Mac and iOS Writing App 'Ulysses' Transitions to Subscription Model

[subjonas]

I literally laugh out loud at each developer who moves to the subscription model because they just lost their chance at ever getting my money.

I'm content knowing the market will adjust. If there are enough of us who don't want to rent, which I'm sure there are, they'll either revert or new software will come out to replace the old. It's an annoyance because it may take awhile, but that's life.

 

[Analog Kid]

Subscriptions == resting on your laurels

 

[nzcatfood]

Fortunately there will always be competing 'pay once' products to use. When established players go with subscription pricing, then subsequent products to market start with the dice in their favour. People will pay for good software but they sure don't want to feel like they've been reamed in the (subscription) process.

 

[subjonas]

I was literally five days away from buying the McOS version! I already have and love the IOS version on my iPad. I'm buying a new macbook on Tuesday after I sell my house, but now I have missed the boat. I understand that "devs gotta eat" because I am a developer myself, but I HATE HATE HATE subscription model app sales except in a few limited cases. Examples of good models: Microsoft Office 365. You not only get the Office suite of apps which are very expensive otherwise, you get at least a Terabyte of OneDrive space in the cloud for each user (5) and it is $9.95/month for 5 users. That is a great value and the OneDrive service alone makes it a steal. Adobe Cloud is also great because I don't use it often and I can get it for the window I need it in and it is a TON of expensive apps. I don't mind subscriptions for things like NetFlix because it offers so much for $10/month. This would be like one channel offering just their shows or maybe even more like one of their TV shows for $5/month. I'm not going to do it. The value isn't there. They offered my a special deal on the subscription for "life"but I'd rather they grandfathered me in and let me pay the $40 and get a subscription free version. I'd even be willing to pay $80. I now have to rethink what tool I want to use for my writing. Plus I have to get all of my stuff out of Ulysses and into whatever else I end up getting. What a giant PAIN!
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I have rented a tux because I need one about once a year. I need Ulysses or something like it daily. If I needed a tux daily, I'd buy one, which I did finally do when I had two events to go to in the span of a couple months and the economics worked out. At least I have a choice to rent a tux or buy one. Now I don't have a choice with Ulysses. :-(

Exactly. You rent when it's not worth buying. (For physical objects, there is also the "cost" of storage for large items, plus upkeep, etc.) I would rent expensive software that I rarely needed. Otherwise, it only makes sense to buy. If developers need to charge more then they should charge more, and maybe have the option of buying or renting, not force rentals. But whatever, thankfully there are alternatives to almost all software.

 

[jakeOSX]

the problem with subscription is one of data control. If i cannot access my information after the subscription is cancelled, then no subscription, no matter how inexpensive, is worth it. This to me is one of the crucial differences between Ulysses, 1Password, Evernote, and Office / Adobe suites. My Office and Adobe files still exist, and can be used outside of those apps. (note: I do not subscribe to either 365 or Adobe)

i think Hipstamatic has the closest thing to a subscription that I use. They release 1$ filter packs for the app every month or so, which you can buy or not. I've grabbed quite a few, but not all of them, continuing my support, but getting features for it. should i never pay them again, what I have will still work, but I will miss out on new features.
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You want a new MacBook Pro? You don't buy one. You don't even lease it. You just agree to pay a "monthly subscriber fee" and they send it to your house. (snip).

sounds pretty close to this:

https://www.apple.com/shop/iphone/iphone-upgrade-program

 

[Matt Leaf]

Well that's the end of that then

 

[R10k]

Sometimes subscription models make sense and sometimes it's just clueless developers who don't understand that to make money you need to offer your customers something.

It took these guys three plus years to add in password protection and now they're talking about a subscription model, the justification for it isn't about anything good for their customers (no mentioned features at all) but instead, about the continuation of their business.

I subscribe to a couple of things, but this shouldn't be a paid service. I wouldn't trust these guys to add anything of worth.

 

[rillrill]

Tell me about Scrivener since I am now very interested in it. How does it compare to Ulysses?

Well, I just bought Scrivener about a month ago to work on my writing. I really researched both Scrivener and Ulysses. Scrivener mostly uses this folders and sheets container formula that really speaks to me. You can really break down any aspect of the project you are working on. It's not very pretty, but it does have an iOS app that's nice as well. Ulysses has iCloud support I believe, and Scrivener does not - which sucks - though it does use dropbox. Mainly, I think Scrivener is established and less likely to ever go the route that Ulysses did with a ******** subscription because the developers are a few people that do it on the side. Read here for more on the developers.

 

[philosopherdog]

The thing about tech these days is that big companies have created the illusion of free or rediculous pay once and use forever. Guess what, if you love an app and it takes a team to build they have to get money from somewhere. Getting $2 per user isn't going to work. Subscription is the only really sustainable model with the current App Store model. Either that or the apps die.

 

[Traverse]

Moving to a subscription model just tells me that Ulysses is circling the drain)

I've never heard that expression, but I laughed. I pictured their logo spiraling into the drain abyss.

 

[shyam09]

I purchased Day One, and a few days later they switched to subscription. I purchased Ulysses a few days ago, and today, they switched to subscription.

*sadness*

I think I'm cursed.

 

[AppleInLVX]

I purchased Day One, and a few days later they switched to subscription. I purchased Ulysses a few days ago, and today, they switched to subscription.

*sadness*

I think I'm cursed.

So YOU'RE the bugger out there washing his car on a sunny day and calling the rain...

I keed...

 

[jerwin]

The thing about tech these days is that big companies have created the illusion of free or rediculous pay once and use forever. Guess what, if you love an app and it takes a team to build they have to get money from somewhere. Getting $2 per user isn't going to work. Subscription is the only really sustainable model with the current App Store model. Either that or the apps die.

Perhaps you have been decieved as to the nature of app prices. Refresh your memory.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170601173355/https://ulyssesapp.com/pricing/

Personally, I like one time upfront pricing; especially if the magic of competion occassionally lowers the price....

 

[R10k]

The thing about tech these days is that big companies have created the illusion of free or rediculous pay once and use forever. Guess what, if you love an app and it takes a team to build they have to get money from somewhere. Getting $2 per user isn't going to work. Subscription is the only really sustainable model with the current App Store model. Either that or the apps die.

That's why if you're running a software development business, you keep developing software that sells.

The Ulysses guys made one product and sat on that for years, hoping it would keep them afloat forever. Sometimes that works, but usually it doesn't.

 

[Take Flight]

Everyone should just follow the route that plex uses: monthly, yearly, or lifetime. Give people the option they prefer.

 

[Traverse]

I am curious though, on most of my tech podcasts and most blogs with screenshots I always hear people mention Ulysses and over half of the screenshots have Ulysses. I wonder if that will gradually change. I'm okay with paying for value, but Ulysses is text editor with sync. A very refined one with a lot of effort put in, but a text editor. I'm just not sure it's worth $40 a year in perpetuity.

It seemed like Ulysses was taking over the writing game - at least in tech. Curious if this will greatly hurt or help it.

 

[Apple Bite]

Subscriptions suck, but the devs gotta eat.

Take your boo-hoo's elsewhere people, if I were to create an application today I too would follow a similar model.

and that's the loser model...
1. Subscriptions is a smoke cloud. It is in reality a services rental business.
2. It is appealing just for big companies. the ones that prefer a tax refund for the money invested on their job offering
3. It is a solution that benefit just the provider not the professional user as a freelancer
4. It is basically a way to get rid of the low income and personal/local business owner and acquire just the rich and powerful.
5. it's the divider of consumerism at a greedy point of view of desperation and fear.

why is the loser model?
because you lose the power users and loyalty supporters.

 

[simonmet]

When they have you pretty much locked in, they have no reason to remedy, rectify, or innovate.

SAAS that stops working fully when you stop paying is a terrible model for users.

I think it can go both ways.

I’ve seen developers and publishers abuse the upgrade model; holding simple features and bug fixes to ransom for exorbitant upgrade prices.

I’ve also seen many promising small apps stagnate and become discontinued or abandoned because the developer has no means or motivation to keep it going (iOS especially).

On the other hand I’ve seen big, well established brands transition to SAAS when they don’t really need to purely as a money grab. Very often these big established products like Adobe CS have had the features required by most users for years, so because users don’t need or want feature updates and improvements as much as the developer would like, SAAS is a way to force them to pay for ongoing maintenance and development.

I’ve always been of the opinion that bug fixes and security patches should be free for end users, but again bigger players don’t tend to see it that way.

So personally I don’t tend to mind SAAS for smaller, cheaper apps (< $50/year) that I use frequently, show promise and which I’d like to support, but I still shun it for major applications where I’d like to decide whether new versions and ongoing development are worth paying for.

As for this app in particular I hadn’t really heard of it but apps like this are a dime a dozen at the moment. Developers really need to do something special to compete in this genre. I couldn’t see anything this app does that at least half a dozen I can think of off the top of my head can’t.

Personally, I can’t go past latex because it produces by far the most professionally typeset results. Only problem is its learning curve and that most people outside of academic environments won’t touch it.

 

[MacBH928]

I hate the subscription model, i hate the always online model, I hate the new update every week model, I hate the install new update with new features but breaks older functions, I hate always recording what you write and what you do online and backing them up to their servers.

ENOUGH!

Back in '94 computer users were like 10% of today, there was no internet. products had to physically ship to each country. It was very simple to crack software, and developers were doing good and software makers were getting richer and richer. Don't lie and say we need to make a subscription model.

If you must, here are few ways thats better than subscription:

1-Sell serials that will work for specific amount of time-6months/12 months.

2-OS are always upgrading and updating on yearly basis obseleting older software. You can charge an update price for the new fixes on the app to work in the newer OS or major updates that brings new value not fixing bugs.

But no pay per month models with internet connection required and login accounts!!
Also, lets not forget, most of the software is basically the same so each release they don't rewrite the app and this goes on for years. If a person pays $80 for a piece of software (like Parallels) and you sell 1M copies, thats $80M ! How much more money do you want?!

 

[NervousFish2]

WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING

Do not download the new Ulysses. They haven't figured out the billing with Apple yet. As a recent Ulysses purchaser, I was entitled to a break from pricing. Upon downloading the new app, I discovered they were actually offering an 18-month break from billing, on top of the lifetime discount. So, I say to myself, this is actually not bad. I can go for this.

Well, guess what? Tonight I check email and there's a bill from Apple for $29.99, for an in-app purchase in Ulysses.

This is false advertising. I want my money back. I am furious. I have written to Apple and to Ulysses, demanding my money back. Want to know the sad thing? After happily setting up the new app, I deleted the old installation. So... I'm worried now that if Apple does give me my money back, I won't be able to use Ulysses at all.

FUMING.

 

[ignatius345]

The thing about tech these days is that big companies have created the illusion of free or rediculous pay once and use forever. Guess what, if you love an app and it takes a team to build they have to get money from somewhere. Getting $2 per user isn't going to work. Subscription is the only really sustainable model with the current App Store model. Either that or the apps die.

I paid about $40 if I recall for the Mac app and another $10 or so for the iOS app. So your "$2 per user" argument doesn't hold water. Besides, there are other options between "$2 per user" and "paying forever". I'm happy to pay well for a piece of software, but not to let them dip into my wallet to rent their software every single month, forever.
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That's why if you're running a software development business, you keep developing software that sells.

The Ulysses guys made one product and sat on that for years, hoping it would keep them afloat forever. Sometimes that works, but usually it doesn't.

Bingo. If you read the head developer's post about it, he whines on about how they can't sustain themselves on Ulysses. So write another app, dude. Take the UI polish and functionality you put into Ulysses and apply it to some other software use case.

Ulysses is a pretty mature product. And it's not like some video editing or internet tools suite where the standards are constantly changing either. It's text, and plain text at that. OS compatibility aside, it probably doesn't need to change much. I've been using it for about 3 years and it's added a minor new feature here and there, but now I wonder if they're going to just start bloating it out to "justify" the subscription model. Idiots.

 

[NervousFish2]

Apple Notes app is getting better and better every update and support Apple Pencil for handwritten notes and folders to categorize them

Yeah, but not at all what Ulysses is designed for. If you take the time to get to know it, Ulysses is gorgeously functional. Way more than Scrivener. Why? Because Scrivener doesn't have the sheets list. It might sound funny, but once you actually start to use Ulysses for a while, if you're any kind of writer (and I'm an academic), its crazy good.

 

[Abazigal]

I guess the subscription model alienates “casual users” like myself. At the annual price, you have to be a really serious user for it to be worth your money.

At this rate, seems I will be back to using all stock iOS apps because everything else will have become subscription based.

 

[Rian Gray]

The problem I have with subscription model is that you basically pre-order an update they promise which may or may not be delivered at all. There are few apps I moved over to subscription, but none of them have changed the way they deliver updates.

If Ulysses wants to charge an upgrade fee for the next big update, fine. I'll take a look, see if want one, and choose either to pay for it or keep what I already own. But subscription doesn't give me that choice, I just have to have faith in the developers.

 

[johannnn]

Hi stock apps, long time no see.

I'm really really annoyed at this new trend.