Mac: Notebook vs Notetaker

Posted by Hugh
Aug 9, 2010 at 08:48 AM

Daly,

For internal linking in a “notebook”, VoodooPad is the Mac market-leader: http://flyingmeat.com/voodoopad/

To respond to your more general point about Mac software. As with any platform there are of course not-so-good as well as good applications available. In my view there are three reasons for owning a Mac: the hardware is generally of high quality (though undoubtedly generally more expensive); the operating system imposes a harmony, connectedness and uniformity on the software that some users find bland but others including me find time-saving (this was particularly evident in comparison with Windows Vista); and Apple’s policies towards small developers, though not always supportive, have helped encourage the creation of a number of very good and distinctive applications, certain of which currently have no Windows equivalent.

These applications, many of them “the usual suspects” for this forum, include:

Scrivener
Tinderbox
Omnifocus
Things
DevonThink
Curio
Merlin
Nisus Writer Pro
Bean
Mellel
Notational Velocity
Launchbar
Quicksilver (not on Snow Leopard)
Hazel

This is not of course an exclusive list.

However, nothing stands still. Windows software is moving to fill the gaps that the Mac has made more evident. Windows 7 is of course more user-friendly than Vista and much more of a true competitor for OS X; Windows 8 has been billed as an OS X clone. Attempts at Scrivener clones for Windows already exist; publicly, hints have been dropped that an official branded Scrivener for Windows may be on its way. Some OS X developers have been distracted by the iPad.

I know of a writer who has moved back from the Mac to Windows, saying Word 2010 and OneNote are all that he needs.

Despite Steve Jobs saying the future lies with tablets, his computer division and the small developers who develop for it are going to have to run to stay ahead, I think.