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Life of last beta release

Posted: 08 Aug 2020 07:02
by Wibbly
Very sad news that Martin is no longer able to develop Automagic. It must have been a hard decision after all this time. I wish him the best.

So we have a last beta which will probably progressively fail as newer Android versions present new obstacles for which no workarounds will be possible :-(

Until then, does anyone know if the latest beta has any time limitation that will make it automatically expire in the future?

Re: Life of last beta release

Posted: 08 Aug 2020 10:57
by Desmanto
I might stay on older android version if it is possible. But of course it is quite impossible when I change to new device which shipped with the latest android version. Currently I purposely stay on android 9, because of clipboard limitation in android 10. Although it is partially resolved, but I am waiting for AM 1.38.0 at that time. Hopefully newer android version doesn't do much more limit to Automagic in the future.

For the latest beta, AM 1.38.0 seems to have no expired time anymore. Evaluation version link also have been removed. Martin really gives everyone unlimited trial (basically free already). Most of us will be happy when receiving free stuff, but somehow I feel sad for this case. :(

I tried it for a while already and seems to be quite stable for daily usage. But I haven't install it on my main device, so can't know for sure.

Re: Life of last beta release

Posted: 08 Aug 2020 11:36
by Wibbly
I hope someone with appropriate programming skills can do a deal with Martin to take over the project in some way, as you suggested. I would support a different pricing model if the app was aggressively maintained like Martin has done - even maybe a subscription model to support the development effort.

I'm not at all looking forwards to the idea of ultimately having to re-implement all my flows in something like Tasker :-( I'm sure nobody will have the incentive to make some kind of conversion utility to Tasker, but maybe there will be some kind of guide made by someone who has been through the process and can share their learnings. I know Tasker takes a different approach to AM...

I have been using the latest betas as a daily driver for some time without problems for my flows so far.

Re: Life of last beta release

Posted: 08 Aug 2020 13:47
by Desmanto
Same here, I wouldn't mind if it changed to subscription model, preferably on yearly basis, but given choice for monthly or 3 months. There have been some users asking if we can donate, but Martin replied that he haven't thought of that (at that time). Anyway, there is probably other obstacle, which I am not going further, as Martin stated it is personal.

Re-implementing hundreds of my flow into tasker will take probably months, I would better stay on AM until its last breath before constrained by the newer android version (unforeseen limitation).

Thanks for the confirmation of latest beta stability. I will install AM 1.38.0 after my weekly backup tomorrow.

Re: Life of last beta release

Posted: 11 Aug 2020 23:30
by Serum_114
Tasker is easy enough if you limit yourself to responding to an event but the minute you try to to include any complexity beyond that, the difficulty level gets cranked to 11.

As I consider a future without Automagic, I wonder how attached to Android I am at all? I have sunk so much time into all these flows over the years. Starting over with unintuitive software isn't appealing at all.