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TextWrangler to Be Retired as Bare Bones Software Focuses Development on BBEdit

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Bare Bones Software, the company behind popular code editors BBEdit and TextWrangler, this week announced plans to retire TextWrangler as it focuses development on BBEdit.

Going forward, TextWrangler will not be updated for the next version of macOS, but it will continue to be functional so long as the new version of macOS doesn't introduce any software-breaking bugs.

bbedit.jpg

Bare Bones is instead recommending its customers download BBEdit 11.6, which was released in July. Customers can use BBEdit 11.6 unlicensed indefinitely, and the unlicensed version contains the same features that are available in TextWrangler. BBEdit is not available through the Mac App Store like TextWrangler, but can be downloaded from the Bare Bones Software website.
What you may not know is that last July, we released BBEdit 11.6. You can use this version unlicensed, forever, for free. Without a license, BBEdit now includes all of the features that TextWrangler offers, plus quite a few others. That's right. You no longer have to pick between them.
Click to expand...
BBEdit is free for 30 days, after which a license costs $49.99. Customers who don't wish to purchase a license can continue to use the software's free features indefinitely.

Article Link: TextWrangler to Be Retired as Bare Bones Software Focuses Development on BBEdit
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/03/02/bare-bones-software-retiring-textwrangler/
Not making it available on the appstore is a very bad idea.

Lots of corporate policies got security requirements that computers run apps from only app store or trusted developers... and here when they mention trusted developers, it's developers that got signing certificates trusted by that company.

The policies look like this.. and it's not possible for employees to change it.

upload_2017-3-2_16-27-42.png
 
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I think you're confusing "identified developer" and "app store". You can't submit apps to the app store without being an identified developer, but you can still sign your apps as an identified developer even if you release them outside of the app store. Your own screenshot shows that you can install apps that aren't on the app store, as long as they're signed.
 
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sentiblue said:
Not making it available on the appstore is a very bad idea.

Lots of corporate policies got security requirements that computers run apps from only app store or trusted developers... and here when they mention trusted developers, it's developers that got signing certificates trusted by that company.

The policies look like this.. and it's not possible for employees to change it.

View attachment 690751
Click to expand...
The problem is a lot of what BBEdit does isn't allowed for sandboxed applications. They can't install command-line tools, for example. Or elevate to root privileges to edit root-owned files. For a lot of sysadmins, that makes it significantly less useful.
 
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sentiblue said:
Not making it available on the appstore is a very bad idea.

Lots of corporate policies got security requirements that computers run apps from only app store or trusted developers... and here when they mention trusted developers, it's developers that got signing certificates trusted by that company.View attachment 690751
Click to expand...
There's no worry. BareBones is a trusted developer, so you don't need to change settings regarding Gatekeeper.
 
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dredlew said:
Did you even attempt to read the article?
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The article was about TextWrangler being discontinued. The poster was talking about TextMate, which is a different product, and that is open source. Although it's technically not free, you're supposed to buy a license for it yet you don't need to in order to use it.

Personally, I absolutely couldn't stand TextWrangler anyway and it was entirely because the tabs were on the left instead of the top. I use a text editor for single files, not "projects" where that type of view would be useful. Ended up buying a different app that met my text editing needs.
 
MacRumors said:
BBEdit is free for 30 days, after which a license costs $49.99. Customers who don't wish to purchase a license can continue to use the software's free features indefinitely.
Click to expand...

OK, but what are the differences in functionality between the "free" and paid versions? Their website doesn't seem to clearly explain it. And does using it "free" constantly bombard you with prompts to pay for a license? (TextWranger does not, though I have seen it ask you if you really want BBedit a couple times.)

sza said:
textmate is free. bbedit can die now.
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Has TextMate been updated in the last two and a half years? Their screenshots appear even older. But as noted, BBEdit can apparently also be used free (though unlike TextMate 2, it's not open source).
 
RMo said:
Has TextMate been updated in the last two and a half years? Their screenshots appear even older. But as noted, BBEdit can apparently also be used free (though unlike TextMate 2, it's not open source).
Click to expand...

It's slightly crippled after the 30 day trial but only slightly.
 
Wow, it's like we've traveled back in time. Are you sure this isn't 2001?
 
larrylaffer said:
BBEdit was great, years ago.

A while back I started using Atom, haven't looked back since.
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I work on large web projects and overtime Atom slows down to me. Believe it or not I now use Microsoft Visual Studio Code on my Mac and really like it. It has the same similar commands as Atom including cmd-p
 
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I used BBEdit for many years as my editor of choice when not using an IDE. BBEdit can hangle very large files, etc.

Later, TextWrangler was all I needed, and I stop doing BBEdit udpates.

Lately, I'm using CotEditor more often. CotEditor is fast, open source Swift (modern codebase) and is scriptable.
 
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sentiblue said:
Not making it available on the appstore is a very bad idea.

Lots of corporate policies got security requirements that computers run apps from only app store or trusted developers... and here when they mention trusted developers, it's developers that got signing certificates trusted by that company.

The policies look like this.. and it's not possible for employees to change it.

View attachment 690751
Click to expand...

I purchased a version of BBedit thought the Official Apple App Store. On two separate occasions it refused to launch due to a problem with the App Store itself. That was pretty frustrating I have to say, so I am glad Bare Bones gave up on the App store.
 
Text editors come and go with advantages and disadvantages. None has been more trusty than BBEdit. You always think you've come up with a new flashy editor and then you need to open a 500MB text file, or do complex multi-file processing, or some other damn thing... and your new flashy editor slows to a crawl, or doesn't behave properly, or crashes. And... back to BBEdit.

Although I do use Coda 2 for most of my development, I continue to use BBEdit for many, many things. And have done since BBEdit... 5 I think? Going on 20 years now. Some of the most robust software I've ever used.

I see it as only a good thing that they are unifying their code base.
 
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