Here is an edited version of a comment I posted at outlinersoftware.com, so I can repeat the LAST suggestion primarily:

- PSS I hope you will not let any bad vibes discourage you.

- Yes we Ecco fanatics have been disillusioned in the past.  Yes EccoExt from Slang and Infoqube are the only exceptions from the rule that our hopes will be dashed—BUT

- After all these years I would like nothing more than what you appear to be working on - an updated and working new generation of software on the Ecco Pro model.

- Seems to me a lot of the concern comes from PSS’s phrasing (StoryServer?) (“tough”?).  I presume this comes from someone for whom English is not a first language.  If not, then trouble is ahead for sure—BUT

- I for one want to applaud these efforts and wish you the best.  The Ecco Pro model may not have taken the world by storm 20+ years ago, and it won’t take it by storm now, but from those of us who embraced it over the years then I bet you’ll find plenty of support for beta testing and initial deployment.

- To PSS, I say thank you for letting us know that this is on the drawing board and please keep us informed as you proceed.

- I see you have posted here and at Outlinersoftware.com.  One thing that has been missing from the Ecco world forever (as far as I know) is a dedicated forum where Ecco enthusiasts can communicate with each other and help with progress.  The Yahoo forum has been our lifeline but the software is absolutely awful.  The forum at Eccomagic had potential, but for some reason I never understood was not well used.  Donationcoder is better for the announcement, but we really need a FULL PHPBBS or similar forum (like this one at DonationCoder) but dedicated to your work where people can post problems and solutions and they can be found in the future without reinventing the wheel. Infoqube has that and it is VERY helpful.  PLEASE consider your own dedicated forum software location, and if you do please let us know about it!!!

For anyone who comes across this thread, question asked at XNViewMP forum here:  http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=35936&p=143957#p143957

Edvard thank you for your comments and I do use XNview and see its similarities to this discussion. I wish xnview could view office documents!  I have also checked out xplorer2 and agree that it fits with xyplorer and freecommander and dopus.  So there is room for at least four of these programs in the windows world but none in linux?  (to repeat an earlier comment, I've never been able to get dolphin to do this though it seems set up to do some previewing - but certainly not a favorite files pane)

Another program with similar paradigm to what we are talking about is "everdesk" and it also has the category / list/ preview format, but it is windows only and does not appear to me to be actively developing.

Since this format seems to be basic to the explorer in windows I am sure I am not the only linux user who would like the kind of functionality that we are discussing