Chinese Toolbox 2012 is released!

I'm very pleased to announce the availability of Chinese Toolbox 2012. It is always so satifying to be able to do a software release. So much effort has gone into this project, and it's with a smile on my face that I complete this phase.

Of course, there's more to come--this project will never end. I already have my list of things to do for the next update.

Regarding updates, I am going to be trying something different. Testing has become a huge part of the effort I put into this project. After completing development of a major release, testing seems to take forever. Actually, it usually takes one to three months, but these few months seem like an eternity. During the testing phase I don't develop new features, and it's development that I love. So, moving forward I plan to do releases in smaller increments, at least for new features that don't require huge architectural changes to the code. Fewer code changes in a release should translate into a shorter period of testing.

I hope you enjoy using this new version. Of course, it does not solve all the problems related to learning Chinese, but I promise to continue my effort. If you have suggestions for new features, I'm all ears; I'd love to hear from you.

Also, I am looking forward to spending more time designing a companion program for Android, mainly for review and testing. Others have developed very useful programs for mobile devices, and I'm looking forward to giving them a little competition. So, if have a wish list for an Android app for reviewing Chinese flashcards, shoot it off to me.

Finally, I just want to express my appreciation to those who support me in this project. The financial support and the positive emails are all very, very encouraging to me.

Chinese Toolbox 2012

Obviously, things didn't work out as planned. "A little more time" turned out to be about seven months. The good news is that Chinese Toolbox 2012 is about to be released. Chinese Toolbox 2012 was initially released on March 20 to a small group mainly for demonstrations. Some minor problems cropped up, so now I'm putting the program through another round of testing. Chinese Toolbox 2012 (12.0.0.1) is looking good now, and I expect to make it available for public download before the end of March. I hope you enjoy it!