Black Pixel's Comparison App 'Kaleidoscope 2' Goes Live on Mac App Store

MacRumors · Jan 17, 2013

Black Pixel today released its first major in-house app, Kaleidoscope 2. The app that helps coders, writers and others to compare the differences in folders, images, text, and more. The app was released as a beta back in November.

At the time, The Next Web spoke with former Apple employee Michael Jurewitz and the rest of the Black Pixel team about Kaleidoscope 2:

Kaleidoscope 2 is a lovely comparison app that allows you to take two or more files, folders or images and compare them to one another. The applications are broad, with benefits that swing from developers on one end to those simply looking to compare two images side-by-side. It has full integration with Git, Subversion, Mercurial, and Bazaar. The app can be used as the default conflict resolver for code with its command line integration or simply to check the changed passages in a collaborative word document. It's beautifully designed, fast and wonderful to use. It's become an essential part of my toolkit already.

Black Pixel acquired Kaleidoscope and Versions last year, as well as the popular RSS reader NetNewsWire. Version 2 of Kaleidoscope is the first major bit of software that Black Pixel has put its own name on -- previously, the company focused on developing apps for outside clients.

Kaleidoscope 2 is currently available on the Mac App Store [Direct Link], directly from Black Pixel or as a 15-day trial. It's available for $35 through January 30th, after which it will be $70.

Article Link: Black Pixel's Comparison App 'Kaleidoscope 2' Goes Live on Mac App Store

ArtOfWarfare · Jan 17, 2013

$70 to be able to cheat at find the difference puzzles seems a bit steep, doesn't it?

In all seriousness though, there are online tools that do this same thing for free... how can this be so much better than free to justify such a price?

lordmorgul · Jan 17, 2013

ArtOfWarfare said:
how can this be so much better than free to justify such a price?

I agree... it is graphical diff... and all the code repository applications have diff built right in. It seems a little bit unnecessary, but if command line tools are not your thing sure it could be nice... but even the $35 intro price seems pretty high.

bearda · Jan 17, 2013

$70 is a bit much, but as a developer $35 for a good diff tool isn't too bad. I've used Beyond Compare for a while and found it worth it's price several times over when doing code reviews.

Kaibelf · Jan 17, 2013

ArtOfWarfare said:
$70 to be able to cheat at find the difference puzzles seems a bit steep, doesn't it?

In all seriousness though, there are online tools that do this same thing for free... how can this be so much better than free to justify such a price?

Puzzles? Try articles, code, legal briefs, contracts, financials......

lhawkins · Jan 17, 2013

Isn't this pretty much the same as the free FileMerge application included with Apple's Developer Tools located in /Applications/Xcode/Contents/Applications/FileMerge ?

Nebulance · Jan 17, 2013

$70 is unreasonable since this is a unix command in the terminal. You can use the 'diff' command, and there's also 'vimdiff' for those vim users out there (my personal preference).

I guess it'll be helpful for non-programmers, but I just don't see the reason for the high price tag.

iwbyte · Jan 17, 2013

How is this different from Bbedit ($40), or even the free TextWrangler?

HiRez · Jan 17, 2013

lhawkins said:
Isn't this pretty much the same as the free FileMerge application included with Apple's Developer Tools located in /Applications/Xcode/Contents/Applications/FileMerge ?

Yeah, I'd like to see how it's different (and presumably better?). Looks almost identical from what I can see. And actually I find FileMerge inside Xcode works pretty well.

shurcooL · Jan 17, 2013

After trying this, my favourite visual diff app remains to be DiffMerge, which is available for OS X, Windows and Linux.

Now, as nice as DiffMerge is, unfortunately it is very poorly maintained and updated. It's just missing a few easy-to-implement (IMO) features that'd make it so much better, and its developers don't seem to care much about it. It's really too bad, because it is lightyears ahead in some of the core functionality.

mrgraff · Jan 17, 2013

Nebulance said:
... but I just don't see the reason for the high price tag.

Hiut Jeans aren't cheap...

kwikdeth · Jan 17, 2013

this app supposedly is able to compare folders and display the differences in their contets. i dont need all those extra features. does anyone know of an app i can use to compare two different folders and show me differences (and if possible a reconcile function for making them identical?)
thanks

mdlux · Jan 17, 2013

DropSync

----------

kwikdeth said:
this app supposedly is able to compare folders and display the differences in their contets. i dont need all those extra features. does anyone know of an app i can use to compare two different folders and show me differences (and if possible a reconcile function for making them identical?)
thanks

DropSync works for me (Mac App Store)

a0me · Jan 17, 2013

shurcooL said:
After trying this, my favourite visual diff app remains to be DiffMerge, which is available for OS X, Windows and Linux.

Image

Now, as nice as DiffMerge is, unfortunately it is very poorly maintained and updated. It's just missing a few easy-to-implement (IMO) features that'd make it so much better, and its developers don't seem to care much about it. It's really too bad, because it is lightyears ahead in some of the core functionality.

I think everyone failed to notice one of Kaleidoscope's highlighted features:

POWERFUL IMAGE COMPARISON
✧ Compare images side by side, stacked, or split
✧ Spot subtle pixel differences with a high contrast “difference mask”

As far as I know, the alternative apps mentioned in this thread (FileMerge, Bbedit, DiffMerge, etc.) can't do image comparison.

Sure, there's a couple of cheaper solutions for that (apps like PixCompare or dupeGuru PE) but it's possible that Kaleidoscope performs better.

wetrix · Jan 17, 2013

Why does macrumors give this app the time of day? Is there really that much of an appeal to the readership?

ThunderSkunk · Jan 17, 2013

wetrix said:
Why does macrumors give this app the time of day? Is there really that much of an appeal to the readership?

Well there wasn't, until the post before yours.

Makes this horrendously useful.

mdriftmeyer · Jan 18, 2013

shurcooL said:
After trying this, my favourite visual diff app remains to be DiffMerge, which is available for OS X, Windows and Linux.

Image

Now, as nice as DiffMerge is, unfortunately it is very poorly maintained and updated. It's just missing a few easy-to-implement (IMO) features that'd make it so much better, and its developers don't seem to care much about it. It's really too bad, because it is lightyears ahead in some of the core functionality.

Talk about myopia. Kaleidoscope is a lot more than a Diff app.

0098386 · Jan 18, 2013

This article brought to you by Black Pixel.

ob81 · Jan 18, 2013

Overpriced considering it does nothing that people who truly need to compare things are already doing for much cheaper.

Stella · Jan 18, 2013

For developers,Beyond Compare is being released for the Mac - when v4 comes out for windows and Linux. With any luck, sooner rather than later.

GenesisST · Jan 18, 2013

I Love Kaleidoscope 1 for a few things:
- All the changes in the same window, so I can go back and forth for code reviewing
- Image comparison

That said, 35$ is too steep for an upgrade, let alone 70$

There might be other tools for that, but haven't been looking... until now...

Stella · Jan 18, 2013

GenesisST said:
I Love Kaleidoscope 1 for a few things:
- All the changes in the same window, so I can go back and forth for code reviewing
- Image comparison

That said, 35$ is too steep for an upgrade, let alone 70$

There might be other tools for that, but haven't been looking... until now...

It's 50% off until end of January. The price is in line with other paid for diff tools that offer the same range of functionality.

Yujenisis · Jan 18, 2013

This app is pretty cool, and I love the concept of a "swiss army knife" of file comparison.

But $70 is a bit steep, at least for my purposes. Then again, I don't code, but I'd use it for reviewing document revisions and photos. For that purpose, $35 seems pricey.

GenesisST · Jan 18, 2013

Stella said:
It's 50% off until end of January. The price is in line with other paid for diff tools that offer the same range of functionality.

The problem is that I paid for version 1. And even at 35$, it is steep for an upgrade, IMHO.

That said, if you buy from their store (and not MAS), there is an entry for "update coupon". So I sent them an email and we will see I guess.

Cheers!

shurcooL · Jan 18, 2013

mdriftmeyer said:
Talk about myopia. Kaleidoscope is a lot more than a Diff app.

For my work, I need an excellent text diff app. I don't compare pictures in my work, but I do compare a lot of code.

If your needs are different, then your preference of app will likely be different too.

Black Pixel's Comparison App 'Kaleidoscope 2' Goes Live on Mac App Store

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