fman on Windows is out
The closed alpha of fman is finally available on Windows!
If you are a member of the closed alpha program, then you should have already received the download link via email. If not, then you can still sign up via the "Request early access" button on the home page.
Operation
fman lets you quickly navigate directories and manipulate files. It offers the following keyboard shortcuts:
- Type a file's name to jump to it.
- Enter: Open file/directory
- Backspace: Go up a directory
- Tab: Switch from left to right side (or vice versa)
- F5: Copy to the other side
- F6: Move to the other side
- Shift + F6: Rename
- Space: Select multiple files
- F4: Edit (with a text editor)
- F7: New directory
- F8: Delete
- F9: Open terminal in current directory
- F10 (new): Open native file manager (Explorer/Finder)
- F11: Copy path to clipboard
OS X closed alpha statistics
The closed alpha of fman was first released for OS X one month ago to about 80 users (not all of them on OS X). fman checks for updates every time it starts. The update server receives several such pings a day, so at least some users are already using fman regularly. Not bad for a bare bones alpha version!
Windows implementation journey
When the closed alpha was released on OS X last month, there was already a prototype of fman for Windows. Bringing this prototype to alpha stage required quite a bit of work. It started with some necessary improvements for high DPI displays. Next came codesigning and auto-updating. StartSSL Class 2 certificates are used for codesigning. Automatic updates use Google Omaha, the auto-update technology behind desktop apps such as Chrome. For a technical introduction to Omaha, please see this previous blog post.
Next steps
fman still lacks many basic features. The next few weeks are devoted to adding them. There is a public list of feature requests where you can vote for the ones you think are most important. You can also suggest new features or report bugs by getting in touch. Have fun with fman!
Michael started fman in 2016, convinced that we deserve a better file manager. fman's launch in 2017 was a huge success. But despite full-time work, it only makes $500 per month. The goal is to fix this.
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