Interview with
RITLABS
Dateline 10th January 2000
This is an interview I conducted with Stefan
Tanurkov of RITLabs concerning RITLabs, the people who work there,
philosophies, and issues concerning the highly anticipated TheBat!
v2.0.
LG> Why did you decide to write an
e-mail client package?
ST> We started using e-mail
in the end of 1996 when I was away from the rest of other RITLABS guys
and when Internet service providing had just started in our country.
Before that, I was extensively using FidoNet mailing. I was surprised
that none of the e-mail clients I tried was satisfactory for me (though
I did not do a lot of mailing) - the main complaint was the absence of
templates. So, when I came back, the first program I wrote was a small
gateway program to convert Internet e-mail into FidoNet Netmail to read
Internet messages using an FTN mail reader, and finally came to the
conclusion that the next program I will write would be an e-mail client
which will suit my needs plus fulfill the suggestions of my colleagues.
In February 1997, we were expecting a big job from the Moldavian Air
Traffic Service Authority, but they never came through with the final
decision. While we were waiting, I started writing The Bat! (codenamed
A-mailer), the first quick and dirty version was ready in one month,
when no company came up with a good job for us, we decided to release
The Bat! to public and announce it from our site as a Wide Area
Beta.
LG> Did you base it from another e-mail
client package?
ST> If you mean something
intentional, then the answer is no. :-) Some interface details like the
three-panel main window were used in Netscape, PM Mail and several other
clients, so it was just like making a car - some common (and considered
as natural) principles were used, but it is not possible to say that a
particular package was used as a
"prototype".
LG> Why did you choose the name
"The Bat!"?
ST> Almost because it does not contain
the word "mail" :-) Pigeons are too heavily used as postal mascots...
About that time, we were listening to a lot of Meat Loaf with his albums
"The Bat Out The Hell" and "The Bat Out The Hell II", so I think that
this was the real cause to choose such a name
:-)
LG> What is the goal of your
software?
ST> To make life easier
:-)
LG> How long/much do you work every day on
TB?
ST> It depends on what do you mean by working on
TB. We don't do only programming. A lot of time is spent supporting
users via e-mail, so it can be from 8 to 20 hours
:-)
LG> Do you have other jobs in addition to
RIT Labs?
ST> No, we own RITLABS and we work here
exclusively.
LG> Do you have any corporate
philosophy on your products?
ST> Yes. :-) The most
important thing about our philosophy is that we always help each member
of our company (or at least to not interfere) to unleash his potential
and express himself.
LG> How is RIT Labs
structured?
ST> Currently, 6 people are working at
RITLABS including Max and myself: 4 programmers and 2
administrators/managers/promoters/etc. We are not a usual enterprise -
we are almost a team of enthusiasts/hobbyists who is also making some
money out of what they do. :-)
LG> Who works
there?
ST> People who like to make something good
for mankind in relation to computers :-) The names are: Stef, Max,
Sergey, Stas, Diman and Igor
LG> Is it an
office type setting or do you do most of the work from
home?
ST> We are working at an office, because it is
the best place to work as a team and because we are trying to be a bit
official :-)
LG> Did you imagine that TB would
be this successful?
ST> We were sure that any work
that is done with care and love should be
successful.
LG> Do you have formal training in
software Engineering?
ST> My University diploma
states that I am a specialist in Computer Science, but I think I am a
mathematician specialized on Graphs Theory. :-) Max has finished High
School and soon went to professional
programming.
LG> Did you work for any software
companies before you started this project?
ST> Yes.
But it was too many years ago :-)
LG> Do you
have any statistics, e.g. which countries were most of these sold
to?
ST> The Bat! is most popular in Germany and the
US.
LG> Are there many changes to the GUI? If
so, do you have a couple of screenshots for us to
see?
ST> The general concept will be absolute
flexibility in interface customization. We will make screen shots later
- when the program will be almost ready for
Beta-testing.
LG> v2.0 is rumored to have been
built from the ground up (not from version 1.x), is this
true?
ST> Well, almost. There are only a few things
that will not change too much.
LG> Will v2.0
be backwards compatible? Meaning if someone has problems with it, can
they reinstall v1.x and still have all of their messages, filters, and
acccounts accessible?
ST> No. Well, we will make
some export/import routines in both versions that will allows
downgrades, but it will not be automatic.
LG>
When will the beta be released?
ST> Do not know yet.
Soon, I hope :-) I suppose (but not promise) that it will be February of
this year.
LG> Will there be an improved
auto-format in v2.x?
ST> Version 2 will have an
alternative editor which will be fully compatible with Windows editors,
but it will have extra features like optional virtual space. It might
even just be a plugin.
LG> Will v2 be faster
than v1.x in regards to message bases etc.
ST> Yes,
we hope it will be much faster, especially on very large message
bases.
LG> Is there a planned port to Linux?
Will you charge for it?
ST> We are planning to make
the Linux version when Delphi for Linux will be available (this year, as
promised by Inprise, Inc). We will make the decision when The Bat! /
Linux will be ready - it's too difficult to set the price when nothing
is done :-)
LG> v2.0 is rumored to support 3rd
party plugins. Is this true? How will they be implemented (.dll or
scripted etc.)
ST> Yes, that is true. It will be
possible to extend The Bat! using DLLs AND
scripts.
LG> How extensive will the plugin
support be? Meaning, can new menu items, macros, functions etc. be
added?
ST> Almost everything will be plug-in/script
driven (menu items, toolbar buttons, macros, filter actions etc.
included).
LG> Are there any changes to the
filtering subsystem? For example, grouping of like filters, copying
filters between accounts ETC.
ST> Yes, we plan a lot
of changes in filtering system including grouping, action lists, more
criteria etc, etc. The definition of the account will also be changed.
User accounts within The Bat! and mail accounts will be clearly
separated.
LG> Are there any changes to the
address book? i.e. Different address book support for different
accounts.
ST> Yes. Also, large address books will
not require much memory.
LG> Will v2.0 support
non-fixed width fonts?
ST>
Yes.
LG> Will v2.0 support customizable
kludges? i.e. X-**** like X-Website: http://www.pcwize.com/
ST> It will be possible even in the next 1.xx, hopefully
:-)
LG> v2.0 is rumored to allow us to
redefine shortcut keys. Is this true? Can we create new shortcut key
combinations?
ST> Yes.
LG>
In regards to PGP, will v2
- preserve the date of
decrypted PGP messages?
ST> Yes, but I must say that PGP
messages will be handled in a completely different way
:-)
LG> - decrypt also the attachment and bind
it to the decrypted message?
ST>
Yes.
LG> - use auto-decryption and
auto-signature-checking as configured by
user?
ST> Yes.
LG> -
encrypt attachments to encrypted mails, too?
ST>
Yes.
LG> - sign not only the plain text part
of a mail, but include the attachments?
ST> Yes,
it will support PGP/MIME and S/MIME.
LG> There
is a rumor floating around that TB will include a usenet news reader. Is
this true?
ST> I think so. We still have not decided
on what it will look like - as a plug-in or as a built-in
function...
LG> If so, why have you decided to
do this? How much overhead (bloat) will this
add.
ST> I expect it as extra 20-30K of code
:-)
LG> Why did you decide to include it in TB
as opposed to a completely separate application?
ST>
I think that extra size speaks for itself :-) It is not a separate
application - it is actually an extension of existing features. News
groups will be just another kind of folder, accordingly to the new
"ideology".
LG> Will v2.0 finally support
threading by "References:" headers only (i.e. there is no "in-reply-To:"
header).
ST> Yes. We did not do it in the current
version because of the message base
format...
LG> Version 2.0 is rumored to
support scripting. Can you give us an example of a short
script?
ST> I cannot give you an example now simply
because we still have not decided on what scripting language is the best
for our purposes. I guess, we will end up making it possible to add a
script language plug-in so users can choose what scripting language
they'd like to use :-)
LG> Will we be able to
use scripting in templates to create things like our own macros?
Meaning, can we call scripts (like the %include macro), or must they be
inlined in every template we want to use them
in?
ST> Of course :-) This is one of the primary
objectives...
LG> How extensive is the
scripting? Can we call other programs to perform
functions.
ST> OK, now I will make it more clear:
everything will be script-driven. Plug-in DLLs will implement functions
that may be called from scripts. So, virtually, it will be possible to
do anything.
LG> Will the scripting support
error control? For example, will it address the long standing bug of not
checking an address book group to see if an address actually exists
before performing the "remove address book entry" function on the
actions tab in filters?
ST>
Yes.
LG> Will version 2.0 fully support HTML
both in sending,
ST>
Yes.
LG> and viewing href'd
images?
ST> This will be possible when we will write
our own Web browser - I guess, this is a topic for another interview,
but you should wait for it for several months
:-)
LG> Will v2.0 support hooks for virus
scanning attachments to messages?
ST>
Yes.
LG> Will v2.0 fully support
MAPI?
ST> Yes.
LG> Will
IMAP(4) support be improved ??
ST> Absolutely. This
is another big improvement planned for version
2.
LG> How big (filesize) do you expect v2.0
to be?
ST> Well, I hope that it will be smaller than
v1.xx executable, but I cannot really predict anything on this
subject.
LG> How much do you expect v2.0 to
cost?
ST> I think the price will not be much higher
than that of v1.xx
LG> How much will the
upgrade from v1.x cost?
ST> It depends on many
factors. We will make the decision about this when we start
Gamma-testing. :-)
LG> How many of the items
on the wish list are going to be addressed in v2.0 that I didn't cover
above?
ST> I really cannot answer this question now,
because v2 is going to be very different. What I can say now is that I
personally promise to read the wish list carefully and do my best in
fulfilling all wishes (I think other our guys would agree with
me).
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The Bat! Interview