While it has been a while since my last newsletter I can assure you that all is
not quiet on the development front.
I'm happy to report that we are in the middle of the largest upgrade to Mouse
Tracks ever! While it's easier to tweak an existing program to add features
there comes a time when major rewrite is warranted. Mouse Tracks Versions 1 and
4 were ground-up efforts. All versions since 4.0 have built upon the
2002(4.x) base code. The new version has been in development since last summer
and we expect it to be released sometime this summer.
The new version will be 100% web based. Since this is a major rewrite and the
new target platform is web based this application will receive a new name (Code
Named 'Web Tracks' but any suggestions would be welcomed). We will also reset
the version number to 1 (you can refer to it as Mouse Tracks 2010 or version 8).
While there are many obstacles to overcome when converting a client-server
application to a Web-based application we are striving for the following...
- High performance
- Ease of use (if you know how to use previous versions of Mouse Tracks the
learning curve will be minimal).
- The inclusion of All features from Mouse Tracks 2009.
- A 'Windows' like feel to the application (minimal page refreshes, button/menu
driven navigation).
New Features:
1. Customizable Field positioning.
You will name be able to configure the placement position of user definable
fields. In addition you can set fields to hidden, visible, editable or
required.
2. Flexible Account Authentication.
The web interface will support Application Driven Authentication, Active
Directory Authentication or Mixed Mode Authentication.
3. HTML Knowledge Base Articles will
allow you to create feature rich articles. In addition article links may
inserted into Ticket Resolutions.
4. Feature rich grids and updated
editor controls used throughout the application.
Sample Screen Shots:
If you're really curious as to how this is looking and would like a sneak peek
please send me an email and I can give you a logon url to a work in progress
version posted on our site.
Mouse Tracks 7.22 Patch:
Within the next couple of weeks we
will be releasing Mouse Tracks 2009 version 7.22. This is a minor bug-fix patch
that will not require new registration keys.