In the meta-trends thread, we're discussing how small developers are creating focussed, cross-platform apps. One of the formerly successful teams was iA, who created the highly touted Writer app for Mac OS and iOS. But they have had a major miscalculation about their own ingenuity, apparently, with the recent release of Writer Pro,

I have Writer and was intrigued when I heard about Writer Pro and its modal writing work flow. But after reading about what it does, even I, a devout CRIMPer, resisted buying it. I thought, huh, what's it really do? I was glad to see that others thought the same thing:

http://buildingtwenty.net/posts/quick-take-on-writer-pro

http://davidhewson.com/2013/12/19/a-quick-look-at-ia-writer-pro/

I am glad to see that even an app like this, from a developer with built in fans, is held to a standard. Maybe there is hope for computing in this multi-platform, dumb-down world after all.

Steve Z.

At least they have dropped their silly pending software patent (english language syntax highlighting) that relied heavily on technology provided by Apple. Their aggressive stance towards other developers caused concern but that seems to be settled now.

Yes, I read the recent Twitter exchange about that. This all points to a developers with an exaggerated view of their own genius.

Prion wrote:

At least they have dropped their silly pending software patent (english
language syntax highlighting) that relied heavily on technology provided
by Apple. Their aggressive stance towards other developers caused
concern but that seems to be settled now.

While we're still talking meta, can we please stop referring to Mac apps with an iOS version as being "cross-platform"? Every time I see that term used, all I can think of is "We have both kinds of music! Country AND Western!"

shatteredmindofbob wrote:

While we're still talking meta, can we please stop referring to Mac apps
with an iOS version as being "cross-platform"? Every time I see that
term used, all I can think of is "We have both kinds of music! Country
AND Western!"

I can understand why you'd think this, but I have to disagree with the notion that iOS and Mac are the same platform, because there seems to be a real challenge for Mac developers to recreate the power of their apps for iOS. Some examples:

- CircusPonies Notebook
- DevonThink
- OmniOutliner
- MacJournal

These are powerful apps on a Mac that have pale companion apps on iOS. Again, I think, it comes down to the fact that those apps are very multi-dimensional in a world that is forcing dumbed-down focus.

In the other direction, there are apps that start out in iOS and seem very powerful on that platform, but when the developer introduces a Mac version, they end up with an app that doesn't quite live up to similar apps developed for Mac in the first place. Two that come to mind are NoteSuite and Notebooks. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that those apps are not functional or anything like that, just that if you were going to get an information manager JUST for your Mac, you probably wouldn't pick either NoteSuite or Notebooks, because there are better choices.

I think there is clearly a divide between what is optimal for iOS and what is optimal for Mac.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

Steve Z.

Steve, I think you've touched on a real problem with regard to apps and the dumbed down aspect many of them reflect.

I've seen many dumbed down or plain dumb apps for Android. Similarly with the weird and wacky world of Windows 8. Some app versions of the software that runs on the desktop are pathetic. I wonder why anyone would want to use the apps in the world of Metro or whatever it's called (the whole concept was poorly thought out, and poorly designed).

Web sites almost always run better in the browser than they do in an app format whether it's on Android or Windows. On Android some sites automatically give you the mobile version on the browser, and it's often very difficult to get back to the desktop version which I find often better on the seven inch Nexus than the mobile site (which is really mean for phones).

My preferred Android browser was Chrome. I found Firefox, Opera and the others weren't able to do justice to as many sites as Chrome did. However, in the latest Android release the latest Firefox beats Chrome, and it's "request desktop" setting is better than Chrome's.

Tablets are great. I love my Nexus. But please developers, spare us the deluge of crappy apps.

Daly

While I agree with the dumbed-down argument (as a user of apps on Windows, iOS and Android, I've experimented with a broad range of less-than-optimal apps), I think it's easy to confuse this with another, more desirable trend: towards simplicity.

iOS is the environment that really started to nail this. Rather than taking the Windows approach (also, albeit to a lesser extent, characteristic of MacOS), whereby you can choose between up to five different ways of doing the same thing, the constraints of the touch environment obliged Apple and subsequent iOS developers to find a whole new approach based on extreme simplicity. Most actions in iOS can only be done one way - although context menus sometimes increase that to two.

Personally, I think that's a Good Thing. Especially when the app is capable of unexpectedly sophisticated operations. Simplicity reduces the learning curve, but also challenges app developers to think up really ingenious solutions in order to differentiate themselves from competitors. I have more than 600 apps on iOS and Android (I know: embarrassing); my CRIMPing tendencies are stimulated by my ongoing fascination with the sheer ingenuity displayed by developers.

On the other hand, there's no question that 80% of those apps are poorly devised, similar or identical to other apps, or too limited to be of real (lasting) value. But the remaining 20% continue to cheer me up!