My thoughts on Ulysses moving to a subscription model
Ulysses, my favorite writing tool moved to a subscription model last week. When I first read the news I was stunned.
I purchased and started using Ulysses in August of 2016. I purchased both the Mac and iOs apps. That was a hefty $60 bucks out of my wallet. Now a year later I’m faced with an annual subscription.
Not Happy!
At first, I wasn’t sure what I would do. Dr. Drang’s blog post talking through subscription based apps, in particular, with regard to Ulysses, helped me make a decision.
Another disruption in the Apple universe today, as the text editor Ulysses went from being a regular paid app to a subscription app/service.
I don’t have a dog in this particular hunt. I don’t use Ulysses and didn’t plan to even before the pricing change. If I were a Ulysses user, I’d do my best to figure out what it’s worth to me—including the direct and (especially) indirect costs of switching to a new text editor—and try to make a rational decision based on the world as it exists now, not the world as it existed yesterday or the world as I wish it to be.
If I were interested in Ulysses but hadn’t yet given it a try, I might see the subscription service as a positive. Ulysses used to cost $45 for the Mac and $25 for iOS. Now I could give both versions a good, solid two-month trial for $10. If they don’t fit my way of working, I walk away $60 ahead and knowing exactly why I shouldn’t continue the subscription.
After reading Dr. Drang’s post here’s what I’ve decided to do. I downloaded the new app for my Mac and iPhone. As a previous user, I have 8 free months which I’m going to use up before committing to the subscription model. In the mean time, I’m going to try Byword and see if I can get along with it in place of Ulysses. My writing is simple. I write blog posts and publish to WordPress.com and Medium. If using Byword works I won’t need the Ulysses subscription.