On The Job Status Report
It’s been far to quiet around here for far too long, and I’m know that many people are wondering what the status is for On The Job 3. Some might say say that we’ve been saying it’s coming “soon” for a little to long at this point. Well, I would agree. The good news is that On The Job 3 is coming along nicely, and there have been no changes in our plans to release it as soon as it’s ready.
Just in way of explanation, the delay has been caused by a number of factors. Part of it is due poor estimates on the time it would take to implement some things, especially as the business side of running Stunt has started taking up more time, leaving less for the coding side of things for me personally. Leopard also ended up causing much more development work than I initially anticipated, especially in the case of Overflow.
In light of the delay, I have made a couple of decisions. On The Job 3 will be Leopard-only. By the time it comes out, Leopard will have been out for a significant amount of time that I believe most of our users will have had the chance to update. Going Leopard-only will simplify the code and allow us to speed up the testing phase once we hit beta status (of course, if there is a deluge of email expressing horror in this choice, there is an outside chance it could be reversed).
Upgrades will be free for users that purchased within eight months of the release date. This was originally going to be a smaller window, but I don’t want to leave anybody out that may have had the impression that their upgrade would be free when they purchased version 2.
Now, I know that I haven’t answered one remaining burning question: when will version 3 be released? Well, I’m going to leave that intentionally vague. I’ve learned my lesson. I will say that it is being worked on full time, and we want it out at least as much as you do!
Update: I just wanted to point out that everyone who purchased On The Job after seeing the “coming soon” banner will most definitely be getting a free upgrade, whenever the final release happens.
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on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 4:27 am.
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If making OTJ 3 Leopard only speeds release it’s a good thing and welcome.
Agreed…Leo only is totally acceptable. Just hope it happens soon! Would love to have a preview of some of the features that are on the horizon. I use this app almost everyday and am very much looking forward to an update.
Thanks for the update! Leopard-only is totally understandable as it’s hard to maintain (and develop) for two different systems.
Are there any features that are definitive in 3.0 and that you can share?
Looking forwards to 3.0
Would love to hear some of the new features
The release date isn’t as important as WHAT WILL V.3 HAVE IN FEATURES? Please, I am starting to let my eye wonder to other products. What will 3 offer?
OTJ 2.3 no longer meets my needs, so I’d definitely like to know more about the features for 3.0 to decide if I can or should hold out. Also I’d like to know what the upgrade path will be for people who registered OTJ before talk of 3.0 made it to the front page.
Billings is today’s macZot, and it’s both Tiger and Leopard -friendly.
I would also love to know what version 3.0 would have in features, I can only guess it will have a well thought out invoicing database…. I hope.
I have been craving for a decent invoicing application, but currently there is none that meets my needs (I have tried many, billings, billable, studiometry, ibiz and iratchet).
OnTheJob is cool but the i need more features so waiting for version 3 is harder than i expected. perhabs a beta version for the impatience userbase
Thank you for the announcement update. Version 2 has been a great hit and I can’t wait to start using v3 in the near future. It might be good to release an alpha/beta version as soon as possible. The sooner you start getting feedback, the better.
Will OnTheJob 3 get support for API’s? So we can submit timesheets to (our own) webservices?
I also would love to know the upcoming features. While I think this is an excellent program, Billings would also work for me. I love that On The Job incorporates beautiful invoicing, especially since I have been using a timer separately from my invoicing in Pages. These are quite elegant and somewhat customizable. I need to see if I can enlarge the logo area. I am trying to phase out Account Edge. I’d like to get in line for the beta!
Why the secrecy regarding features in 3.0? Or am I just looking in the wrong place? I haven’t been able to find anything in that regard. Is .Mac syncing in the works? I’d love to be able to keep track of my hours with both my desktop and notebook computers. Haven’t found a workable solution yet.
Since I can’t see the features for v3, I’ll make my request. I just moved to Korea, and I’d like On the Job to handle foreign currencies. Please please pretty please.
Looking forward to v3, if you need a beta tester just let me know
My requests would be:
* Start/stop times on tasks.
* Customizable reports.
* Task metadata, e.g. categories, task reference ID, etc.
v2 is great, but the above would make it just that tad bit better, and help it catch up against e.g. OfficeTime.
Damien
Come on, hurry up… Where’s this software already? Been waiting ages…
Can you please share with us on this, close to 2 months since your latest/last? update i’m also starting to look at other apps. I just need to know if i’l waste my money or not.
Martin
Please tell us how things are coming along with the new version and give us crumbs of info on the feature set!
Over 2 months since the last information and many months since the teaser that a v3 was coming soon. I’m starting to think this isn’t going to come soon enough for me. I’m checking out OfficeTime and it looks nice.
just some features I really miss:
1. Automatic tracking of invoice number.
(I keep putting wrong invoice numbers on my invoices, as I can’t remember how far I’ve gotten)
2. Ability to choose currency, independently on jobs.
3. Maybe even choose between customizable presets of layouts for invoices, as I run two companies. And constantly have to put graphics and text in and out, when I send out invoices.
Looking forward to this!!!!!
I’d love to have more control over the hourly rates, since I have several and they vary by client. What I’d like is being able to set the default hourly rate by Folder, for example.
Also, more control over the look of the invoice, so I can make it all pretty.
One of my favorite features is the rounding up of time. Very handy. I could also use an “inflate hours by percentage” feature. Heh heh. No, really!
: )
I am wondering if OTJ 3 (or previous versions) support re-ocurring invoicing. i.e. generate and send invoices every month to clients.
I’d appreciate any comments on this
Thanks
I’d like to be able to use tasks the way they are now, but be able to maintain time logs for which day I worked on a task. Right now I’m forced to create a new task each separate day to see this detail. This is important for me from a time management standpoint, not billing wise.
Hi everybody - sorry for the lack of updates about On The Job 3. I’ll try to get a post up soon about some of the new features that version 3 will have. If you do have specific feature requests, please send them to support@stuntsoftware.com so that they’ll be easier for us to track.
The good news is that it sounds like a lot of what is being asked for here is in the works in one way or another!
Hi Dan
I found on the job 2 a month ago, been running in trial version.. very happy with the softwares easy of use and logical flow. I just need to know if version 3 will have the features that will make this my app of choice.
Can you give a rough estimate on when version 3 will be released. One or two or six months from now.
As i need to make a decision to buy this software or not.
Converting from rands to dollars is a painful thing : )
A nice feature would be to create invoices on tasks that were worked on within a time period..
ie. a task was create on the 1st and worked on till the 5th, then later on the 16th the task was worked on till the 22nd.
Then when invoicing for the period of the 17th till 22nd, the task will be in the invoice with an amount equal to the total task amount minus the cost from the 1st till the 5th.
I would like to see the the time-tracking reports on this project.
I’ve been checking this website on a weekly basis since the “coming soon” message showed up and I have ended up being disappointed ever since. Just how hard is it to get a post up? I’m tired of shareware developers simply not caring anymore… take a look a discoapp.com or panic.com for more examples. Makes me wonder why I paid for these programs in the first place.
@Jonathan,
Sorry, it probably has been a little too quiet around here. I will work on getting a new blog post up soon. Rest assured that work on On The Job 3 continues!
Great software, lousy marketing and as seen so many times before - promises of a new version that is more and more looking like vapourware. I have seen this software being advertised as coming “soon” for at least six months now. Less and less information, less and less news and no new version. We can not and will not recommend On the job for our clients and we will not purchase any more licenses and have now moved on, choosen another software that is being updated and handled by a developer and a company that actually does release new versions - not just say that they will. If our company would have treated our clients like this, or if we would have advertised our products like this we would be out of business. This is not a matter about our license or the money. It is about a developer asking for money for a piece of software that have been abandoned. Read the signs people, no information on new features, no new version, no information on progress and no releasedate. This software is history.
you should hurry up then meanwhile GRANDTOTAL and INVOY are hard to beat in style and ease!!!
check out: http://www.mediaatelier.com http://www.emptyfactory.com
wondering what you come up with OTJ 3…..
I have been following the Grandtotal beta, and it seems a very intuitive and capable application which fits my needs.
I have been evaluating and trying invoicing programs for a few years now and I need to get this over with. I’m willing to switch over to something that works for me, but I’m not willing to do it multiple times, which is why I’m eager to see On The Job 3, or at least a feature list and a projected release date so I can make a decision and not feel sorry if I switched for the wrong reasons.
Since the “Coming Soon” banner has been up since November 2007, I’m not very confident anything is coming soon at all.
How’s that post coming along Dan? On the Job 2 still does the job for me, but barely. I’d like to know what your plans for v3 are – so I can stop looking around at other options…
If a post is written, but never published – does it still count as a post?
I don’t agree with with Jonathan above about panic’s lack of progress. They have strong applications and they continue to work on them and make them better. I think the issue with On the Job is that Dan has been promising that On the Job 3 is coming for way too long, without giving any indication of what to expect or when to expect it. Then, when faced with criticism and questions regarding its status – he promises an update – and returns to dead silence.
On the Job, is in my opinion, by far the most natural, straightforward application out there. It restrains its functionality for simplicity, which is better than function bloat but it does not do exactly what I want it to do. I have high hopes for On the Job 3. If it doesn’t come soon, I will have to build my own solution.
Dan, wtf?
Panic has had version 1 of Coda out there for months, now they just came out with a (very) minor update. Meh. But I agree, they still have strong apps.
Billings 3 is out….getting anxious, Dan…
I too am at the very least curious about the new features on OTJ 3.0 — I am starting to run into limitations with the software, particularly in the area of invoice tracking, some sort of template system for recurring/similar tasks, better implementation for active projects/completed projects/invoiced projects/paid projects, better implementation of flat-rate billing (quantities), and per-client invoice numbering (automatic increments for this would be key). A basic reports/overview system would be nice as well, but not urgent at least for me right now.
If we could get some idea of the planned features, and some sort of update on the progress on this blog, that would be great.
I love OTJ and would prefer to keep with the software for my billing needs, but have been forced to start (once again) demoing other invoicing/billing/time tracking apps for the features I need. I have to make too many workarounds in OTJ as it stands now, and it’s getting in the way.
I don’t mind paying for an update, but soon I will have no choice but to purchase less-desirable software since I don’t even know if OTJ will have the features I am looking for, let alone an idea of the release date.
I think all the commenters here are, like me, big fans of OTJ and imagine that you’ll bring the same amount of care to 3.0 as you have to the previous releases. We just need some updates on the progress, release date and features you have planned so we can get some satisfaction while we wait. We know you are working hard, just keep us in the loop!
Dan,
I have posted a comment before that never showed up, and I know I’m not the only one.
I can understand you want to censor your website, it’s your website after all, but is it really that difficult to put up a small message with a status report ?
Even, sorry “on the job 3″ has been postponed to 2010 is ok.
You have been anouncing version 3 SOON on your website since November 2007 !!!
Come on ! You currently have the best time tracking software out there which is why people have high hopes for your next version. Get it over with, is version 3 coming or not ? Soon or not ?
I have my mastercard in my hand. How SOON are you able to charge it ?
Hello,
I make a rule of buying software to support it’s development. Does seem a bit crazy that we will be waiting 12 months for this update. I bought version 2 because I thought version 3 was coming out soon.
Six months since the last “status report”… you must be able to tell us something… anything… by now…
Please???
Dan,
Like everyone else here I am looking forward to OTJ 3.0. 2.3.1 is feeling rougher and rougher around the edges every day.
Why not release a developer alpha to people who have tested for you before, and all of those that have commented here. That way your users would at least know that there was reason to hang on and not abandon OTJ for something else. Without user comments how do you know if you are on track in terms of features ? I guess I am just spoiled by working with Jess @ HogBay on TaskPaper.
For any of you that wonder if perhaps Dan is slaving away at creating OTJ 3 with no time even to update us on his progress… He still has plenty of time to post to twitter: http://twitter.com/danmessing.
My best guess at this point: Dan is wondering what to do with OTJ; sell it to another developer, or just let it die. Why else would it be so hard to set some very basic expectations?
I just sent off an email to Dan to ask for a new blog post for On The Job progress. Thought maybe he might not be receiving the comment notifications on his blog or something, worth a shot at the least.
Just got a reply, Dan says he’ll be updating the blog soon and that OTJ 3.0 is coming along nicely.
Oh, really? Any minute now I’m sure…
All I can tell you is that was what he mentioned to me in an email. Thought we might have seen something by now though…
Soon is a relative term. It could mean “any second now” — though in the case of OTJ it seems to mean “within the next decade”, or “when I get around to it”… After all, OTJ 3 has been “coming soon” for a while now. Anyways, thanks for sharing George. I wouldn’t get my hopes up though…
i spent money on on the job software because “version 3 will be out soon” and version 2 looked great and with promises for cool new features i jumped right in. more than a year later i still get an upgrade to version 3 …very very soon. quite frustrating to say the least…
Check the main blog, an update has been posted if you are just following this thread as I was.