Apr 20, 2017
Announcing Hedge for Windows
Update 2017/08/28: the first beta is available. Only pre-orders have access, and receive a license before Hedge for Windows is released later this year.
From literally the day we released the first public beta of Hedge back in 2015, we’ve been getting a steady stream of requests for a Windows version.
Last year, almost 15% of our website visitors was using Windows. That’s in line with what you’d expect for an industry made up of Mac users.
What surprised us though, was the amount of Windows users that really, really want to try Hedge.
We’re blessed with a very good conversion rate — the rate of visitors that download Hedge vs. the ones that don’t. But segmented for just the Windows users the ratio is twice as high.
So we reached out to them and found all kinds of users: Mac users migrating to Windows, DITs keeping Windows machines around for the heavy lifting duties like transcoding, but also newsrooms and photographers that never even used Macs.
With the profound effect iOS devices have had on our lives it’s not strange to see Windows users looking for the same finesse that’s present in Mac software. Hedge’s easy of use was widely mentioned as the #1 reason for wanting a Hedge for Windows.
Long story short
Getting a lot of requests is a good start, but it’s not enough to justify such a big business decision. Being able to offer the same experience on Windows is essential for Hedge to work. Adapting Hedge’s interface to the Windows ecosystem is already difficult, but the biggest roadblock is Fast Lane. We only want to create a Hedge for Windows if it’s on par with its Mac counterpart.
Well, we figured it out and it’s fast 🏎
So it’s time to scale up and get this project out in the open. We’ve added two great Windows programmers to the team and the first builds have already been made.
Aiming for a release in September, there’s still a lot of work to be done in the coming months. We want to speed up the development, and that’s why we’re kickstarting Hedge for Windows.
Pre-orders Are Go 🚀
Starting today, we’re opening up a pre-order for Hedge for Windows, at a 50% discount.
We don’t know how long the pre-order will be available. With Hedge we learned that we needed to limit the beta to a thousand users to keep things manageable so at least there’s a line in the sand.
No Cure No Pay
The pre-order by itself is not nearly enough to fund this kind of development effort. We fund part of it ourselves, and on top of that we’ve secured financing for it. The more pre-orders we get, the bigger the financing, which results in a faster release.
Because of this we offer a full money back guarantee. We’re keeping the pre-order funds in escrow until we release v1.0.
If we for some reason don’t manage to release Hedge for Windows by January 1st 2018 (a 4 month delay) we’ll refund your money. This way, the risk is ours.
Perks!
Supporting us with a pre-order is of course great for your karma, but you also get a few real life perks:
- Beta access & status updates
- Priority support
- A 50% discount coupon for any number of additional seats 😱
- Stickerpack!
- Lifetime adoration by the Hedge Team 😍
Do you have any questions about Hedge for Windows or this pre-order? You can reach us at hello@hedgeformac.com or use Twitter or Facebook.
Pre-order link: hedgeformac.com/windows
