NppExec: future plans
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NppExec is a plugin for Notepad++ that adds a Console window as well as scripting abilities to the editor.
The plugin was created in 2006 and, thus, can’t be called modern.
So let’s formulate the roadmap to make NppExec trendy, fashionable and youthful!-
Advertisements (ads)
What do we see literally everywhere every day? When we look at streets, buildings, shops, vehicles, newpapers, magazines, TV screens, computer screens, smartphone screens? Right, we see ads! Static ads, dynamic ads, big ads, small ads, full-screen ads, scrolling ads, pop-up ads, banners… In today’s computer world, we can see ads not only on each and every web page, but also in video on Youtube and even in desktop applications such as Skype or uTorrent.
In short, human kind is obsessed by ads!
Thus, it will be the very first improvement in NppExec!
Yes, the next major version of NppExec will include paid ads! They will be shown on the background of NppExec’s Console. No irritating pop-ups, everything will be integrated and running in the background!
How cool is it, huh?
If you doubt whether the background ads would distract you from actual working with the Console, then the special tests and experiments give you a strong answer: no! (The tests and experiments were carried out by agencies who produce and promote ads). -
User experience and UI modernization
To achieve the best user experience and provide modern UI, the next major version of NppExec will use the latest DirectX 12 for visualization. (It will especially help with nice rendering of ads). Surely, DirectX 12 will require Windows 10, ignoring all the people with those outdated and obsolete Windows 7 and Windows 8, - but who cares when we are talking about the best user experience possible?!
Also, the core of the next major version of NppExec will be based on Electron framework, actually turning NppExec into a web-application running via local Chromium rendering engine and the Node.js runtime. (It will especially help with nice rendering of ads). Because of this, the size of NppExec will be dramatically increased and the performance will be degraded - but who cares when we are talking about the best user experience possible?! -
Logging & reporting
Long users of NppExec are surely familiar with NppExec’s detailed logging (as an example, one can type “npe_debug 1” and observe the output of any further command).
Now, to follow the best existing software practices, the next major version of NppExec will collect all this logging information and report it through secured channels. Even if you physically detach network cable from your computer or disable a wireless network, NppExec will still collect this information and will send the reports once the network is available. NppExec will also try to send these reports through your smartphone, and will even use metal wires of your house as conductors.
If you have doubts about your private and sensitive data in these reports, don’t worry! This reporting will be used exclusively to improve the product and provide the best user experience ever! (At least, this is what giant corporations that will buy this data told me to tell you).
As you can see, the next major version of NppExec will certainly follow the best software trends on the market, thus delivering the best product and user experience ever possible in this world!
Stay tuned! -
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Great news, I’m looking forward to testing the new version.
I hope some +18 ads will be added as well.@Meta-Chuh: Servus
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Really great ideas!
But you forgot the most important feature modern software products offer to their users to please them: The NppExec Cloud!!!
I would like to store the settings file of NppExec and the npes_saved.txt file into the cloud to be able to sync them with all my devices (my private Windows desktop PC, the iMac at work, the iPhone my company gave me for use at work and my private Android phone). This would greatly simplyfy my life and my workflows.
Of course, this wouldn’t be enough! I would like to share my favorite NppExec scripts with other users and I want to be able to give/receive ratings for otherones/my scripts. These features should be available via a package manager as part of your plugin which users can use to publish own scripts and download scripts of others.
The NppExec Cloud should also provide automatic backup features for the files hosted there to protect them from data loss and device failures. Please use a failover cluster structure for this to guarantee 100 % data availability.
All in all, I have to admit that I already thought about to stop using your NppExec plugin because it is so catastrophicaly outdated and old fashioned. But now I can see that you think about the urgent needs of your users. So I will give your dinosaur a final chance to arrive in the modern times and keep using it for the next months.
But be warned! If you will not modernize this crappy piece of software you will loose a longtime user which will decrease the income you hope to gain with the ads you want to include into the plugin!
