Developer dodges with "direct statement"

MacHeist buyers who were promised access to the beta for Tweetie 2, a popular desktop Twitter client for Mac, may not see it for a long time if ever, thanks to doubts raised by Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and some light-hearted but vague tweets from Tweetie developer Loren Brichter, TechCrunch has reported.

Williams, in a recent web Q&A, was asked about the long delay in the appearance of the beta and replied that it was "not something they are actively investing in at this time," but stopped short of terming the project dead.

MacHeist director John Casasanta, who featured advance access to the private beta of Tweetie 2 was a part of a recent MacHeist promotion, has updated his buyers by saying Brichter has told him that development is ongoing, but at a very slow pace due to the acquisition of Atebits, the company behind Tweetie, and Brichter as a developer. Since then, Brichter has been largely responsible for the recent official Twitter apps for the iOS family of devices.

Despite assurances from Casasanta that Brichter had even hired a second developer to help with Tweetie 2 for Mac, a Twitter user known as @xwordy posted that he'd "prefer a direct statement from @lorenb than the continued obfuscatory second- and third-hand scuttlebutt."

To this, Brichter replied with a coding joke: "@xwordy < direct statement > ."

The only other word from the developer came in a reply to Tom Hannibal, who asked Brichter for confirmation that the project was or was not happening.

Again, a terse reply from Brichter: "It's not not happening."

The replies have generally been interpreted to mean that Tweetie 2 for Mac is on the back burner, perhaps only developed by Brichter in his spare time, and won't be seen in private beta or elsewhere in the near term. [via TechCrunch]

by MacNN Staff