VoodooPad was a much loved Mac and iOS program - a very easy to use personal wiki. It was the product of Gus Mueller of Flying Meat Software and was continuously developed for many years up to version 5.1. In December 2013 Gus sold the program to Plausible Labs, as more and more of his focus shifted to graphics program Acorn - and his home pizza oven ; ). Plausible Labs made small incremental changes, slowly getting to version 5.1.6. Over the last few years promised updates have not appeared.

Today I received an email from Primate Labs, a Canadian company best known for the well-respected benchmarking program Geekbench, announcing that they had taken over development of VoodooPad. They are promising small incremental updates, hopefully beginning by the end of this year, as they become familiar with the code. They hope to get the program moving forward again and are soliciting feedback from users. At this point, all references are to the Mac, rather than iOS version.

If you valued VoodooPad you may want to provide some feedback. VoodooPad was very simple to use, (especially for a wiki) but had an underlying ability to do more than expected. I wish the folks at Primate Labs well.

This could be good news, though the second time a new owner of VoodooPad promised change. We can hope for the best and contact Primate Labs with ideas as @mprazoff suggested.

The good news is that VoodooPad is not a "was" yet -- it still operates very well on macOS High Sierra, the iOS app is still functional -- and has had updates this year to keep it operational with Dropbox and iOS.

mprazoff wrote:

If you valued VoodooPad you may want to provide some feedback. VoodooPad
was very simple to use, (especially for a wiki) but had an underlying
ability to do more than expected. I wish the folks at Primate Labs well.

that they had taken over development of VoodooPad. They are promising
small incremental updates, hopefully beginning by the end of this year,
as they become familiar with the code.

If they make a statement like this in public you can be sure that the
code base smells like a camel with diarrhoe.

I'm pleased to read this news, although like Paul and Lothar I'm very cautious. As I discovered recently when searching for an alternative, the Mac world is not full of desktop wikis that are competitive with VoodooPad (a fact which ought to encourage the new owner).

Well, of course none of use commenters have or will ever see the code, but I think that's an odd conclusion to reach.

The fact that the code has survived multiple OS X / macOS updates that have been full of Apple-inflicted bugs would suggest the underlying asset is pretty darn solid, and probably in need of refreshes for Xcode updates, etc.

Lothar Scholz wrote:

If they make a statement like this in public you can be sure that the
code base smells like a camel with diarrhoe.

Interesting quote from Gus Mueller, original developer of VoodooPad: "I originally wrote VoodooPad in 2003, and then sold it to Plausible Labs in 2013 so I could focus on Acorn. Besides rewriting the encryption and throwing some shade my way, I don't think Plausible ever really did anything with it, which is a shame." For his full posting: http://shapeof.com/archives/2017/12/primate_labs_acquires_voodoopad.html

Mark

Well, that's prompted me to get out and dust off my copy of VoodooPad. I'd forgotten just how powerful it is, I must confess. I haven't played with sync yet, but probably will over the next few days.

Another interesting alternative that's gradually nearing a (non-Java-based) version 2.0 is Sorting Thoughts, now also available for iOS. This is one of the few desktop wikis that's available in Mac, Windows and iOS versions. A new beta is out, and although it's a bit limited, seems to be working fine (https://www.sortingthoughts.de/blog/news/

MadaboutDana wrote:

Well, that's prompted me to get out and dust off my copy of VoodooPad.
I'd forgotten just how powerful it is, I must confess. I haven't played
with sync yet, but probably will over the next few days.

As I recall, the iOS version is the weakest part of VP's arsenal. Perhaps it's something the new owners could give some attention to.

And thanks, Bill, for the tip about Sorting Thoughts (good name!).

It suddenly occurred to me that I wrote a review of VoodooPad 5 for Mac Appstorm in 2011. It provides a decent overview, for those interested:

http://mac.appstorm.net/reviews/productivity-review/voodoopad-5-is-there-magic-in-this-personal-wiki/

I'm not sure how much VP has been updated since that review. My guess is, not much.

Steve Z.

The App Store just updated my copy of VooDooPad. It has been so long since I used it, I done know what has been added. It is still version 5.

I think this is mostly a "there's a new developer" update. You'll notice they made the little voodoo doll less grim looking than before. And they fixed a couple of bugs.

Jeffery Smith wrote:

The App Store just updated my copy of VooDooPad. It has been so long
since I used it, I done know what has been added. It is still version 5.

As one who develops documents for science/engineering use, I find VooDooPad interesting if for no other reason that it allows for embedded JavaScript or python.

Thanks for the reference.

--
JJW

I am hoping to find some use for VooDooPad. For academic work, it is just too simple, but for a hobby (voiceover work), it might be a good way to track changes I'm doing in sound engineering.

Perhaps, but a few of the release notes indicate a deeper understanding of the application than a mere new developer "hello world" release. E.g., the fix to the backlinks panel. So someone is (finally!) paying attention to VooDooPad.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

I think this is mostly a "there's a new developer" update. You'll notice

BTW, the fellow who bought VooDooPad recently is the same engineer who discovered that Apple was playing games with iOS to slow down older iPhones.

I maintain a watchful eye on VoodooPad, but I'm starting to worry that the app is cursed! After the neglect by Plausible, now there seems very little activity from Primate Labs. Forum questions remain unanswered, the blog is virtually dead, and nothing much appears to be happening.

I'm hopeful that they'll deliver a release with a bang, but so far it's not looking too great.

I really want VoodooPad to survive and thrive.

Me too. But I think in reality VoodooPad was sent out to the desert to die. Unless someone resurrects it as a web app (Notion?), it's gone for good.

Drewster wrote:

I really want VoodooPad to survive and thrive.

I'd like to see VoodooPad thriving too. It surprises me that personal wikis -- on Mac or Windows -- are not more popular and successful.

I have been using VoodooPad at work for past several years but decided to drop it early this year. When the complexity I need to handle elevated, managing it in a wiki does not seem to work for me. I realized I need to see the links several levels to have a full picture, where wikis fall short (and all those apps using text links). I ended up using TheBrain (for big pictures) with Notebooks (for plain text drafts).

Wikis are good if you know how it works, but the free structure can be viewed as without ways for organizing information. I am also curious how many people use internal links in the apps that support them.

Paul Korm wrote:

BTW, the fellow who bought VooDooPad recently is the same engineer who
discovered that Apple was playing games with iOS to slow down older
iPhones.

Primate Labs never called it a game. Apple throttled iPhone performance to maintain battery life on devices which had older batteries with reduced battery capacity. Doing so prevent unexpected shutdowns seen with some older Android phones. Apple should have been transparent about it, and when the occurred a year ago they offered anyone $29 battery replacements. (I took advantage of it and my older phone immediately got sprightlier.) But it certainly wasn't a 'game.' And if you don't want performance management it's something you can flick off in Settings.

https://www.imore.com/iphone-slow

Slap me to sleep.