As a desktop software developer, I get a heart attack every time there is a new operating system on the horizon. There is always a flurry of debugging and testing activity just to ensure that the application runs as expected on the new OS. It takes a lot of time to check if any existing APIs have changed and to determine what can be done to support any modified behaviors. It takes even more time to ensure that an application still behaves the same across all versions of the operating system. It’s necessary for ensuring quality but it most definitely gets in the way of writing new features.

With Windows Vista’s release earlier this year, we have been spending the last few months modifying and testing the application to run on the new platform. Though the next version of Netizen should run without the need for the Windows XP compatibility setting, it will be another version before we get all the Windows Vista UAC issues sorted out. I think our Auto-Update mechanism will be the first to experience some problems, even with the next release.

Mac OS X Leopard is set for release this month and I have yet to try Netizen on a developer preview release of that OS. I don’t have enough test machines for that. I wish Apple would just let me run their OS on a virtual machine. But until I get another Mac Mini with the new OS, expect inconsistent behavior from Netizen. Actually, I just hope Netizen launches on the new OS. I’m not sure how the updated Finder and the new Stacks and Time Machine feature will affect the application. The new Leopard features are really exciting, but I hope the API changes and feature work required to get Netizen to shine on the new platform doesn’t send me into shock. I think I was actually happy when Apple announced earlier this year that they were delaying the release of Leopard. Anyway, if anyone gets a chance to try Netizen on Leopard, please let me know how it goes.