Why we’re switching Ulysses to Subscription

Today, we are switching Ulysses to a subscription model. The short story is this (tl;dr): Our users expect a continuously evolving high quality product — and subscription is the only way we can truly deliver on that expectation.

…

Let’s map this onto Ulysses for a moment: If you bought Ulysses at its launch in April 2013, you will now have received nine major feature releases. For free, at no additional cost. At least 80% of that originally purchased app have since been scraped and replaced. Its functionality has quadrupled during the same time.

Each of these nine updates required a considerable amount of time on our part, which of course translates into a considerable amount of development cost. But with customers ever only paying for the development of the current version — how did we manage to finance new versions then?

I disagree with this. Wholeheartedly. With Ulysses giving major releases away for free, I guess I don’t know how they expected to make any money. When I was developing software, building new releases, patching them, and so on I charged for major releases and gave the patches/updates away for free.

Panic and Pixelmator both sell new versions (1.0, 2.0) and typically give updates (1.2, 2.5) away from what I recall. Seems to be working for them.

I’ve bought both Ulysses for macOS and for iOS and they’re decent apps. But I don’t use them regularly^[1] and so their new subscription model makes me cringe. I don’t wanna pay for app subscriptions unless I have them open often enough AND they’re so awesome they make it worth the monthly fee. Every time apps license with a subscription I’m like “no thanks.” I don’t care if that’s where the industry’s headed.

Case in point: Adobe’s got some great products but I won’t move to Creative Cloud, even more so when reading the criticisms. I’m in Photoshop and InDesign almost daily^[2] but I’m not paying $40 to use both those guys. $40 a month. I got enough bills.

Subscriptions are good for a service, not for a product.

#software #ulysses

1. Markdown seems more for nerds than writers. I have a novella in Ulysses and it won’t render as an eBook without screwing up the formatting. And also the linking in Markdown has never looked right to me. ↑

2. I would use Pixelmator full time over Photoshop but I just can’t. If I have a JPEG that I want to quickly crop, Pixelmator will do that but then when I go to save it wants to save it to its own PXM file format. Then I gotta go through the whole razze dazzle of saving as JPEG. And then after that I close the image and Pixelmator again wants me to save as a PXM. The horror. ↑

I hate when I run out of Cmd-Z.

#software

When I see stuff like "HttpFoundation, HttpKernel, Routing, EventDispatcher, DependencyInjection, and ClassLoader" - my eyes glaze over.

#software

Since I’m a nerd dork, I installed Google Keep on my Nexus and tinkered with it for a few minutes. It’s a beautiful little app and draws much inspiration from the Google Now theme. I wish Google would use this look and feel across all their properties and get rid of that ugly muted black header, blue and red button disaster they’re using now. Google Currents is another beautiful gem but the usability leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Below is the same note in my favorite note app, Evernote. The white background and black text remind me too much of MS Word. Evernote for Mac is beautiful. The Android app needs that same paint brush.

Evernote has many advanced and mature features that the newly launched Google Keep hasn’t incorporated yet. Encrypting text is huge for me along the dedicated desktop app. All my desktop browsers also have Evernote Clearly installed and 99.99% of the whatnots I post on tcrbang.com has been saved to Evernote first via that extension. At the moment my Evernote has 56 notes tagged for later reading and possible posting.

Personally, I’ll continue to use Evernote simply because Google can, will and does kill off services as it sees fit. Cases in point: Google Notebook and Google Reader. If you’re a dork nerd, you’ve already heard. Evernote’s whole business model is based on what they do. Google’s business is about search.

Remember kids — the big picture is that these websites that you sink your data and photos into aren’t public utilities. They just might close up shop and leave your ass cold and shaking in the wind.

If it wasn’t for Google Notebook getting the axe, I probably wouldn’t be using Evernote. They made it so super-duper easy for me to import my notes into their service, they were a godsend. See Google wanted me to put my notes into Google Docs. Bullshit Malarkey. I needed a note taking app, not a crappy online word processor. I loved Evernote so much after the move, I’ve been a premium subscriber since 2010.

PS— Skitch has more awesome.

#software

mysql - how to mysqldump remote db from local machine

-1, cause this is about answering questions and not linking to places where one needs to create an account, download something and eventually find an answer or NOT. – user667073 Jan 30 at 13:38

I <3 answers and answer replies like this.

#software #mysql

Homeland Security warns Java still poses risks after security fix

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has reiterated its warning to Java users that the widely used Web plug-in still poses risks for Internet users, even after Oracle patched the software to prevent hackers from exploiting a zero-day vulnerability.

It comes as some security experts are warning that the new software — Java 7 (Update 11), which was released on Sunday — may not actually protect against hackers attempting to remotely execute code on user machines.

I’ve hated Java ever since I first read this:

Both version numbers 1.5.0 and 5.0 are used to identify this release of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition.

Still no idea if it was 1.5 or 5.0 or 2.

#software

The condescending UI

I have a kneejerk reaction to most modern computer user interfaces (also, all microwave user interfaces). I’ve used plenty of excuses over the years: my “eye for design,” my love of minimalism, a sense of utility. Today, I finally put my finger on it, and it’s not just a desire for the-computer-as-pure-machine, or a spartan aesthetic. It’s quite simple, really: I don’t like the condescending tone.

I shudder when thinking about upgrading to Lion and the leathered iCal look. And the Classic Theme is where I immediately head with my WinXP VM installs.

#software

I’m a little sad, a little disappointed. I’ve been mulling this over for a few days and finally decided to publish something.

It’s Official: HP Kills Off webOS Phones And The TouchPad

webOS is the best mobile operating system out there, bar none. I’ve had the original Palm Pre since it came out and the experience is far better than any other smart phone I’ve seen or used.

There’s true multi-tasking, none of this fast app switching crap. The instant messaging app is to die for. The notifications are both functional and usable. Best of all, there’s no bloated iTunes required to just put music on the damn thing. In fact, I don’t even need a computer to use it. ;-)

The default apps for email, calendar and contacts just work. I don’t ever think about them, I just use them. They stay out of my way and I concentrate on the data. That’s what apps are for.

Even developers loved it.

I’m still a webOS developer and I’m still a webOS user and that will not change until my phone breaks

I agree that the number of 3rd party apps is no where close to the iPhone or Android but I’d wager that most of those are worthless shit.

See it’s like, it doesn’t matter how many visits you get on your website, it’s how many connections and/or sales are come from those visits. Net figures, not gross figures.

Late Friday night, HP slashed (like really slashed) the price of the TouchPad. I made an attempt in the gold rush to order the 32GB model but sadly I received an email from HP this morning:

An item in order H118927537 is not available and we are unable to fulfill your order as placed. We have cancelled your entire order and credited your selected payment method(s).

Why all the fuss? I’m passionate about technology - even more so when something I use everyday, is always with me, is more or less dead.

Of course HP says there’s hope for webOS:

It doesn’t mean — in any way, shape or form, at all — that we are abandoning webOS. In fact, we’re allowing webOS to fulfill the vision that I think everyone in the industry wants to see, and that is a viable alternative to other tablet or mobile operating systems that are out there that have their own baggage.

But only if partners come on board.

And finally, this is why I’ll never develop for a particular OS or platform again. True mobile web development is the future.

#software

“No messages in the last -1 days.”

#software

iTunes is the biggest piece of shit ever. I don’t know how people use it.

#software