http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2485202,00.asp

And a few other things - apparently as part of strategy with Windows 10 and mobile devices.

I read announcements like Wunderlist's with a mixed mind. I hope it's a good outcome for the developers and (I assume) their investors.

Paul Korm wrote:

I read announcements like Wunderlist's with a mixed mind. I hope it's a
good outcome for the developers and (I assume) their investors.

I seem to remember from my days involved in M&A that academic studies unequivocally show that at least 70 per cent of acquisitions financially benefit the sellers rather than the buyers - so your hopes may well be fulfilled! For acquisitions across international borders, as this is, I seem to recall that the percentage is even higher.

jaslar wrote:

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2485202,00.asp
And a few other things - apparently as part of strategy with Windows 10
and mobile devices.

Hugh wrote:

at least 70 per cent of acquisitions financially
benefit the sellers rather than the buyers

If those figures are anywhere near the truth ("between $100 million and $200 million"), then that is an amazing feat for a to-do app business.

I was an early adopter of Wunderlist and quite liked it in the early days. But then as they kept adding bells and whistles, I gradually lost interest, just as it happened with Evernote. Going mass market often sacrafices the very features that fans of the original niche product like the most...

Buy it, kill it. Well, sometimes they don't kill it straight off but it dies a lingering death. Hackpad comes to mind. I'm sure there's a zillion others but I don't remember them... Because buy it kill it works!

I always thought Wunderlist was not very good - all glitz. But it's pretty popular.

I don't think Microsoft will kill it, rather they will build linkages to OneNote and later Cortana.

Personally I use Wunderlist as a replacement for BrainstormSW , because it's one of the rare apps, which run on nearly every plattform (even Windows Phone and Windows App and Kindle) and which syncing the data between them. That's why 6Wunderkinder (the start up behind Wunderlist) might be intereting for the Cloud and Mobile strategy of the "new" Microsoft.

Well, probably Microsoft is really changing itself towards a new openness and learn from the spirit of start ups. Who knows? It's no longer Mr. Balmer who leads the company. We will see in future.

yosemite wrote:

Buy it, kill it. Well, sometimes they don't kill it straight off but it
dies a lingering death. Hackpad comes to mind. I'm sure there's a
zillion others but I don't remember them... Because buy it kill it
works!

Most memorably, Ecco Pro!

yosemite wrote:

Buy it, kill it. Well, sometimes they don't kill it straight off but it
dies a lingering death. Hackpad comes to mind. I'm sure there's a
zillion others but I don't remember them... Because buy it kill it
works!

I always thought Wunderlist was not very good - all glitz. But it's
pretty popular.

I never found Wunderlist to be that great of a program, but I wish them better luck than some of the previously purchased products that died somewhat painful deaths, like iView and Nokia.

--Ken

yosemite wrote:

Buy it, kill it. Well, sometimes they don’t kill it straight off but it
dies a lingering death. Hackpad comes to mind. I’m sure there’s a
zillion others but I don’t remember them… Because buy it kill it
works!
>I always thought Wunderlist was not very good - all glitz. But it’s
pretty popular.

I don't think Microsoft would buy it to kill it because it fills a missing link for them. I think Microsoft has finally caught on that OneNote (which was a stepchild for years) is one of their best projects ever. I imagine we'll see integration with OneNote and other Microsoft apps. Satya Nadella is the best thing that's happened to Microsoft since Bill Gates. He's taken that company and turned it into a real player beyond just the OS and Gaming business.

BUT....

On the subject of buying to kill it. The example that bugs me to this day is the Facebook purchase of drop.io (anybody remember that great file drop, storage, note-taking, notes-by-phone service?). Facebook couldn't hire Zuckerberg buddy Sam Lessin for some weird reason, so Zuckerberg bought the company (drop.io), brought Sam aboard as a Facebook VP, and shut-down the service. He only wanted Sam. Lessin stayed about four years and left - with a bundle of money from the drop.io sale. I miss it to this day.

Donovan wrote:

On the subject of buying to kill it. The example that bugs me to this
day is the Facebook purchase of drop.io (anybody remember that great
file drop, storage, note-taking, notes-by-phone service?).

Yes we do; and the way it was discontinued:
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/2111

Facebook
couldn't hire Zuckerberg buddy Sam Lessin for some weird reason, so
Zuckerberg bought the company (drop.io), brought Sam aboard as a
Facebook VP, and shut-down the service. He only wanted Sam. Lessin
stayed about four years and left - with a bundle of money from the
drop.io sale. I miss it to this day.

I didn't know this background. Makes the disregard to users even more prominent.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Donovan wrote:
>On the subject of buying to kill it. The example that bugs me to this
>day is the Facebook purchase of drop.io (anybody remember that great
>file drop, storage, note-taking, notes-by-phone service?).

Yes we do; and the way it was discontinued:
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/2111


>Facebook
>couldn't hire Zuckerberg buddy Sam Lessin for some weird reason, so
>Zuckerberg bought the company (drop.io), brought Sam aboard as a
>Facebook VP, and shut-down the service. He only wanted Sam. Lessin
>stayed about four years and left - with a bundle of money from the
>drop.io sale. I miss it to this day.

I didn't know this background. Makes the disregard to users even more
prominent.

It's a not uncommon cycle in the "creative" industries - a big company wants to hire one or more "creative" individual(s) working in a recently-founded small firm, the deal can't be done (usually because the "creative" individuals refuse), the big company then buys the entire small firm, places the "creative" individual(s) on earn-out(s), the usefulness (to the big company) of the original team dwindles over time so it shrinks, the earn-out(s) end(s), and the "creative" individual(s) depart, wiser but richer. (And, if they're lucky and their non-competes are not too restrictive, are able to repeat the whole process with a new start-up, a new purchaser and a new deal. Perhaps more than once.)

Told you so! Add Wunderlist to the list of bought and killed.

=========

From their blog:

"Today marks an evolution of Wunderlist. We’re excited to announce the Microsoft To-Do Preview, ..."

"Wunderlist and Wunderlist Pro will eventually be retired, but not before we incorporate your valued feedback and the best elements of the Wunderlist experience into To-Do."

https://www.wunderlist.com/blog/your-preview-of-microsoft-to-do/

yosemite wrote:

Buy it, kill it. Well, sometimes they don't kill it straight off but it
dies a lingering death. Hackpad comes to mind. I'm sure there's a
zillion others but I don't remember them... Because buy it kill it
works!

I migrated from Wunderlist to To-Do today--- I'd say renamed is a better description than killed.

Hackpad is now Paper. The latest update to Paper added an offline mode. I like Paper's presentation mode and often use it for teaching as a quick alternative to PowerPoint. (You can paste markdown formatted text from Bear right into Paper.)

paper.dropbox.com

yosemite wrote:

Hackpad comes to mind.

Dunno so much - Microsoft To Do appears to be a severely emasculated version of Wunderlist. The closest thing to Wunderlist now in existence is WeDo, which is so similar as to be a WunderClone. Although it runs on a lot of platforms, it doesn't run on all of the ones Wunderlist does/did. More info for those interested at wedo.com

I'm being a bit mean. WeDo is actually pretty good.