Gluon, Micro.blog and the next steps vincentritter.com

@vincent Great read, and happy you decided on what the road ahead should be to make you happy. Also thanks for the work on the official app. I will, of course, be on the lookout for when the new app starts testing...

@vincent oof. The answer on my question today.

Tip: Invest only in the MB app, just shut down Gluon. You have so much talent, plus things like Tinylytics, focus on that.

(And please add different coloured app icons in the MB app.)

Thanks for Gluon, that was Microblog Premium Plus Ultra for me!

@vincent thank you for the work and effort you've done, for both fronts! 🫶

Am happy to learn and confirm that you were involved in working on updates for the Micro.blog app 😄 honestly, I gravitated to Gluon more because of a color preference (I love the color red). But I shall follow your words and use the official app moving forward hehe

@vincent Thank you for all the work you put into Gluon (especially the @HemisphericViews icon!). You should be proud of what you’ve done and have no guilt about what you are not able to do.

@vincent I like Gluon but I can understand the challenge you have! I hope the official one gets some of Gluon’s cool features! 👍

@vincent removal of one thing so that another can grow…a tough but good decision :-)

@vincent The official app is great but Gluon was my favorite way to access Micro.blog on iOS, it will be missed. I like the idea of a community edition to bring some of Gluons features over. Looking forward to testing what you come up with next..

@vincent Saying “no” is saying “yes” to other things. What we believe in.

@vincent A difficult decision, but it sounds like you’re doing the right thing! Thanks for all of your hard work on the app!

@vincent I'm not a coder or a developer, so my suggestion might come across as naiive or to simple. What of building an app to enhance certain parts of the official? Kind of like extensions or plug ins.

There are so many areas of improvements... extensions for posting. Galleries. Even discover?

@vincent Getting to know you and to work with you has been an unexpected bonus of our original commitment to be friendly and encouraging towards third-party development. 🥰

I like your phrase “developer happiness.” I’ve been reevaluating the happiness quotient of some things I’ve been putting energy into, and it’s a good reminder that we shouldn’t overlook the importance of how work makes us feel.

@vincent Thanks for the write-up. Been (on Android) looking into Gluon then and now, mostly enjoyed it but found a few issues (not mainly technical but also from a visual perspective) that felt odd. Just one thing coming to mind: Open-sourcing (the Android variant of) Gluon was / is not an option? And, are you the only maintainer of both apps for both platforms? I wonder here because, having gone through that more than just once before, this feels like a text-book recipe for developer burnout. So focus definitely seems a way to go, but maybe adding helping hands could also be...?

@vincent I appreciate your transparency in this moment. Gluon is a wonderful app that feels like you sat down and had great intent towards its design and feature set. If it happens to go the way of the buffalo, it will be missed. If it gets updated, it will continue to be loved!

@vincent i love Gluon. its how i post a lot of my long form posts (inline images! Best. Feature. Ever. 🤯) but it sounds like you’re making the right and rational calls.

You can only do so much, and you do plenty already!

if Gluon rises like a Phoenix again some day then great. sign me up for the pre pre pre apha 😉

If it doesn’t then I hope the official client does see the implementation of some desired features for making posting/formatting a bit more fluid like it is in Gluon and we see an evolution there. ❤️

@vincent get it … good read … totally understood … congrats on making the right decision.

@vincent I hope some of the very cool stuff that is in gluon makes their way into the official app.

@vincent An Apple Watch app? Vision Pro app? :)

@maique Thank you, that means a lot ❤️

@justjatan That means a lot Jatan ✌️ Didn't see your post! "Janky" – I don't know about, so maybe just the way the timeline loads for you? Will fix notifications – it's been an issue since day one.

@dominikhoecht Thank you Dominik. I don't want to shut down Gluon, just start fresh so I can add a subscription tier called "Premium Plus Ultra".

@chiawase Thanks Chi! I'm unsure if you're on Android, but if so, for now, I certainly suggest the official app because it just works better.

@canion Thanks Andrew! HV will come make a comeback into Gluon one day 😋

@rickcogley Thanks. Gluon will still work, but just won't see an update for a while yet.

@aa :) Thanks!

@jomalo "was"? Can still be, hehe. Thank you though!

@patrickrhone What we believe in :)

@muhh Appreciate it!

@70BPM That means a lot to me! This is why I love the community here, because you're all so understanding.

Great call, @vincent! Thanks for all your hard work on Gluon. ❤️

@vincent Reading that makes me sad that developers like yourself are, essentially, expected to do everything for nothing. Do whatever you feel is right, is my take on it. It’s your job, so you should expect to make some money and not work for free.

@vincent I would have liked to have the badge in pink and slapped all over my avatar. Thank you.

@vincent "was" referred to the TestFlight version as the time line would jump too much, I like to read in chronological order - easier to follow conversations. switched back to the app store version. Long live Gluon!!

@vincent ah, I'm on iOS 😆 so I think I'll get to reap the benefits of what you're working on now :))

@DaveyCraney Thank you Davey. Really appreciate the kind words about Gluon ❤️ I'll make sure you're on the list after the little "sabbatical" hehehe. Inline images is noted, I'll add that as an option in the official app ✌️

@JohnPhilpin Thanks John! Let's see what I can bring over. Still want to keep the official app simple and with less bloat.

@rom Nah, certainly not Vision Pro – don't want to contribute to the social collapse of society that is already walking on a knife edge 🤣 Apple Watch was on the cards at some stage, but for me the watch should just tell me if I'm about to die or if I'm staying fit 😋. I don't think a social network on your wrist is a good idea. If, then I would just perhaps show "mentions" only.

@sod Thanks Sven!

@BenSouthwood Thanks Ben. Gluon brought me a lot of indirect income, so I'm ok with that. Plus the support from the folks here, the community at large, made it all worth it.

@jomalo Yeah, the timeline certainly does jump in the TestFlight version, especially with images loading throughout. It was a long road to get that finished.

@chiawase Sounds awesome to me ✌️

@vincent no worries! The important thing is that you are happy!

Inline images in the official client would be amazing 🙌

@vincent More than anything else, these are good choices because they are helping you to focus on what makes you happy. I'm confident that the vast majority of people do their best work when they are happy, including the work itself making us happy... so, good job!

Your post includes familiar thoughts and feelings to me, and it's these kinds of decisions I am always happy to have made; sometimes even wishing I had made them earlier. I hope your hard work and intentional approach is rewarded as you deserve to be so.