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Official Simplenote client for Windows/Linux
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Posted by shatteredmindofbob
Apr 3, 2016 at 09:44 PM
Simplenote has finally released an official client for Windows and Linux.
Whether or not it’s any good depends on how you feel about the web app, since it’s quite literally the web app, running on the desktop.
It looks really good but I’m left feeling like it’s a bit lacking in features compared to the ageing and pretty ugly ResophNotes.
There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of keyboard shortcuts, or at least, they aren’t made obvious. Though, the main thing it lacks is the ability to sit in the system tray and pop up a new note window through a global hotkey, which to me, is the main reason to use a simple note management app over one the power tools available.
That said, I’m not sure that feature would even be desirable for this app. It was developed using the trendy new method of basically bundling an entire Chrome installation to run the web app as a desktop app.
On the one hand, the practice leads to more desktop apps actually existing. On the other, they’re big and use a lot of resources. I’d imagine there’s a limit to how many such apps one could be running at once.
Also, ResophNotes has the advantage of being able to create plain text backups while functioning as a Simplenote client. While Simplenote has that features, it requires using the web app and downloading an archived file of all your notes.
Posted by shatteredmindofbob
Apr 5, 2016 at 10:45 PM
One thing to note, though, is that the sync is pretty fast. I can write something in the Simplenote app on my phone and watch it get update on my desktop in real time.
Posted by Donovan
Apr 6, 2016 at 07:40 PM
shatteredmindofbob wrote:
One thing to note, though, is that the sync is pretty fast. I can write
>something in the Simplenote app on my phone and watch it get update on
>my desktop in real time.
Wouldn’t it be the same though with the web interface? I use the web UI all the time and fail to see where the actual “desktop software” has any advantages. If I’m offline, I can always save a text file until I’m back online. Or use any number of light text outliners until I get online. Or even use my Simplenote phone app which would sync right up with the web UI. All I see the desktop version doing is taking up more space on my computer. Am I missing something? I very well may be!
Posted by shatteredmindofbob
Apr 7, 2016 at 03:07 AM
> Am I missing something? I very well may be!
Not really, hence my conclusion that Resophnotes is probably still better, though I’m hoping there’s potential for it to improve in the future.
Thought it worth mentioning that this exists, especially since there doesn’t seem to be much else to talk about here.
Posted by Alex Jenter
Oct 24, 2016 at 04:44 AM
I’ve tried the app and it’s choking on my humble notebook of slightly over 1000 notes. That’s sad.
I always make sure that the app remains at least usable even when number of notes goes up to 10,000 and beyond.
Disclosure: I’m the author of CintaNotes, another alternative Simplenote client for Windows.
We’ve decided to make Simplenote sync free in the next version of CintaNotes - so I hope it will
soon become a viable alternative to ResophNotes.
The feature set of our app is not a 1:1 map to Simplenote features though. CN doesn’t have Markdown, pinning, and
version history. But in return CN has tag union/subtraction/intersection, tag hierarchy, tabbed sections and rule-based autotagging.
P.S. If you want to give CN a try, you can find it at http://cintanotes.com