably.
I would be SO happy if while yes, development was abandoned, yet still the service was maintained in good working order.
I fear, however, that bit rot will accrue and it'll start getting more and more unreliable.
Meaning, there's a difference between new features and bug fixes (positive change) and maintaining the status quo (vs degradation). I would be very happy with maintaining the status quo.
And it does feel to me today 05/25/2024 (happy Memorial Day) as solid and reliable as 5 years ago.
And Andrew often replies to my posts here.
So I am hopeful for a well-maintained service going forward in the future.
zurbit says:
(Bump)
pawelkaleta says:
I have moved to a different task manager right after "Emily's speech", wasn't hoping for a change of owners' approach for any second, I've seen similar Toodledo's agony, and here is exactly the same scenario. No matter how good RTM is, it's abandoned since long time and will sooner than later become not that reliable as some users still hope it will forever be. My subscription expires in one month, and after many years I will not renew it for sure. And no, I wasn't hoping for spectacular improvements or features - fixing simple bugs or implementing even the easiest users' suggestions would be enough to convince me that RTM is still breathing, but I'm done waiting, or better to say, done being naive. All the best.
(closed account) says:
The long term issue all platforms face is being written for/with outdated tech. Let's just talk a feature avail w most of the competition - attaching media to tasks.. RTM is a text based system. Ea task takes only a little bit of space so there's not much hardware. The ability to add media would require profound changes at every level.
The disk space required for one task would grow exponentially as soon as the feature went live. The cost of just the additional hardware & internet bandwidth and their management for these files could be substantial.
They can't afford it with the small # of clients they have - and clients won't pay more so they can buy it. Then there's still the software and database rewrite and testing and they are falling further behind without it.
This math answers all new development questions unless something changes their cash flow.
The disk space required for one task would grow exponentially as soon as the feature went live. The cost of just the additional hardware & internet bandwidth and their management for these files could be substantial.
They can't afford it with the small # of clients they have - and clients won't pay more so they can buy it. Then there's still the software and database rewrite and testing and they are falling further behind without it.
This math answers all new development questions unless something changes their cash flow.
Credit where credit's due:
I could not load tasks from 11pm-12am on 07/01/2024. I tried various interventions til 11:40pm (update browser, different browser, mobile). Then I submitted a ticket. I am a pro user.
20 min later, Emily got back to me saying the problem was resolved.
And it was.
Thank you Emily and RTM team for still being great.
I could not load tasks from 11pm-12am on 07/01/2024. I tried various interventions til 11:40pm (update browser, different browser, mobile). Then I submitted a ticket. I am a pro user.
20 min later, Emily got back to me saying the problem was resolved.
And it was.
Thank you Emily and RTM team for still being great.
pawelkaleta says:
My last 5 days with Pro, and with RTM in general. I was curious if I would see any response from RTM in this thread, but yet again, no surprises at all.
zurbit says:
It’s does appear that this thread will eventually close without a response from Emily & team.
#abandonware ?
#abandonware ?
Feels like. So here we are again, in our tiny RTM mourning club.
It really is a shame. RTM still is the best todo app, but it feels like wasted effort to maintain my system here. Feels like any other day the plug might be pulled. Damn, I think about the old days. Hey, just for fun: open the blog and scroll down reeeeaaaally long. Then you will see, what RTM has once been.
The devs (if there are any) might do so as well.
It really is a shame. RTM still is the best todo app, but it feels like wasted effort to maintain my system here. Feels like any other day the plug might be pulled. Damn, I think about the old days. Hey, just for fun: open the blog and scroll down reeeeaaaally long. Then you will see, what RTM has once been.
The devs (if there are any) might do so as well.
zurbit says:
7 weeks since last visiting this thread - still no response from RTM ? Shameful.
Looking at LinkedIn, it seems the technical co-founder has been working at other companies in addition to his work on RTM already for the last few years, which would explain (not justify) some of the development drought.
It really is a shame that this wonderful product might be abandoned. After trending on social media, I tried TickTick for the last few days - just to realize that it is basically a copy of RTM with some additional features tacked on, an arguably slightly prettier UI for 2024, but a lot less reliable in many functionality aspects. Just shows how awesome RTM has already been all these years.
I don't even think that RTM needs that many additional features, just being maintained a bit more actively. Hoping for the best here.
It really is a shame that this wonderful product might be abandoned. After trending on social media, I tried TickTick for the last few days - just to realize that it is basically a copy of RTM with some additional features tacked on, an arguably slightly prettier UI for 2024, but a lot less reliable in many functionality aspects. Just shows how awesome RTM has already been all these years.
I don't even think that RTM needs that many additional features, just being maintained a bit more actively. Hoping for the best here.
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