I've almost pulled the trigger a few time on a public release of pngWriter, only to change my mind and be glad I did.    

I often release software too early. Later, when I realize that I need to change the software, after the initial release, there can be three big problems.

1. It might mean renaming, redesigning or removing a feature. Users are usually very unhappy about any of that. If I wait, I get to tweak the feature set and there are no users around to give me grief. And knowing that they're going to be unhappy makes me conservative, and ultimately hurts the product. And it stops being fun for me.
2. I might have to change the product in a way that makes the new version incompatible with previous versions. That means migrating the users, and these days that means doing it so they don't even know it's happening. Those "corner turns" can be complex, and require a lot of thought and work, and it's precarious. If there's a bug in the transition code, it shows up in awful ways. If there are no users, no migrations!
3. Also, if I limit the initial user base to people I know will report problems if they see them, I get something back from having users. It's been really disappointing for me providing software for net users the last few years. You never hear from them except to tell you that you fucked up, even when they treated the software disrespectfully, sometimes incredibly disrespectfully. People these days are often selfish, uncaring, rude, and demanding when it comes to software. Sometimes it's hard to see why I should ever release it, actually.

Just being honest with you. Software developers are people too. I know it's hard to believe. :smile:

Now there could be a downside to waiting too long. A competitor might come along and make an even better product. That's a real risk. I've never gotten bitten by it, but there's always the first time. That's one of the reasons I've made my pngWriter RSS feed public, so at least a hidden competitor can see how to be compatible, if they don't want to hold their users hostage. 

I think ultimately if pngWriter works two things will happen:

1. A market will develop and that market will not lock users in. 
2. Twitter will see that their online community benefits from having people be able to express full thoughts, and the "png" part of pngWriter will become vestigial. It'll still be a great writing tool for Twitter users, but it won't have to resort to an egregious hack to let people communicate fully.