On TextExpander 6

Updated: 4/17/16 - See end of post

This week brought us news about one of my highly recommended apps for OS X (and iOS) when TextExpander 6 came out.  This release seems mostly like one that is trying to position itself for the future;  the big change isn't new functionality per se but a switch from using Dropbox or iCloud for syncing to using their own service and allowing snippets to be shared between users.

Oh, and moving from a purchase to a subscription model.  An expensive subscription model.  Although there is a discounted one year upgrade option for current users, for new users or after that first year subscribing will cost you $48 if you pay for a year or $60 if you go by month.

This is a difficult market for developers; especially developers of productivity applications.  It's a bit of a niche market and one of the downsides of the App Store is that now everyone expects apps to be $.99.  Obviously that won't work for something complicated with a somewhat limited audience like TextExpander.  Moving to a subscription model must be tempting; the chance to get a steady stream of income would be a great help to any development company.

In this case, though, the problem is that the new features seem to be only of use to business users (and with the new sharing I really mean groups of business users).  And it is priced only for business users.

I use TextExpander at home, exclusively.  I cannot use it at work (we are Windows based and completely locked down; no external syncing app would ever be approved for security reasons).  And while I would pay that discounted rate they have for the first year (it comes to $24) there is no way I get enough value to pay twice that much every year.

A 'consumer pricing' tier that excluded the ability to share snippets with other users would be perfect for me.  But unless that happens I'll have to migrate my snippets to something else.  I'll be trying Keyboard Maestro first.  I already own it so there is no cost.  It doesn't handle text expansion quite as well but so far it seems to be good enough.

I hope the new approach wins them business customers and allows them to continue to develop TextExpander.  But I'm afraid they are going to leave the home user behind in the process.

UPDATE:

As I pretty much expected (and hoped) Smile Software realized pretty quickly that they had mis-priced the Life Hacker (i.e. home) package as well as the upgrade pricing.  The upgrade pricing is now $20/year forever.  Much better and I gladly signed up.