HIGHWAY OF LIFE  This is the _best_ collaboration tool for either PC or Mac market. The collaboration aspect alone make it well worth the price, when working with groups of people, for me it is large groups of programmers, SEE makes it easy for me to collaborate with the Mac programmers and increases our overall efficiency.

SEE is also a fantastic basic text and code editor, we especially enjoy the live-preview of HTML, and the ability to quickly run PHP scripts, making "quick tests" or "quick scripts" very easy and painless.

Version 3 contains much better compatibility with networks, which make connecting to the outside world far easier.  
(Version 3.2.1)

RICHARD TAYTOR  Something is wrong with version three. To be more precise: it's footprint on system resources has increased tremendously; while editing it also frequently freezes for short intervals (a second or two). Version two works well for me.  
(Version 3.0.1)

ROBACKJA  The tabs are an awesome new addition. The only remaining issue I have with SubEthaEdit is no HEREDOC string syntax support. The funny thing was, when I opened a bug on their site about it, they closed it stating, "HEREDOC not supported", like it wasn't part of the language, e.g. PHP, perl, etc.

HEREDOC strings look like this (example in php):

$var =   
(Version 2.6)

HENRIKTEKNIK  I completely adore this program!

I have but a few a feature requests:

- Transparent windows!!

- Ability to adopt collaborator's .see-styles for the specific document type you are working in.

- Snapping to screen/window borders for the 'mini windows' (Bonjour, Internet).  
(Version 2.5.1)

NCIANCA  I needed to do some collaborative editing with some other users and am very surprised that SubEthaEdit has no support for working with either an sftp or webdav server.

Seems that SubEthaEdit is "collaborative" only when you are working on a local document and the other user can actually reach your machine (which won't happen behind most corporate firewalls).

This potentially useful tool has boxed itself into a small environment. Please add support for working with documents stored on a server using sftp or webdav.  
(Version 2.5)

AMAKE  I'm very disappointed that they removed the non-profit licensing option. I understand why they are doing this, but I just can't bring myself to buy a license when there are other good, free alternatives like TextWrangler. If you don't need SubEthaEdit's collaborative features, I suggest you give TextWrangler a try.  
(Version 2.3)

L0NE  PAY ATTENTION, EVERYONE: from 2.3 on, the noncommercial licensing option is gone. Buying is now compulsory to use it past the evaluation stage.  
(Version 2.3)

PAUL DUNLOP  Funny how they missed the mention that there is no longer a free, personal use license available as off version 2.3. Sneaky  
(Version 2.3)

ANONYMOUS  How bout adding syntax coloring to the command line tool?  
(Version 2.2)

WRASHI  People who complain that this app focuses too much on collaboration and not enough on features are disconcertingly myopic!

In the toolbox of applications for writing text, SubEthaEdit is cream of the crop for what it does -- collaboration! There is NO other program on ANY platform, anywhere in the computing world today, that allows SubEthaEdit's type of collaboration! All others use some form of locking that is somewhere between annoying and destructive to the creative/collaborative process.

Don't get me wrong, TextMate (raved about below) is great, I use it a lot. But to collaborate? NEVER! There's only ever been one program useful for that: SubEthaEdit!

I have used SubEthaEdit with people across the table, and people across the world. I have used it for collaborating on prose, poetry and code. In terms of getting out of the way and letting a group of people work on a piece of text together, SubEthaEdit was revolutionary. And it remains alone in a category the Coding Monkeys single-handedly created.

Wise people use a bevy of specialized tools for major construction projects. Only fools insist on employing their Swiss Army knives.  
(Version 2.2)

ANONYMOUS  Well, this is a great editor, but it seems like the developers aren't very interested in adding necessary features, so it's definitely falling behind. I was willing to "wait" for some of the glaring omissions to be addressed, but here we are at 2.2 and TextMate is looking more and more attractive as the years go on and SubEthaEdit never gets basic features.  
(Version 2.2)

ANONYMOUS  very slow, and minimal features. was the best, now it's a distant third behind TextMate and XCode's editor.  
(Version 2.1.2)

ANONYMOUS  SubEthaEdit looks nice but it has some ugly drawbacks. First it cannot handle large files: SEE got ugly slow on my Dual G5 with 2GB RAM when trying to edit a 4.5MB (!) file with about 160.000 lines. Second: it shows a watermarks in the free edition (which also has wrong spelling in the German localization).  
(Version 2.1.2)

ANONYMOUS  I've mostly switched to TextMate by now. It seems SEEs developers are more interested in the 'collaborative' part than in the 'editor' part, which is fine, but not what I'm looking for.  
(Version 2.1.2)

ERIC HSU  It's called Bonjour technology you insensitive clods!

But seriously, this application is brilliant. I use it to run a collaborative meeting even though we're in the same room. It's the kind of thing where when you use it you think, oh this is just the way it should be, what's the big deal, and then when you find you can't do it with other programs you appreciate it way more.

My main wish is some way to collaborate on rich text, especially tables. I tried collaborating on HTML tables with preview, but my colleagues can't really contribute to that...

2.1.2 seems to work okay for me.   
(Version 2.1.2)

ANONYMOUS  Latest version refuses to open new windows, and the preferences window is empty except for the title . Console shows the following output from the app:

2004-11-26 22:14:58.963 SubEthaEdit[282] *** Assertion failure in -[ABMultiValue indexForIdentifier:], Framework/AddressBook/ABMultiValue.m:112

2004-11-26 22:14:58.963 SubEthaEdit[282] Exception raised during posting of notification. Ignored. exception: Invalid parameter not satisfying: identifier != nil

2004-11-26 22:15:00.558 SubEthaEdit[282] *** -[NSCFDictionary setObject:forKey:]: attempt to insert nil value

2004-11-26 22:15:02.404 SubEthaEdit[282] *** -[NSCFSet addObject:]: attempt to insert nil

2004-11-26 22:15:15.916 SubEthaEdit[358] *** Assertion failure in -[ABMultiValue indexForIdentifier:], Framework/AddressBook/ABMultiValue.m:112

2004-11-26 22:15:15.917 SubEthaEdit[358] Exception raised during posting of notification. Ignored. exception: Invalid parameter not satisfying: identifier != nil

2004-11-26 22:15:17.377 SubEthaEdit[358] *** -[NSCFDictionary setObject:forKey:]: attempt to insert nil value

2004-11-26 22:15:37.374 SubEthaEdit[358] 5ter punkt 2.2.1.1

2004-11-26 22:16:32.851 SubEthaEdit[374] *** Assertion failure in -[ABMultiValue indexForIdentifier:], Framework/AddressBook/ABMultiValue.m:112

2004-11-26 22:16:32.851 SubEthaEdit[374] Exception raised during posting of notification. Ignored. exception: Invalid parameter not satisfying: identifier != nil

2004-11-26 22:16:34.295 SubEthaEdit[374] *** -[NSCFDictionary setObject:forKey:]: attempt to insert nil value

2004-11-26 22:16:54.297 SubEthaEdit[374] 5ter punkt 2.2.1.1  
(Version 2.1.1)

PEDRO GOMES DA SILVA  Getting better and better.

I'm starting to like it so much that maybe it will became my main editor.

I just would like to make a suggestion: Is it possible to, eventually, add the ability of multi-search? being able to search for a certain string on a folder of files is a really useful option for me.

Thank you for making this great software.

Keep up the good work.  
(Version 2.1.1)

ANONYMOUS  Miss "tabs" or a attached panel showing all open windows, like in Kate. Also while we are talking about Kate, something like fish maybe ? I know that's KDE and not Kate, but still :P For you who don't know KDE and Kate, Fish is a script for automaticly upload a modified file to a server. Transmite is good, but Fish is better :) Well, atleast a tabs :)  
(Version 2.1.1)

ANONYMOUS  Anyone else having problem with the command-line tool? It fails to paste piped output into a new document and, instead, opens a separate copy of SubEthaEdit then hangs. :/  
(Version 2.1.1)

DENIS DEFREYNE  I've been using SubEthaEdit ever since version 1.0 (when it was called Hydra). It is an incredibly useful tool. There is simply no better way to collaborate on a text document than this. It almost is a reason to Switch—this is the perfect way to pester Windows users. Even if you don't collabore SubEthaEdit is great. Syntax colouring for dozens of languages, live web preview, and a symbol browser. Want more? :)  
(Version 2.1.1)

SCHMELDING  It rules. It totally rules.

But, -1 star for the name. It's embarrassing to say, "SubEthaEdit." You might as well name it, "Wankel Rotary Engine."  
(Version 2.1.1)

ANONYMOUS  Fixed a security issue where a user could receive permanent authorization for privileged SubEthaEdit operations after successfully aquiring authorization as an administrator in SubEthaEdit.

I was wondering wtf was up with that... thanks for the quick fix.  
(Version 2.1.1)

MU5TI  Finally, authenticated saves. You guys rock, thank you!  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  I love this product! I really wish the developers would consider adding ftp support. This is the only thing that sepperates it from BBEdit in my opinion. Maybe offer a plugin architecture, so developers like myslef that find this to be important, can have it.   
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  This is a tremendous editor for my needs.

Does anyone else have the problem with Internet Prefs popping up and disturbing you when not online? Is there a way to stop this? Half my work is ofline and this is getting frustrating. Thanks.  
(Version 2.1)

SAM RAE  If you're like me and came here and was about to kick an almighty stink about how these rats are now charging for SubEthaEdit, hold your hat.

It is still free for non-commercial use, which means that companies with oodles of money can pay for it, and we still get it free! I think that's a great idea. It keeps SEE afloat, and still lets individuals use a great program.

Absolutely champion text editor. The only thing missing is some way of quickly changing between documents (ala Smultron).  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  Impressive update with some sorely-needed features! (command-line tool, authenticated saves)

Just needs a plugin API, scripting/piping and a few UI refinements (current line highlighting among them) then it will be 'the perfect editor'.  
(Version 2.1)

ANCIENTYGER  Doggonnit!!! I'm Smurfin' Impressed! how does this compare with say.. iChalk or iStorm? interms of being a groupware type of solution? anyone anyone at all?  
(Version 2.1)

ANONYMOUS  SubEthaEdit is my 'editor of choice.'

The only other editor in the running is TextMate, since I need an editor that integrates well with the rest of the system (and BBEdit doesn't). SEE just feels better to me at this point - it's slimmer and less topheavy.

I don't even mind so much that it doesn't support piping, since I use TextExtras, which disables SEE's built-in autocompletion, but I prefer TextExtras' completion anyway.  
(Version 2.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  This is great for when you're working on a site with other people who are on different networks, allowing you to color-code what changes are made to the code by whom and get stuff done quicker.  
(Version 2.0.1)

ANONYMOUS  SubEthaEdit is definitely in the running for Best Program of All Time. It's small, fast, and full-featured, and plus it's free for non-commercial use (for poor college students like myself this is a huge bonus!) Great for taking notes in class.   
(Version 2.0.1)

NAMAN  This app was a godsend when I was looking for a decent editor for PHP and HTML. Even with 1.0 it was great, but version 2 is absolutely stellar.

If you use PHP/HTML/other web-languages, and have not already shelled out for BBEdit or taken the time to learn VI or Emacs, this is the editor for you!  
(Version 2.0a)

REV. STEVE BAUER  A great little app for making/modifying scripts. I also use it in conjunction with FUGU to edit my web pages on my brother's server. very nice.  
(Version 2.0a)

J. SCOTT ANDERSON  Excellent application for helping kids with their homework while doing your own work.  
(Version 2.0a)

HANGON  Perfect app.

add a tabbed browsing like omniweb...in a drawer and it will be more than perfect  
(Version 2.0a)

ANONYMOUS  This is a great editor -- even if you don't need the network features, it's a great editor in its own right. The networking is even handy if you don't need to share with anyone, if you have two machines; you can have a file open at your desk, and go work on it at your laptop by just connecting from there.

It still needs a couple of things to really replace BBEdit, though. First and foremost is a command-line tool just like BBEdit has, one that will block until the document is closed, let you specify things like the text encoding to use and the syntax highlighting mode, and then return focus back to the original app when it exits.

I also really wish that it would save window settings with its documents. One thing that is really tiresome is when SubEthaEdit can't recognize the file's type, and thus proper syntax highlighting mode, by the extension on a particular file, and then every single time you load it up you have to go in and manually change the mode. It should save that, along with other things like window size and position and state of the interactive spell-check setting, with the document, like most other editors.

2.0 is a great upgrade. With just a couple more features, I'd be more than willing to buy a commercial license even though I don't need one.  
(Version 2.0a)

ANONYMOUS  Wow. Fantastic update! BBEdit just took another step closer to the trash.  
(Version 2.0a)

BB  Simply fantastic. My preferred editor by a long shot. Tabs would be great but understandably don't fit into Apple's MDI model - not the authors' fault.  
(Version 2.0a)

SUBMERSIBLESPORK  What a great app. I have no idea why people keep complaining about the name though... any Hitchhiker's Guide reference is fine by me.

Seriously though, this app is fantastic. Enough to make me want to ditch BBEdit (even after paying for it!) The only thing I'd like to see is a way to save things in RTF format (maybe it's there, but I can't find it...) and a way to upload files within the app itself (like BBEdit) to my FTP server, instead of having to go through something like Fetch. :)  
(Version 1.1.5)

FRACAI  why must i "save a copy as..." of a shared file instead of just saving it? I can understand the reason for not wanting to use "save" but there should be a way to connect a shared document to a local file.

when you're working on code with a partner and every compile requires a "save a copy as...", the app gets very tedious  
(Version 1.1.5)

MATIJA PRETNAR  Can't wait for the promised regexs and scripts. So long, vi, emacs & stuff...  
(Version 1.1.5)

SYNDICMAN  I love this app, but as someone said before, I need a way to have root permission for some files and also the ability to see the hidden files.

The syntax highlighting is a little slow.  
(Version 1.1.5)

TTERP  This is by far my favorite freeware app for the mac :)

/tterp  
(Version 1.1.5)

ANONYMOUS  [quote]

...The only thing I'm missing from BBEDIT is the ability to unlock root (or other users) files.

And that's a regular thing for me, since almost all my php files belong to the "web server user" not to me....

[/quote]

and multiple syntax-colouring for mixed documents [ie. containing both HTML and PHP] would be nice too!  
(Version 1.1.4)

SCHMELDING  The app. rawks.

The name sucks.  
(Version 1.1.4)

ANONYMOUS  Almost perfect.

The only thing I'm missing from BBEDIT is the ability to unlock root (or other users) files.

And that's a regular thing for me, since almost all my php files belong to the "web server user" not to me.  
(Version 1.1.3)

FRANK BANISTER  Just a great tool. Nice and easy to use, stable, coding work friendly, plus different possibilities for file/text encoding (a great feature especially on the Mac platform).   
(Version 1.1.3)

MRRIVERS  What a horrible name for such a fine piece of software...  
(Version 1.1.3)

SEAN STEVENS  Nope, it's Hitchhikers' Guide.

SubEtha is used for various things, including the SubEthaSense-o-matic for hitchhiking.  
(Version 1.1.3)

BRIAN  After reading the Coding Monkeys' explanation, I managed to find some respect for the name, but phonetically, it's still crap. :)  
(Version 1.1.3)

LEO OF BORG  It may be a horrible name, but the guys HAVE to be Outlaw Star Fans.

Obviously the creators of -that- series ran out of names for 'hyperspace', so they called the engines 'Munchausen Drives' and the folded space 'Sub Ether Space' or doing a 'Sub Ether Jump'..

Totally understandable after all of the stupidity over software names and legality that these #### guys have gone through.

For what it's worth, I think that SubEthaEdit will slay all other Hydrae, and anything with a hash. ;)  
(Version 1.1.3)

DAVIDCRICKETT  What a sheer horror name.  
(Version 1.1.3)

LSNJD  Visit their website under news to understand how they came up with the new name. Makes sense, but Hydra was a much better sounding name. It's a shame they encountered legal issues because of it.  
(Version 1.1.3)

BRIAN  I couldn't live without this app, but the new name makes me want to die.

What in the hell were they thinking?!  
(Version 1.1.3)

SCHMELDING  The program "formerly known as Hydra" r-a-w-k-s, rawks!

Couldn't we find a better name than SubEthaEdit? I don't even know how to say that without choking on my breakfast.  
(Version 1.1.3)

ANONYMOUS KARMA  If you use Hydra for programming I would highly suggest installing TextExtras on your system. This little addition adds many useful things to all Cocoa text fields, including the ability to pipe text through a shell (or perl) script. Free, too.

http://www.lorax.com/FreeStuff/TextExtras.html  
(Version 1.1.1)

ISMAIL ÖZEL  It's just amazing. I was looking for a really good editor for programming several scripting languages. Hydra highlights nearly any code AND I can now work in groups an the same project and same document. Tell me: what else does a programmer need?  
(Version 1.1)

LDENTIS  Finally, a very light app to write Python's scripts with syntax highlighting...a little piece of heaven!  
(Version 1.1)

B.  I have no use for the networking features, but as a free text editor, it simply cannot be beat.  
(Version 1.1)

SIMON GADBOIS  Now, that is a great little application! Congratulations!  
(Version 1.0.1)

KRISBROWNE42  Beautifully intuitive, very good syntax hiliting, incredibly well thought out collaborative features. A wonderful example of the power of Cocoa and Rendevous.

The ONLY limitation is that it's limited to Mac OS X, and as far as I've seen the authors have not posted the specification for the protocols. Were those published, I would think that there will be implementations for other systems.

Does plain text only, and does not save metadata regarding who has worked on the file.   
(Version 1.0)

UMAROMC  Oh CRAP!!! jEdit just got pulled from my dock!!!  
(Version 1.0)

WEBGOD  this program is REALLY cool. The only features I would like to see... multiple syntax coloring (php & HTML mixed documents), FTP!!!!, and maybe I missed it, but line numbering.  
(Version 1.0)

JOE  this is quite cool.  
(Version 1.0)