I’m sitting on the Ulysses fence right now, choosing not to update yet, but also not complaining and firing off one-star reviews on the App Store.
Yes I feel betrayed. I bought all Ulysses versions full price because they’re great apps and I really like the developers (don’t know, haven’t met, but they seem like good guys and gals).
And, yes, I understand the reasoning to go to a subscription model. I even applaud your bravery in doing so. I see developers go from paid to subscription all the time, and boy do most of them get flamed, incinerated actually, because it’s either unexpected, forced upon existing users, deceitful, or existing users get little in return (50 percent off for a week!) — or all of the above.
I was glad to see Ulysses offer a lifetime price cut for existing owners to go to the subscription model, but I am hesitant to do so. At least now. In the article you note nine upgrades since Ulysses’ release, but I don’t think all of these have been “major” upgrades, more like “minor” with some bug fixes. I’m just not convinced that future upgrades will be that “major” or “significant” and if they are how frequent will they be — once a year? Maybe one a year with a few “minor” upgrades (not bug fixes). I’m just not convinced — yet — that $30 a year (the lifetime discount) is worth it. And, who is to say, that the developers won’t raise the subscription price in a year and that $30 turns into $40 for us Lifetimers?
I’m not trying to be cheap here. I still may pay $30 for the first year and see how it goes. I want to support the developers. But I’d be more inclined to do it if the lifetime discount was $20 — a true 50 percent discount — because, brain-wise, $20 is easier to fathom than $30 or $40. Heck, $15 borders on no-brainer. But $30 is a bit uncomfortable if I get a couple of upgrades a year (more “minor” than “major”) and I have dozens of other quality apps I can use for writing projects — Scrivener for the big ones, Bear for quick notes. My use of Ulysses falls in between these two — having discarded Word and Pages years ago, except for a few business things).
I applaud your bravery for going to the subscription model and for offering existing users a lifetime discount (not just a one week discount sale), but I don’t feel compelled to update just yet. I’m on the fence, wondering where you’re taking us.
Best of luck.
