Release or not release is just a name. You shouldn't let that be a factor. In my experience it is absolutely stable and as bug free as software can be.
However, I'm not sure how well maintained it is. I fear all the time that the author, jps, has quit, but then every few months he has a development sprint and releases a new version.
I'd rather have it permanently called "beta" but a minor update every month, than one version declared finished, with rare or no updates afterwards.
That's true. I've been using Sublime for years and I've never had a bug or a crash. It pretty much perfect. And it's blazing fast.
I actually even use its fuzzy search to search my harddrive sometimes. Because I haven't found an easy app for Linux that works like Search Everything on Windows.
That's true. Sublime 3 never felt like "beta" software. But as somebody said below, I am afraid of people quitting and leaving it to die slowly (like TextMate died) and that's the reason why I was hesitate to buy it for so long. Nobody guarantees if the developers drop the ball for some hypothetic reason thing will go open source, even that is not guaranteeing anything (again TextMate's case).
If you like it, and you're afraid that it will be abandoned then don't hesitate to pay. I'm sure money is an incentive to keep working on it. I paid for S2 and S3 and I'm happy to have done so.
Textmate is still in development and has a good few releases a year. Last commit was a month ago but I think Allan likes to work a few months then have a few off.
I am student, and not from rich enough country. We don't even have Starbucks. But I don't want it to be excuse. With this new update, Sublime feels fresh again, and I think it will be worth investing into.
> Release or not release is just a name. You shouldn't let that be a factor.
I disagree. The name is the developer's way of telling you whether the software should be considered ready for general use. As long as it's called "beta", I'm not going to second guess the developer's judgement; I'll wait until the release version of ST3 before upgrading from ST2.
However, I'm not sure how well maintained it is. I fear all the time that the author, jps, has quit, but then every few months he has a development sprint and releases a new version.
I'd rather have it permanently called "beta" but a minor update every month, than one version declared finished, with rare or no updates afterwards.