TextMate on Windows

If you are dreaming of a TextMate port to Windows, than your our prayers have been heard

Alexander Stigse from Denmark has made it happen and almost entirely by accident whilst creating an advanced version control system and demo app to show it off. When he got in touch with Allan Odgaard – the creator of TextMate – he found more synergy than he could have imagined.

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Funnily enough they both studied at the same Uni and Allan’s parents have a summer house in the same village Alex lives! How’s that for a small World? Anyway, on with my impressions and a big “thank you” to Alex and Allan.

Although I have come not to expect too much of any Windows softwareware, I was extremely delighted to see how well Alexander’s version called “e” works. Starting with a small download, a very fast install and automatic fetching, installation and configuration of add-ons (like cygwin).

For me TextMate is life-blood, my craft now depends on it and seeing the same look-and-feel translated to something as gruesome as the Windows GUI I cannot help but being impressed.

The most important part right after the interface design (usability) is that Allan agreed to let Alex use the wonderful bundles that help making TextMate such a breeze to use. Although there is still some way to go (e is still in beta) it’s a usable replacement even now.

Don’t be scared or put off by the fact that it’s beta, it’s actually working nicely. Also, get a personal license key now! It will help support the development and you are actually getting quite a lot thrown in if you do it now rather than later. I suggest you read Alex’s post on licensing and what’s on offer for more details.

And now, go download the beta and find out why I’m actually happy using a text editor on Windows for once