Startrail 1.4 is available for download. The first new feature in this new version is changeable particle shape. For now the only new shape is ball, but more will come in the future. I added also mouse sensitivity configuration to avoid bursts for little mouse movements.
Now Startrail doesn't use the CPU while paused. I tried to do this even when the app is not paused but the mouse is still, but there seems to be a little bug that makes the app crash. I know that on older machines startrail may be very heavy, consuming a lot of CPU resources. I'm working on it, so please be patient.
Lastly I changed the design of the preferences panel, making controls more organized, and I reversed the slider of color variation speed that was counter intuitive. I must thank Kris Finkenbinder for all his suggestions and feedback, that helped me to improve the app. I hope you will enjoy the new features.

The shareware poll goes on, so please answer it. Hopefully I'm finding a solution that will make everyone happy.

I'm thinking about wether to make Startrail a shareware app or not. I understand the objections made by some of you, so, to help me decide, I decided to ask you all directly. You can find a poll here on the main page or on the Startrail page (they are the same poll, so answer only one time).
I only ask you to be sincere and not to answer "No" just to keep it free.

Meanwhile, if you like Startrail, please consider a small donation. I don't mean to become rich with it, so even one or two bucks will do! This will keep it free.

I'm planning to make the 2.0 version of Startrail a shareware application. The reason is that there are major features that require lot of time and work to be implemented and I cannot afford to keep it a freeware application with no donations. But don't worry, the price will be kept low. Possible features are:

For now I will release some more free versions with minor features, but I don't know how many they will be. When the 2.0 release will be completed, the last free released version of Startrail will become a lite version of the app that will be kept free. From then, all the new features will be included in the shareware version, although the lite version will continue to be supported for bug fixing. The beginning of the development of the 2.0 version will be announced here.

In the meanwhile Leopard will come (hopefully in october). It will probably bring more features and ideas to Statrail. When it will be released I will start the development of a more complex project. I have some ideas and I have to decide what to bring to light first. As always I will keep you informed of its progress.

Startrail 1.3 is available for download. In this new version I added a few more features that users requested. First of all, color settings. Now it is possible to set the color variation speed, or to set the stars color to a fixed one. I also added burst size setting capability. Some users asked me to make the trail look more like a trail and less like a sequence of burst. That's not an easy task and I don't think I will ever do it. The fact is that stars are generated by a particle system that has some physics properties rather than settings like size. Moreover some of these properties are fixed and not customizable. So I hope you can achieve the effect you want using the settings I provided for the app.

I also added a feature that no one requested: continuous trail. The reason is simple: it was a "free" feature that required very little work, so I just added it. I hope someone will like it. If you dont like it, you can just keep things unchanged.

As always, suggestions are really appreciated.