BBEdit 7.1

Thursday, 13 November 2003

BBEdit 7.1 is out. In addition to the usual long list of fixes and minor tweaks (there are 102 bulleted items in the release notes), there are three significant new features:

• Built-in HTML previewing, using Webkit.
• SFTP support — everywhere BBEdit supports FTP, it now supports SFTP too.
• Rendezvous support for finding FTP and SFTP servers on your local network.

These are all nice, the Webkit preview particularly so. But what’s revealing is that all three features share one thing in common: even though BBEdit 7.1 is supported for use on Mac OS 9.1 and 9.2; these new features are only available when running on Mac OS X.

That’s not a sign of disdain or laziness on the part of Bare Bones’s programmers — it’s just reality. All three features are based on system services that are only available on Mac OS X. Backwards compatibility is noble, but not at the expense of progress. This is the gist of my full coverage of 7.1, coming soon to MDJ and MWJ.

Also, more importantly, the “Gruber” easter egg in the About BBEdit box still works.