It’s pretty smooth so far. I’m not a poweruser tho.
I use it for some note taking, drafts (when the text gets out of Drafts.app) and longform writing (well not that long: contracts, pleadings to the courts and similar - IMO Ulysses handles structurally complicated long form writing better than file based solutions: binding merging and splitting sheets works better than having different files).
I loved Ulysses organization structure and the fact that you don’t have to mess with file names, so I feared that getting a folder based structure with file names would be a nightmare, but it’s not that bad after all.
I like the fact that I can pick files from different parts of my system: client work is in a folder structure in the documents folder indicized in DT3 and synced e2e encrypted again with DT3 - via icloud but in the future I’ll move to some european solution to be more GDPR compliant - while more casual stuff is in a plain iCloud drive folder(s).
I like the fact that having just a bunch of txt files I can use different apps (trying the free version of BBEdit for some part of the workflow - search and replace, for instance - or waiting for NVUltra) without having to export from an app to another.
The downside is that I’m quite scattered all over the place Drafts, iA, BBEdit, so sometimes i consider consolidating everything in Ulysses again…
Living on the razor’s edge
THe reality is that i’m stuck in MSOffice for work, so other means of text editing is not essential and I can play around
I just dropped it and went for the much less expensive Apple News+ which has an abbreviated WSJ plus tons of other publications. Also miffed that the subscription cost has gone up about $50 a year each of the past three years.
I guess you’re right, I did mention 1Password several times. I’m actually very satisfied with 1Password, as long as I can get the standalone license. Dunno what I’ll do if/when that goes away.
The Agenda team has done subscriptions right: Your payment guarantees updates for that interval (e.g., 1 year), getting whatever new features are released during that time… When your subscription expires, you don’t get downgraded to a basic version of the app; rather, you get to keep all the features you paid for and can continue to use the app that way as long as you want. It’s up to the Agenda team to entice you to renew your subscription based on active development and release of enticing new features. They communicate what features were added (or are forthcoming) very clearly in the app settings, without hounding you to subscribe. This is by far the best approach to subscriptions that I’ve ever seen. Kudos to them!
Fantastical also handled the transition to freemium+subscription very responsibly. They allowed everyone a free upgrade to the free, basic version 3 apps… but, in so doing, permitted existing Fantastical 2 customers to keep the features they had previously paid for and gotten accustomed to. This was critically important on macOS (for example — full-screen mode, a “premium feature” that otherwise would be behind the subscription paywall). They handled the cross-device differences in a very reasonable way: for example, an existing FC2 customer on macOS would retain full-screen mode, but full-screen on iOS/iPadOS would be locked behind the subscription paywall (because full-screen didn’t exist on those platforms before). Another example is that overlaying of duplicated events (same event that exists on two calendars would be merged into one line that with blended coloring to show that it was really two events), a feature that existed on macOS but not on iOS/iPadOS, was grandfathered-in for FC2 customers on macOS but behind the subscription paywall on iOS/iPadOS. The Fantastical team makes it clear what you get if you subscribe.
The thing that I disagree with in Fantastical’s implementation is that if you stop subscribing, you get dumped back to the plain, basic free version of the app and lose those other features that you had paid for. I wish they would learn from the Agenda team and allow you to keep what you paid for. (Of course, any feature that requires a server to implement would stay behind the subscription… I just think you shouldn’t be stripped of features such as full-screen mode and merged duplicated events on iOS/iPadOS after you paid for things like that. They should be permanently unlocked.) Like in Agenda, the burden would be on the Fantastical team to keep coming out with updates that would entice us to keep renewing our subscriptions.
If more companies did subscriptions like Agenda, there would be less disappointment and anger, I think.
I continue to pair down subscription based appts. I have activated for a period of time and subsequently have cancelled the following app subscriptions (annualized):
Apple TV 49.99/
TWC 9.99
Ulysses 39.99
Day One 34.99
Drafts 19.99
Fantastical 39.99
Savings = $194.94 / year. I like to think in five year increments so that is nearly a $1,000 in savings (more assuming that developers increase their subscription price over five years) that can go to better use.
The only services / apps. I currently have subscriptions for are Apple Music, iCloud storage, U-Verse, Netflix, Disney +, and Amazon Prime. I’m thinking of cancelling Amazon Prime but need to assess the ROI a bit more.
iCloud
Bear (but I won’t renew for another year)
1Password
Carrot Weather (the cheapest subscription)
Spotify
Agenda (if you count it as a subcription).
I tend to limit my subscriptions to a minimum (subscriptions must provide an excellent service for my usage or be cheap for portuguese standards) and try my hardest to guarantee that I don’t get locked inside any app. All the forementioned subscriptions are easily cancelled without seriously disturbing my workflow.
As a side note, I’m not really conviced that subscription is the only way for developers to survive or thrive. Some of them are offering one-time purchases and seem to be doing ok or really well. Omnigroup, for example, offer both one-time purchases and subscriptions, so customers can choose which model they prefer.
Makes you wonder what would happen if some subscription apps found a way to offer standalone purchases as well as subscriptions. Further thriving, perhaps?
And to add, Apple has announced that you can in the future sell a unified app - Mac, iOS, iPadOS. This is a new update from today as I understand it. This should alter pricing models as well.
I am very interested in this. Things 3 for example would not have to do what they do. What effect do you think this will have on prices? More subscriptions?
No it’s actually great for companies that don’t want to offer subscriptions but want to sell their products as a more comprehensive bundle. One Price and support across all devices. With Subs you already know you’re getting access cross platform apps so it’s not that big of a deal other than the intrinsic benefits of having all the apps under a single bundle ID
Yeah, but those are introductory prices. That would mean the hassle of canceling before the year is up (and WSJ makes you wait in the phone queue and then plead to cancel) and signing up with a new email. Their retention person absolutely won’t offer any discount if you renew.
Agenda is a subscription but of a very different model. If you want the newer or improved features that are released, you pay for a year’s subscription.
If you’re happy with the functionality you already have, you can keep all the features that appeared in the course of the year for which you paid.
In my opinion, this is a very fair model and gives the developers a brilliant insight into for what features/improvements people are happy to pay.
Well, there’s no difference to the X year upgrade cycle in this model.
You just don’t have to name every version, and are allowed to be a little more loose on releasing features
Amazon Prime/Video - could use husband’s, and save, but I want my own wishlists, and privacy for my orders. Wish each user had an individual watchlist like Netflix (I share my Prime Video account with a sister)
Netflix - via husband’s account (so maybe doesn’t count)
Spotify - ditto.
Apps/Services
(Italics indicate probably won’t renew or will renew on solely a needs basis)
CrashPlan
Drafts - but I wish I could just buy the Mac app for synching. Hardly use any of the fancy stuff, like workspaces.
Screencasts Online - I’m trying it out again, but I find I don’t watch often enough to get full benefit. Probably won’t resubscribe
Agenda (lapsed) - Am waiting for new, personally beneficial features to resubscribe.
iCloud - Reluctantly, as I kept hitting the 5GB limit, but I avoid iCloud sync in apps like the plague due to lack of controllability. They should really give us a bigger free tier, based on the number of devices+capacity we own, perhaps.
AnyList - Not convinced I’ll resubscribe as he with whom I wanted to share lists refuses to accept the idea. Maybe I’ll resubscribe every 2 years just to give financial support.
Subscriptions avoided
(by buying stand-alone licence)
Lightroom
TextExpander
1Password
PDFExpert
Fantastical (bought v2 recently at a discount and not actually upgraded to version 3 yet - not happy about this new model and not convinced they’ll honour “grandfathering” down the line).
are you guys into quantified self?
this exist.io looks good - I track ALOT of things lol but don’t really have a central dashboard for review or summary
I haven’t committed to Exist enough to get much out of it. I found the predictions unsurprising or unactionable. However, what they’re trying to do is exactly what I hope for from quantified self initiatives, so I try to stay connected to them in case a new feature makes me re-subscribe.
I was just thinking, the implication of subscription apps is that they are new. But I can remember them back into the 1970’s, which was my first out-of-school experiences with programs.
Software then and now for expensive commercial packages (back then everything was expensive!) you purchased and then paid an annual “maintenance.” I always referred to that as the annual extortion fee because you frequently got nothing new of value for the payment. But by paying you got “support” and usually the opportunity to get any bug fixes or upgrades for free or discount. It is not much different than the subscription model.
It differs in the fact that when you stop paying subscriptions you default to the original free mode. Back to 1970s analogy any upgrades and maintenance updates you paid for were yours for ever. It never went back to the Original Software version.
