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TextExpander 6 or How Not to Launch Your SaaS

107 points by arm 11y ago

VengefulCynic 11y ago
TextExpander has always been straddling the markets of "casual consumer with $20 to spend on an app that reduces pain" and "professional customer willing to spend $199 to reduce major time costs." It looks like they've decided to focus on their professional customers... I hope that this works out well for them. As someone who doesn't need $5/month of TextExpander services, this also leaves me in the market for a new solution.
- LaSombra 11y ago
  Yeah... that's how I discovered aText, http://www.trankynam.com/atext http://www.trankynam.com/atext, and I've been quite happy with it. It definitely scratches my itches.
  - kstrauser 11y ago
    Likewise, and it imports TextExpander macros (although you still have to tweak them if you use things like fields). I have no affiliation with the aText guy except as a happy customer. I've been recommending it to my friends as a migration path off TextExpander because it works for me, but it may not work for you. It has a free time-limited demo, though, so it's easy enough to find out.
- slantyyz 11y ago
  >> As someone who doesn't need $5/month of TextExpander services, this also leaves me in the market for a new solution. But presumably you can continue to use the pre-SAAS version of the software, right? At least until it stops working because of OS changes, etc.
- wlesieutre 11y ago
  Try http://alternativeto.net/software/textexpander/?platform=mac http://alternativeto.net/software/textexpander/?platform=mac for potential options
- steveax 11y ago
  Give Keyboard Maestro [1] by Stairways Software (headed by Peter Lewis, author of Anarchie) a try. No connection, just a happy user. [1]: https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/ https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/
  - jaymzcampbell 11y ago
    Just to chip in as another very happy user of Keyboard Maestro here - I have been using it for text expansion as well as more general macros and it has made switching to a Mac full time a pleasure. Combined with Alfred it takes 'power user' to another level. I use it for as much friviolous stuff as serious things (http://i.imgur.com/YgE82eP.png http://i.imgur.com/YgE82eP.png) - having never used TextExpander, I've not had any problems with the text replacements. It's possible to open dialogs and very quickly make UIs too for more involved stuff.
    - kstrauser 11y ago
      Does Keyboard Maestro support text fields where it prompts you for input before sending the completion? For instance, TextExpander and aText let you write something like: :foo expands to Dear [name], thank you for buying our stuff. We like you, [name]! Then, when you type ":foo", it prompts you for "name" and fills out the template with "name" inserted everywhere it's mentioned. This is enormously useful for form letter types of things, or even more esoteric uses like expanding HTML tags ("<[tag]>[content]</[tag]>").
      - bosie 11y ago
        You can use prompts in the macro, save it to a variable and use the variable in the text it pastes/types.
      - sirn 11y ago
        It's not as straightforward as TextExpander or aText, but it's possible to do so in Keyboard Maestro. The macro: http://imgur.com/1oIhtJm.png http://imgur.com/1oIhtJm.png The prompt: https://imgur.com/esJt4gM.png https://imgur.com/esJt4gM.png Keyboard Maestro macros consist of a trigger and an action. In the above example, I used the Typed String trigger to detect when "hhi" is typed then execute an action to create a prompt and paste the text with content from that prompt.
- metafunctor 11y ago
  I've heard good things about PhraseExpander [1]. Disclosure: built by a friend of mine. [1]: http://www.phraseexpander.com/ http://www.phraseexpander.com/
- jpwgarrison 11y ago
  > leaves me in the market for a new solution. Reluctantly, I will be looking too. We use linux at work and I have been using https://github.com/autokey/autokey https://github.com/autokey/autokey there, but it is a little abandoned. I have to restart it with a cron job every 10 minutes, but it is fine otherwise.
deedubaya 11y ago
If you don't find value in a product, don't pay for it. If you find value in a product and they charge for it, pay for it. Bitching about how someone shouldn't charge for a service they created is juvenile. I suggest OP a) finds another service which has a price they can agree with or b) build their own since it's so trivial.
- watty 11y ago
  They're doing exactly what you recommended by speaking with their wallet and letting others know about the bad business decisions. There's nothing juvenile about sharing an opinion.
  - philprx 11y ago
    +1 In fact that's probably one of the greatest gift of the net, wide ranging (business) recommendation. Invaluable imho.
sickbeard 11y ago
To answer the author's question, TextExpander is asking 5$ a month because you're lazy and can afford it, or convenience as they call it.
1123581321 11y ago
The author confuses subscription pricing with the increased cost in this essay. If TextExpander 6 had a one-time cost of $60 (3x increase), or a SaaS pricing model of $1/mo (about the same cost), I couldn't tell which of those the author would pay. I can imagine different objections to each.
- xenadu02 11y ago
  I think it's a combination of a big price increase and a mandatory SaaS component that brings nothing new to the table. If they had announced that sustainable development required moving to a subscription model and the price would be $1/month I doubt so many people would be upset.
- watty 11y ago
  I think he's trying to focus on the model, not the price. I'm not sure why you think he'd object to a $60 base price or what that has to do with his point.
  - 1123581321 11y ago
    I agree the gist of the article is about the model. About half of the essay deals with price relative to value, which gets into the actual costs in that model. "Is TextExpander worth ½ of Office 365?" "I don’t see anything that I really need in TextExpander version 6." "TextExpander makes things a little easier, which was enough to justify the initial price of TextExpander and upgrades, but not a monthly fee." I think the author would object to a $60 base price based on those comments. Since Smile effectively made two pricing changes at once when they switched to $60/year, it's hard to consider one of them independently. What does this have to do with his point? He may have been harsher on the subscription model than he intended and other developers with a low-cost, one-time fee model might not understand why. I think the essay illustrates why a company should consider trying hard to make only one pricing change at a time.
WaltPurvis 11y ago
I hadn't heard this news. I'm sure it's not as insane as it sounds, i.e., I'm sure they must have their reasons for thinking this is the way to go, but as a long-time TextExpander user I'm disappointed. I would never pay $5/month for TE. I bought it, and paid for upgrades, because it suits my need as an individual user. I have no need for "team" features and their decision to intentionally break existing sync functionality in order to force users to accept their new pricing scheme borders on extortion. I'll continue to use TE5 for the time being while I investigate other, more reliable options.
- erikrothoff 11y ago
  Curious, as someone in a similar position as Textexpander: Don't you think TE will be able to provide with more, stable updates thanks to the stable income a subscription provides? Selling software is a lot like living under the gun constantly . The sentiment seems to be that people use TE a lot, daily. Why not support the developer(s) behind this service?
  - jaredklewis 11y ago
    Sure. But I think the issue is more that the total cost of ownership for TE has just greatly increased and the payment model changed. People aren't upset because smile is trying to make good software and a profit. They're mad because they feel there's been a bait and switch.
  - Kalium 11y ago
    It may provide the income stream, but it doesn't provide the same incentive to deliver. And strong-arming your customers is basically never a good move.
  - lox 11y ago
    I think the point is that people don't particularly care whether TE will be able to provide more stable updates, because they are fine with the current functionality at the current price. Perhaps in this case TE should have done a better job of positioning the value that would come from their ability to deliver more stable updates, etc. I'm not familiar with TE, but do you think it's users would view that it was unreliable and needing regular updates or new features?
rbritton 11y ago
I recently started using PHPStorm for some of my PHP coding. They have an interesting hybrid purchase model that I consider very fair. The way it works is that there's a monthly subscription to start using it. While you're paying monthly, you get every update included. The twist is that, after 12 months of payments, you obtain a perpetual license. If you decide to stop the subscription at any time, you're able to continue using up to the most recent update before you canceled.
- modernerd 11y ago
  The subscription also costs less in subsequent years if you pay yearly. From year three and onward you pay less than 60% of the year one price. Makes it seem very fair.
  - emperioreric 11y ago
    I like that sort of discount. Could easily be setup to just be a 10% discount for every year you've been a paying customer. Encourages loyalty longterm as competitors pop up.
- cortesoft 11y ago
  So, sort of 'rent-to-own' on the internet?
- reitanqild 11y ago
  As much as jetbrains has annoyed me, I really love this new business model that they come up with. I almost want to buy a subscription, only I prefer Netbeans. We'll so how long it takes before Oracle finds out it owns Netbeans and destroys it and I have to go back.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    I'd try IntelliJ if I were you -- really, Netbeans is no match.
    - 11y ago
melling 11y ago
Are there any open source text expanders? I guess even a blog on how to build one would be helpful.
- maxerickson 11y ago
  It's not really germane to this discussion as it is Windows only, but there is AutoHotKey: https://autohotkey.com/ https://autohotkey.com/ (It does a lot more, but configuring text replacements is straightforward)
  - arm 11y ago
    Was about to reply that the URL is actually ahkscript.org, but it seems like the current developers finally got a hold of autohotkey.com last year: http://ahkscript.org/foundation/history.html http://ahkscript.org/foundation/history.html
filmgirlcw 11y ago
I was talking about this on Twitter yesterday, on the whole of it, I agree with TJ's critique -- this was NOT launched well. But I do sympathize with how difficult it is to move a product -- especially a well-loved product -- to a different model. I use TE dozens of times a day and although I could use an alternative (there is Keyboard Maestro which I also use, but for different stuff, aText and a host of others), I'll just pay the $48 a year or whatever (I think it's $24 for the first year for existing customers) for the solo version. Simply put, I've received enough value from the app over the years to make it worth that to me. That said, I don't think they have the right pricing. I think $5 a month for single users is too high.I think $10 a month per users for teams is too high too. But the broader move to a SaaS in this case to me is troubling because my instinctive response is, "Smile is doing this because they have to" -- and that says a lot about the current state of indie software, that a subscription model is the only way forward. I've seen this with other Mac apps I enjoy and in most of those cases, I don't use them enough to make the jump. With TE, I do, so I will. But I do wonder how many will follow.
- VengefulCynic 11y ago
  Smile is doing this because they have to 100% agree. I feel that a lot of the commentary on this (mine included) has left out the fact that Smile is a classy company owned by a classy bunch of developers that have always done well by the community. They sponsor podcasts, they provide top-notch Mac/iOS apps, and they do excellent customer service. If they've changed their cost structure to $50/yr/customer, it doesn't reflect well on the App Store's monetization model.
- coldtea 11y ago
  >But I do sympathize with how difficult it is to move a product -- especially a well-loved product -- to a different model. If it's well loved, then why move it to a different model?
  - MaysonL 11y ago
    Because they haven't been getting very much money any more from all the customers who have it, and love it. They've probably come close to saturating the market for people who would want the capability.
zeveb 11y ago
Why would I pay a monthly fee to expand text snippets when yasnippet[1] exists? It's weird the things people pay for. Why, I've heard some folks buy operating systems for their computers! [1] https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Yasnippet https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Yasnippet
- ChrisLTD 11y ago
  Not everyone does all their typing in EMACS. P.S. Have you heard of vim?
- mrknmc 11y ago
  It's not really the same product. TextExpander works globally not only within Emacs.
  - zeveb 11y ago
    > TextExpander works globally not only within Emacs. That's why we emacs users like to do all of our typing in a single environment. It really is an OS sometimes!
protomyth 11y ago
At what level of pricing does a Netflix-style service for indy mac developers work? I would guess the judging who gets the money will be just as fun as streaming music, but I am honestly wondering if we have hit death by a hundred $5 subscriptions. Its a real shame we never got to the frictionless / no-per-transaction fee micropayments.
- natch 11y ago
  Eww what a horrible idea, I hope it dies quickly. It will bring in bundling (more eww) and the idea that you need to keep paying $10/month for "$600 a month of value" when all you really need is one or two little utility apps that should have cost a one-time payment of five bucks. From the greedy business side, this sounds like a great deal, but for users, it's a really bad deal, and their choice is diminished to the extent that any software gets swept into this kind of system. Part of the problem is software developers (I'm one) who feel entitled (I don't) to a lifetime of full income for one project. TextExpander seems a textbook case of what should be a light utility becoming a hungry beast of a business that needs constant feeding, at the cost of its users.
  - protomyth 11y ago
    I'm not sure its any worse for the consumers than Netflix itself. I'm also a software developer on the side and looking at the landscape right now, I cannot help but think the App Store concept has failed. I don't think the average user would stick to 1 or 2 utility apps if given a choice of having an App Store worth of content to play with.
  - mason55 11y ago
    > and their choice is diminished to the extent that any software gets swept into this kind of system. The nice thing about software is that if the app is really so simple that it's only worth a few bucks then someone (or many people) should fill the gap pretty quickly.
- vnchr 11y ago
  I'm surprised by the negative response to this comment, I see some appeal in this notion. What if it was just for trying new apps that could be bought permanently as a separate transaction? Exploring business model variation within app development is the point of this whole dialogue.
jwr 11y ago
I'm a TextExpander user since 2010. I have been buying "major upgrades" as they came out, without caring much for the features. I would be very happy to switch to subscription-based pricing. I think we should finally abandon the idea that software can be "purchased" once and used forever. It's unrealistic. Developers need money to fix bugs and adapt the software to new operating systems and environments. Users will not keep the current OS version forever. And yet we still play that silly game where developers have to announce "major features" in order to justify getting some money once every several years. There are several essential utilities that I'd gladly pay a subscription fee for. I don't want new features, I just want the software to be regularly polished, I want bugs to be fixed and I want it to work with newer OS versions. That said, I consider $48/year to be too high a price. I'd be willing to pay $20/year for TextExpander. So for now I'm not subscribing, and I'll see what happens. If the price doesn't come down, I'll have to look for other solutions.
- etimberg 11y ago
  > think we should finally abandon the idea that software can be "purchased" once and used forever. I certainly hope not. If I as a consumer want to use a certain software version locally then I should have that right. Why should I pay for developers to make features that I don't need / want?
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
- kstrauser 11y ago
  > I think we should finally abandon the idea that software can be "purchased" once and used forever. I've been using Emacs, etc. since the 90s without having to subscribe to them. There is an enormous amount of software, both Free and proprietary, that you can still purchase once and use as long as you care to. > That said, I consider $48/year to be too high a price. I'd be willing to pay $20/year for TextExpander. This debacle reminded me that I'd once paid $5 for a license to aText. I dusted it off and found that 1) it's still supported and updated, and 2) it covers 100% of my TextExpander use cases. $48/year is astronomically high when the competition is $5/always.
dvcrn 11y ago
This reminds me of an app called "Spendee", a expense tracker. I bought it in it's previous version and was very happy with it. Then they decided to release an update with a subscription based model (http://www.spendeeapp.com/spendee-pro http://www.spendeeapp.com/spendee-pro) instead. I can still use the free version which is very similar to what I bought before but I think it is ridiculous to note what they give you for $2/month: Multiple wallets, share wallets, syncing and budget planning. Multiple wallets and budget planning should have been a one-time purchase. Syncing built in. I just don't understand why I should pay a monthly fee for the ability to create multiple wallets. Then on the other hand there are apps like parcel (https://parcelapp.net https://parcelapp.net) that charge you $2/year for having a tracking server that pushes parcel updates to your phone. I would have been easily ok with spending more on it.
- stevetrewick 11y ago
  Syncing requires backend services which in turn requires an ongoing recurring cost to the developers. Which they must pass on to you or go out of business. The alternative is to try and cover ongoing costs from new sales. This never ends well. But it does end.
- arvinsim 11y ago
  The same thing happened to YNAB(http://www.youneedabudget.com/ http://www.youneedabudget.com/) I understand the reasons for moving to a subscription model. It just doesn't sit well with some customers though(that includes me).
iMark 11y ago
For a relatively simple service, I'd instinctively be happy paying $5-10 per year. To ask that per month is going to be difficult.
jonstokes 11y ago
No mention of Typinator? I switched to it a few years ago because the performance on some version of OS X (don't remember which) was way better than TextExpander's. It does its job, so I've never bothered to try out anything else.
- veidr 11y ago
  I use Typinator too, for similar reason (had some trouble with TextExpander many versions ago). So far, Typinator's not given me any trouble to justify switching to anything else.
nickmain 11y ago
This caused me to investigate the native text substitution on OS X and I found it that it is actually OK for most basic needs.
stblack 11y ago
I make very good bank writing software an selling my services. I certainly would not miss this trifling monthly expense. As a business owner I can write it off. I absolutely LOVE TextExpander, it makes my life better. No way in hell I'm paying $5 per month for it though. If I don't, hard to imagine many who will. What idiots! Also, now we'll see what Katie and Macsparky are made-of, won't we? I imagine the hitherto well deserved fawning over an excellent, #winning product is going to end PDQ. We'll see. I expect an expeditious climb-down from whatever the folks at Smile have been perching-on. And what of PDF Pen? That's also a massively interesting question.
pdenya 11y ago
The Hit List, a list app for OS X and iOS did this a while ago. I actually stopped using the app for years because of the fee but looking again now, the syncing service has been made free and is included with subscriptions!
ViViDboarder 11y ago
Check out Dash. Primarily feature is offline docs searching, but includes text expansion and snippets as a side feature, but does them pretty well.
girzel 11y ago
I always liked the Tinderbox pricing scheme. You pay X amount for a year of updates. It's not super cheap. You get your year of updates, and then you coast on the last version you got, until the next time you decide to shell out for a year of updates. If you like the software you can pay every year on the dot, and always be up to date. If you're ambivalent you can pay for one year every five years, and just accept the fact that you're using out-of-date software for four years. Or mix and match. Seems pretty reasonable. http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/ http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/
kstrauser 11y ago
Very late, but I just got an email from the 1Password gang. They've also adopted a subscription model, with the key difference being that it's 100% optional. The free version still gets you a completely usable product complete with syncing through iCloud, Dropbox, etc. For about the same annual fee (actually less because 1Password gives you a permanent upgrade discount), I can share Netflix passwords with my kids and bank passwords with my wife. That's tremendously more valuable than the possibility of sharing a email signature snippet with her, and 1Password didn't gut their app to force upgrades on anyone. Two companies launch subscription plans, for the same price, at the same time. One is universally praised and the other widely trounced. Some b-schooler will be writing a compare-and-contrast case study on this in the very near future.
ishu3101 11y ago
They should consider using maintaince instead of versioned licensing model for TextExpander like PhraseExpress is doing now since Phraseexpress v10. See http://www.phraseexpress.com/maintenance.htm http://www.phraseexpress.com/maintenance.htm to find out more about the maintenance license PhraseExpress uses.

107 points by arm 11y ago

TextExpander has always been straddling the markets of "casual consumer with $20 to spend on an app that reduces pain" and "professional customer willing to spend $199 to reduce major time costs." It looks like they've decided to focus on their professional customers... I hope that this works out well for them. As someone who doesn't need $5/month of TextExpander services, this also leaves me in the market for a new solution.

LaSombra 11y ago
Yeah... that's how I discovered aText, http://www.trankynam.com/atext http://www.trankynam.com/atext, and I've been quite happy with it. It definitely scratches my itches.
- kstrauser 11y ago
  Likewise, and it imports TextExpander macros (although you still have to tweak them if you use things like fields). I have no affiliation with the aText guy except as a happy customer. I've been recommending it to my friends as a migration path off TextExpander because it works for me, but it may not work for you. It has a free time-limited demo, though, so it's easy enough to find out.
slantyyz 11y ago
>> As someone who doesn't need $5/month of TextExpander services, this also leaves me in the market for a new solution. But presumably you can continue to use the pre-SAAS version of the software, right? At least until it stops working because of OS changes, etc.
wlesieutre 11y ago
Try http://alternativeto.net/software/textexpander/?platform=mac http://alternativeto.net/software/textexpander/?platform=mac for potential options
steveax 11y ago
Give Keyboard Maestro [1] by Stairways Software (headed by Peter Lewis, author of Anarchie) a try. No connection, just a happy user. [1]: https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/ https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/
- jaymzcampbell 11y ago
  Just to chip in as another very happy user of Keyboard Maestro here - I have been using it for text expansion as well as more general macros and it has made switching to a Mac full time a pleasure. Combined with Alfred it takes 'power user' to another level. I use it for as much friviolous stuff as serious things (http://i.imgur.com/YgE82eP.png http://i.imgur.com/YgE82eP.png) - having never used TextExpander, I've not had any problems with the text replacements. It's possible to open dialogs and very quickly make UIs too for more involved stuff.
  - kstrauser 11y ago
    Does Keyboard Maestro support text fields where it prompts you for input before sending the completion? For instance, TextExpander and aText let you write something like: :foo expands to Dear [name], thank you for buying our stuff. We like you, [name]! Then, when you type ":foo", it prompts you for "name" and fills out the template with "name" inserted everywhere it's mentioned. This is enormously useful for form letter types of things, or even more esoteric uses like expanding HTML tags ("<[tag]>[content]</[tag]>").
    - bosie 11y ago
      You can use prompts in the macro, save it to a variable and use the variable in the text it pastes/types.
    - sirn 11y ago
      It's not as straightforward as TextExpander or aText, but it's possible to do so in Keyboard Maestro. The macro: http://imgur.com/1oIhtJm.png http://imgur.com/1oIhtJm.png The prompt: https://imgur.com/esJt4gM.png https://imgur.com/esJt4gM.png Keyboard Maestro macros consist of a trigger and an action. In the above example, I used the Typed String trigger to detect when "hhi" is typed then execute an action to create a prompt and paste the text with content from that prompt.
metafunctor 11y ago
I've heard good things about PhraseExpander [1]. Disclosure: built by a friend of mine. [1]: http://www.phraseexpander.com/ http://www.phraseexpander.com/
jpwgarrison 11y ago
> leaves me in the market for a new solution. Reluctantly, I will be looking too. We use linux at work and I have been using https://github.com/autokey/autokey https://github.com/autokey/autokey there, but it is a little abandoned. I have to restart it with a cron job every 10 minutes, but it is fine otherwise.

deedubaya 11y ago

If you don't find value in a product, don't pay for it. If you find value in a product and they charge for it, pay for it. Bitching about how someone shouldn't charge for a service they created is juvenile. I suggest OP a) finds another service which has a price they can agree with or b) build their own since it's so trivial.

watty 11y ago
They're doing exactly what you recommended by speaking with their wallet and letting others know about the bad business decisions. There's nothing juvenile about sharing an opinion.
- philprx 11y ago
  +1 In fact that's probably one of the greatest gift of the net, wide ranging (business) recommendation. Invaluable imho.

sickbeard 11y ago

To answer the author's question, TextExpander is asking 5$ a month because you're lazy and can afford it, or convenience as they call it.

1123581321 11y ago

The author confuses subscription pricing with the increased cost in this essay. If TextExpander 6 had a one-time cost of $60 (3x increase), or a SaaS pricing model of $1/mo (about the same cost), I couldn't tell which of those the author would pay. I can imagine different objections to each.

xenadu02 11y ago
I think it's a combination of a big price increase and a mandatory SaaS component that brings nothing new to the table. If they had announced that sustainable development required moving to a subscription model and the price would be $1/month I doubt so many people would be upset.
watty 11y ago
I think he's trying to focus on the model, not the price. I'm not sure why you think he'd object to a $60 base price or what that has to do with his point.
- 1123581321 11y ago
  I agree the gist of the article is about the model. About half of the essay deals with price relative to value, which gets into the actual costs in that model. "Is TextExpander worth ½ of Office 365?" "I don’t see anything that I really need in TextExpander version 6." "TextExpander makes things a little easier, which was enough to justify the initial price of TextExpander and upgrades, but not a monthly fee." I think the author would object to a $60 base price based on those comments. Since Smile effectively made two pricing changes at once when they switched to $60/year, it's hard to consider one of them independently. What does this have to do with his point? He may have been harsher on the subscription model than he intended and other developers with a low-cost, one-time fee model might not understand why. I think the essay illustrates why a company should consider trying hard to make only one pricing change at a time.

WaltPurvis 11y ago

I hadn't heard this news. I'm sure it's not as insane as it sounds, i.e., I'm sure they must have their reasons for thinking this is the way to go, but as a long-time TextExpander user I'm disappointed. I would never pay $5/month for TE. I bought it, and paid for upgrades, because it suits my need as an individual user. I have no need for "team" features and their decision to intentionally break existing sync functionality in order to force users to accept their new pricing scheme borders on extortion. I'll continue to use TE5 for the time being while I investigate other, more reliable options.

erikrothoff 11y ago
Curious, as someone in a similar position as Textexpander: Don't you think TE will be able to provide with more, stable updates thanks to the stable income a subscription provides? Selling software is a lot like living under the gun constantly . The sentiment seems to be that people use TE a lot, daily. Why not support the developer(s) behind this service?
- jaredklewis 11y ago
  Sure. But I think the issue is more that the total cost of ownership for TE has just greatly increased and the payment model changed. People aren't upset because smile is trying to make good software and a profit. They're mad because they feel there's been a bait and switch.
- Kalium 11y ago
  It may provide the income stream, but it doesn't provide the same incentive to deliver. And strong-arming your customers is basically never a good move.
- lox 11y ago
  I think the point is that people don't particularly care whether TE will be able to provide more stable updates, because they are fine with the current functionality at the current price. Perhaps in this case TE should have done a better job of positioning the value that would come from their ability to deliver more stable updates, etc. I'm not familiar with TE, but do you think it's users would view that it was unreliable and needing regular updates or new features?

rbritton 11y ago

I recently started using PHPStorm for some of my PHP coding. They have an interesting hybrid purchase model that I consider very fair. The way it works is that there's a monthly subscription to start using it. While you're paying monthly, you get every update included. The twist is that, after 12 months of payments, you obtain a perpetual license. If you decide to stop the subscription at any time, you're able to continue using up to the most recent update before you canceled.

modernerd 11y ago
The subscription also costs less in subsequent years if you pay yearly. From year three and onward you pay less than 60% of the year one price. Makes it seem very fair.
- emperioreric 11y ago
  I like that sort of discount. Could easily be setup to just be a 10% discount for every year you've been a paying customer. Encourages loyalty longterm as competitors pop up.
cortesoft 11y ago
So, sort of 'rent-to-own' on the internet?
reitanqild 11y ago
As much as jetbrains has annoyed me, I really love this new business model that they come up with. I almost want to buy a subscription, only I prefer Netbeans. We'll so how long it takes before Oracle finds out it owns Netbeans and destroys it and I have to go back.
- coldtea 11y ago
  I'd try IntelliJ if I were you -- really, Netbeans is no match.
  - 11y ago

melling 11y ago

Are there any open source text expanders? I guess even a blog on how to build one would be helpful.

maxerickson 11y ago
It's not really germane to this discussion as it is Windows only, but there is AutoHotKey: https://autohotkey.com/ https://autohotkey.com/ (It does a lot more, but configuring text replacements is straightforward)
- arm 11y ago
  Was about to reply that the URL is actually ahkscript.org, but it seems like the current developers finally got a hold of autohotkey.com last year: http://ahkscript.org/foundation/history.html http://ahkscript.org/foundation/history.html

filmgirlcw 11y ago

I was talking about this on Twitter yesterday, on the whole of it, I agree with TJ's critique -- this was NOT launched well. But I do sympathize with how difficult it is to move a product -- especially a well-loved product -- to a different model. I use TE dozens of times a day and although I could use an alternative (there is Keyboard Maestro which I also use, but for different stuff, aText and a host of others), I'll just pay the $48 a year or whatever (I think it's $24 for the first year for existing customers) for the solo version. Simply put, I've received enough value from the app over the years to make it worth that to me. That said, I don't think they have the right pricing. I think $5 a month for single users is too high.I think $10 a month per users for teams is too high too. But the broader move to a SaaS in this case to me is troubling because my instinctive response is, "Smile is doing this because they have to" -- and that says a lot about the current state of indie software, that a subscription model is the only way forward. I've seen this with other Mac apps I enjoy and in most of those cases, I don't use them enough to make the jump. With TE, I do, so I will. But I do wonder how many will follow.

VengefulCynic 11y ago
Smile is doing this because they have to 100% agree. I feel that a lot of the commentary on this (mine included) has left out the fact that Smile is a classy company owned by a classy bunch of developers that have always done well by the community. They sponsor podcasts, they provide top-notch Mac/iOS apps, and they do excellent customer service. If they've changed their cost structure to $50/yr/customer, it doesn't reflect well on the App Store's monetization model.
coldtea 11y ago
>But I do sympathize with how difficult it is to move a product -- especially a well-loved product -- to a different model. If it's well loved, then why move it to a different model?
- MaysonL 11y ago
  Because they haven't been getting very much money any more from all the customers who have it, and love it. They've probably come close to saturating the market for people who would want the capability.

zeveb 11y ago

Why would I pay a monthly fee to expand text snippets when yasnippet[1] exists? It's weird the things people pay for. Why, I've heard some folks buy operating systems for their computers! [1] https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Yasnippet https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Yasnippet

ChrisLTD 11y ago
Not everyone does all their typing in EMACS. P.S. Have you heard of vim?
mrknmc 11y ago
It's not really the same product. TextExpander works globally not only within Emacs.
- zeveb 11y ago
  > TextExpander works globally not only within Emacs. That's why we emacs users like to do all of our typing in a single environment. It really is an OS sometimes!

protomyth 11y ago

At what level of pricing does a Netflix-style service for indy mac developers work? I would guess the judging who gets the money will be just as fun as streaming music, but I am honestly wondering if we have hit death by a hundred $5 subscriptions. Its a real shame we never got to the frictionless / no-per-transaction fee micropayments.

natch 11y ago
Eww what a horrible idea, I hope it dies quickly. It will bring in bundling (more eww) and the idea that you need to keep paying $10/month for "$600 a month of value" when all you really need is one or two little utility apps that should have cost a one-time payment of five bucks. From the greedy business side, this sounds like a great deal, but for users, it's a really bad deal, and their choice is diminished to the extent that any software gets swept into this kind of system. Part of the problem is software developers (I'm one) who feel entitled (I don't) to a lifetime of full income for one project. TextExpander seems a textbook case of what should be a light utility becoming a hungry beast of a business that needs constant feeding, at the cost of its users.
- protomyth 11y ago
  I'm not sure its any worse for the consumers than Netflix itself. I'm also a software developer on the side and looking at the landscape right now, I cannot help but think the App Store concept has failed. I don't think the average user would stick to 1 or 2 utility apps if given a choice of having an App Store worth of content to play with.
- mason55 11y ago
  > and their choice is diminished to the extent that any software gets swept into this kind of system. The nice thing about software is that if the app is really so simple that it's only worth a few bucks then someone (or many people) should fill the gap pretty quickly.
vnchr 11y ago
I'm surprised by the negative response to this comment, I see some appeal in this notion. What if it was just for trying new apps that could be bought permanently as a separate transaction? Exploring business model variation within app development is the point of this whole dialogue.

jwr 11y ago

I'm a TextExpander user since 2010. I have been buying "major upgrades" as they came out, without caring much for the features. I would be very happy to switch to subscription-based pricing. I think we should finally abandon the idea that software can be "purchased" once and used forever. It's unrealistic. Developers need money to fix bugs and adapt the software to new operating systems and environments. Users will not keep the current OS version forever. And yet we still play that silly game where developers have to announce "major features" in order to justify getting some money once every several years. There are several essential utilities that I'd gladly pay a subscription fee for. I don't want new features, I just want the software to be regularly polished, I want bugs to be fixed and I want it to work with newer OS versions. That said, I consider $48/year to be too high a price. I'd be willing to pay $20/year for TextExpander. So for now I'm not subscribing, and I'll see what happens. If the price doesn't come down, I'll have to look for other solutions.

etimberg 11y ago
> think we should finally abandon the idea that software can be "purchased" once and used forever. I certainly hope not. If I as a consumer want to use a certain software version locally then I should have that right. Why should I pay for developers to make features that I don't need / want?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
kstrauser 11y ago
> I think we should finally abandon the idea that software can be "purchased" once and used forever. I've been using Emacs, etc. since the 90s without having to subscribe to them. There is an enormous amount of software, both Free and proprietary, that you can still purchase once and use as long as you care to. > That said, I consider $48/year to be too high a price. I'd be willing to pay $20/year for TextExpander. This debacle reminded me that I'd once paid $5 for a license to aText. I dusted it off and found that 1) it's still supported and updated, and 2) it covers 100% of my TextExpander use cases. $48/year is astronomically high when the competition is $5/always.

dvcrn 11y ago

This reminds me of an app called "Spendee", a expense tracker. I bought it in it's previous version and was very happy with it. Then they decided to release an update with a subscription based model (http://www.spendeeapp.com/spendee-pro http://www.spendeeapp.com/spendee-pro) instead. I can still use the free version which is very similar to what I bought before but I think it is ridiculous to note what they give you for $2/month: Multiple wallets, share wallets, syncing and budget planning. Multiple wallets and budget planning should have been a one-time purchase. Syncing built in. I just don't understand why I should pay a monthly fee for the ability to create multiple wallets. Then on the other hand there are apps like parcel (https://parcelapp.net https://parcelapp.net) that charge you $2/year for having a tracking server that pushes parcel updates to your phone. I would have been easily ok with spending more on it.

stevetrewick 11y ago
Syncing requires backend services which in turn requires an ongoing recurring cost to the developers. Which they must pass on to you or go out of business. The alternative is to try and cover ongoing costs from new sales. This never ends well. But it does end.
arvinsim 11y ago
The same thing happened to YNAB(http://www.youneedabudget.com/ http://www.youneedabudget.com/) I understand the reasons for moving to a subscription model. It just doesn't sit well with some customers though(that includes me).

iMark 11y ago

For a relatively simple service, I'd instinctively be happy paying $5-10 per year. To ask that per month is going to be difficult.

jonstokes 11y ago

No mention of Typinator? I switched to it a few years ago because the performance on some version of OS X (don't remember which) was way better than TextExpander's. It does its job, so I've never bothered to try out anything else.

veidr 11y ago
I use Typinator too, for similar reason (had some trouble with TextExpander many versions ago). So far, Typinator's not given me any trouble to justify switching to anything else.

nickmain 11y ago

This caused me to investigate the native text substitution on OS X and I found it that it is actually OK for most basic needs.

stblack 11y ago

I make very good bank writing software an selling my services. I certainly would not miss this trifling monthly expense. As a business owner I can write it off. I absolutely LOVE TextExpander, it makes my life better. No way in hell I'm paying $5 per month for it though. If I don't, hard to imagine many who will. What idiots! Also, now we'll see what Katie and Macsparky are made-of, won't we? I imagine the hitherto well deserved fawning over an excellent, #winning product is going to end PDQ. We'll see. I expect an expeditious climb-down from whatever the folks at Smile have been perching-on. And what of PDF Pen? That's also a massively interesting question.

pdenya 11y ago

The Hit List, a list app for OS X and iOS did this a while ago. I actually stopped using the app for years because of the fee but looking again now, the syncing service has been made free and is included with subscriptions!

ViViDboarder 11y ago

Check out Dash. Primarily feature is offline docs searching, but includes text expansion and snippets as a side feature, but does them pretty well.

girzel 11y ago

I always liked the Tinderbox pricing scheme. You pay X amount for a year of updates. It's not super cheap. You get your year of updates, and then you coast on the last version you got, until the next time you decide to shell out for a year of updates. If you like the software you can pay every year on the dot, and always be up to date. If you're ambivalent you can pay for one year every five years, and just accept the fact that you're using out-of-date software for four years. Or mix and match. Seems pretty reasonable. http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/ http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/

kstrauser 11y ago

Very late, but I just got an email from the 1Password gang. They've also adopted a subscription model, with the key difference being that it's 100% optional. The free version still gets you a completely usable product complete with syncing through iCloud, Dropbox, etc. For about the same annual fee (actually less because 1Password gives you a permanent upgrade discount), I can share Netflix passwords with my kids and bank passwords with my wife. That's tremendously more valuable than the possibility of sharing a email signature snippet with her, and 1Password didn't gut their app to force upgrades on anyone. Two companies launch subscription plans, for the same price, at the same time. One is universally praised and the other widely trounced. Some b-schooler will be writing a compare-and-contrast case study on this in the very near future.

ishu3101 11y ago

They should consider using maintaince instead of versioned licensing model for TextExpander like PhraseExpress is doing now since Phraseexpress v10. See http://www.phraseexpress.com/maintenance.htm http://www.phraseexpress.com/maintenance.htm to find out more about the maintenance license PhraseExpress uses.