Hello,

Find below information about the state of the JGoodies
software, about the future of the JGoodies business,
about Swing Suite license renewals, and about license
upgrades from the JGoodies Looks Pro to the Swing Suite.

CONTENTS
o Current State
o Future
o Collaboration
o Business Model
o License Renewals
o Upgrades from the Looks Pro
o Misc


CURRENT STATE
When I started to program Java applications in 1997
the apps were ugly, slow, poorly architectured and
expensive to develop and maintain. At that time Java
lacked solutions and guidance in the following areas:
appearance, layout, binding, and architecture.
The Swing Suite 1.4 final that you can now download
contains of a set of libraries that address these issues
and others like validation. And the example applications
demonstrate a scalable architecture and desktop patterns.
The positive feedback I receive indicates that the Suite
helps you get your job done better, faster and cheaper.

All basic JGoodies libraries have reached or passed
the 1.0 state which indicates a stable API, stable code,
and the availability of documentation and a tutorial.
Basically the Swing Suite 1.4 is what I wanted to have
since I program applications in Java/Swing.


FUTURE
I don't feel a need to significantly extend the topics
addressed by the Looks, Forms, Binding, Validation.
Hence I can now turn to maintenance and documentation.
However, I will further improve and extend the APIs
where appropriate and will carefully add new features.

Besides the improvements described in the Roadmap
section of the Swing Suite 1.4 announcement, I plan
to intensify the collaboration with other projects.

Also, I can now turn my activities to my strenghts:
design reliable, usable and elegant applications.
I really like to add new exciting example apps
to the Swing Suite. And I'd like to overhaul and
document the older examples to make them easier
to understand and maintain. The JDiskReport code
is over six years old, and using the Skeleton Pro
architecture and patterns will allow me to shrink
the whole app a lot. I hesitate to promise too much
regarding new applications, but building applications
is really fun for me. And I need more fun, because
in 2004 I've been digging deep in the library code.

The JGoodies tools and demos show that one can build
elegant Java applications that can compete with or
even outperform native applications. I plan to add
information about the process required to reach
this quality and about the costs per quality level.


COLLABORATION
I want to put you customers in a position that you
can rely on mature desktop solutions for a long time.
Therefore I try to collaborate with other projects,
spread the word about the problems I address and
the solutions I provide. For example, the JGoodies
Forms are now well known in the desktop community,
and more and more visual builder tools support it.
But it took about two years to reach this state.
I plan to do the same with the Binding and Validation.
I'm not inherently interested that you use JGoodies,
but that you can choose between solutions that are
at least as good as the JGoodies. I see the Forms,
Looks, Binding, and Validation primarily as reference
implementations for the concepts I follow. And I
should be glad, if others use and improve my work
and offer solutions that supercede the JGoodies.
The basic libraries have been designed as separate
modules that you can use if you want. And the
licenses allow others to use and modify my sources.

During the past years I tried to assist Sun in
improving the Java core, for example by offering
my sources, and demos that expose poor microdesign
in the default L&f implementations. It seems that
Sun is now putting more effort in moving good third
party concepts, solutions, and implementations
into the Java core. Java 6 will hopefully ship with
better default L&fs and Java 7 may contain a new
layout system and further L&f enhancements.

I've never been a big fan of just moving JGoodies
into the Java core. Primarily because this would
prevent me to easily change the published API.
But if the JGoodies libraries are front runners
that show Sun what could be added in the future,
that would be great for all of us. And I discuss
with Sun how I can assist in improving the core.

Another way to achieve long term stable solutions
is to collaborate with other projects. For example
the Spring Rich Client Project has copied and now
modified and extended the JGoodies Binding. They
consider building on top of the JGoodies Binding,
but it may end up the other way round: Spring RCP
may separate its Binding and provide it as a project.
And Sun's JDNC project considers using concepts,
code or the implementations from the JGoodies Forms,
Binding and Validation. Although I'd be happy to
use other project's libraries, in the current state
I favor multiple implementations of my concepts
and hope that the competition promotes innovation.

A realistic cooperation between the existing
desktop framework projects, is to share a set of
tasks, goals, concepts, solutions, and examples.
So the desktop community can compare the frameworks.
The JGoodies Validation Demo is intended as such
a collection of tasks, goals, solutions. I don't
want to promote the JGoodies Validation, but want
to encourage developers and projects to provide
similar or even better validation solutions.

I'd also like to pick a couple of concepts from
both the Netbeans framework and the Eclipse RCP.
But likely that'll happen next year.


BUSINESS MODEL
Since the essential JGoodies libraries are now open,
many developers can benefit from these solutions.
The large user basis has many benefits for you and me.
Basically we get more feedback and get bugs fixed faster.

I see the JGoodies as a community effort where I provide
solutions and assistance that many use and some pay for.
Many thanks to all customers for purchasing a product,
and many thanks to the Sun Java Desktop team for sponsoring
a significant amount of the maintenance and support work!

I'm glad to see how the JGoodies have influenced the
Java desktop scene. And the positive feedback from
the community encourages me to work hard on future
improvements. Other things don't work that well.
Basically, the software is getting better and better,
the support got worse - even for commercial licensees.
The maintenance and free support of the open source libs
eats up most of my time without any monetary return.
I need to live eat and feed my family. And I can't justify
the time to work hard for nothing. Also, I could not
convince Sun that it's worth to continue sponsoring
the JGoodies desktop libs. And no other major Java
vendor jumped in to sponsor, although some of them
use the open source JGoodies in commercial products.
Hm, I'm a software developer and UI designer, but
I'm not great in selling and advertising products.

Anyway, I've decided to stop shipping updates of
the commercial software for free. And I need to
stop supporting the open source libraries for free.
You commercial licensees deserve more of my time.


LICENSE RENEWALS
Since the Swing Suite 1.4 I offer license renewals
for 1 year if your free update period has expired.
The price is about 30% of your initial purchase.
In addition you'll get another 60 day support,
just as with your initial purchase. This is just
the official deadline; as in the past I'll try to
answer, even if your support has expired.

Since the Swing Suite 1.4 shipping date is delayed,
I've extended all free update periods for another
3 months. So you can download the 1.4 final if you
have licensed the software after January 1, 2004.
I've manually edited the access lists. Please
contact me if you have renewed your license and
cannot download the 1.4 final.

I see the license renewal primarily as a support
renewal and a subscription to new example apps.
Since all basic libraries are now open source,
you can update and download them for free - even
if you don't renew your Swing Suite license.
In addition I provide the Swing Suite 1.4 Beta2
during April 2005 for all Swing Suite licensees.
The Suite 1.4 Beta2 differs from the 1.4 final
primarily in the versions of the free libraries.
There are only minimal changes in the closed source
UIF, UIF Extras and example applications. So if
this is your last Swing Suite download, hurry up!
(Did I mention I'm not great in selling stuff?)


UPGRADES FROM THE LOOKS PRO
About two years after selling the last Looks Pro
license, I've terminated support for this product.
Anyway, you can download updates of the libraries
contained in the Looks Pro product at no charge.
Sure I'd appreciate if you would upgrade your
license to a Swing Suite license. The upgrades
are available for the price difference between
the Looks Pro and the Swing Suite 1.4.


MISC
License renewals and upgrades from the Looks Pro
to the Swing Suite are available at this page:
http://www.jgoodies.com/products/purchase.html
All German customers and those who want to purchase
offline, please contact me at: info at JGoodies.com.

I hope that you can work with the updated Swing Suite
efficiently and that it helps you save time and money.
And I'm looking forward to bring you more and even
better Java desktop solutions.

Thanks again to all sponsors and commercial licensees
for supporting the JGoodies desktop activities!

Best regards,
Karsten Lentzsch