Are you planning the continuation of VoodooPad?

arnaudhanon's Avatar

arnaudhanon

01 Apr, 2023 04:59 PM

Hello,
Will there be a new version or are you planning to abandon the software?
Best regards,
Arnaud Hanon

  1. 1 Posted by Dan Holenstein on 06 Apr, 2023 07:05 AM

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    That is my question exactly also.

  2. 2 Posted by arnaudhanon on 08 Apr, 2023 09:32 AM

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    And silence speaks volumes. Why not be transparent? To keep selling a product that is about to be abandoned?

  3. Support Staff 3 Posted by John on 08 Apr, 2023 10:00 PM

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    Silence speaks volumes about the fact it's been a busy week here. :-)

    We're still working on VoodooPad 6. Have you tried any of the preview versions?

    http://support.primatelabs.com/discussions/voodoopad/41572-voodoopa...

  4. 4 Posted by James on 09 Apr, 2023 08:40 PM

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    Thanks, John!

  5. 5 Posted by Dan Holenstein on 09 Apr, 2023 10:26 PM

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    Thank you John

  6. 6 Posted by buysj on 17 Apr, 2023 07:57 PM

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    That preview version came out in 2021. What's been going on with VP since?

  7. Support Staff 7 Posted by John on 20 Apr, 2023 09:09 PM

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    Not much, unfortunately.

  8. 8 Posted by buysj on 21 Apr, 2023 03:15 PM

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    Yea, I suspected as much. And that's kind of the point. It was exciting when you purchased VP, we all hoped that the app would get new life, but it's been literally years with very little to show for it. It's understandable, there's a lot going on, VP is a big, legacy codebase, and you've got other apps that are your primary focus. I get it.

    In the mean time there's Obsidian, Craft, Notion, even DEVONthink has a built-in wiki now. I think what I'm asking, and what all of us have been asking, is either tell us development is on hold, or start releasing updates. Saying "we're working on it", but never releasing anything doesn't feel great for the users.

    Are you interested in selling VP?

  9. Support Staff 9 Posted by John on 21 Apr, 2023 04:33 PM

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    We released two major updates to VoodooPad 5 (5.2 in 2018 and 5.3 in 2019). We also released VoodooPad 5.4 in 2022 to fix issues with upcoming macOS versions.

    We also released three preview versions of VoodooPad 6 (Preview 1 in 2019, Preview 2 in 2020, and Preview 3 in 2021).

    All this time, we've heard variations of the assertion that there's "very little to show" after Primate Labs acquired VoodooPad. After the work we've put in, it's demoralizing to hear that, and it makes me wonder just how large an effort we'd need to make to shake that assertion.

    For now, we're working on VoodooPad 6 at our own pace. It's still an application I use daily, and it's an application I hope to keep using for a long, long time.

  10. 10 Posted by buysj on 21 Apr, 2023 05:45 PM

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    "All this time, we've heard variations of the assertion that there's "very little to show" after Primate Labs acquired VoodooPad. After the work we've put in, it's demoralizing to hear that, and it makes me wonder just how large an effort we'd need to make to shake that assertion."

    I understand. I too hope VoodooPad has a long future ahead of it. I guess, personally, if there were an update every couple of months, maybe quarterly, I'm betting that'd go a long ways towards alleviating the "abandonware" fear. Doesn't even have to be anything big, just *something*.

    Also, I'm aware I might be in the wrong here. I guess I'd just really like for VoodooPad to make a comeback. Something that says we Mac users aren't satisfied with bloated Electron shovelware. I still think the best apps, the ones that really make the Mac experience special, are some of the oldest. NetNewsWire, Transmit, BBEdit, and I'd love to put VoodooPad right next to them on that list.

    That's why I keep coming back to this forum looking for updates. So, it might sound like I'm heckling you from the sidelines, but I'm really wanting to cheer you on.

  11. 11 Posted by buysj on 06 Aug, 2023 12:11 PM

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    … <months pass>… still no progress…

  12. Support Staff 12 Posted by John on 08 Aug, 2023 10:41 PM

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    You have a funny way of cheering people on...

  13. 13 Posted by Jim Grisham on 20 Aug, 2023 08:05 PM

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    John,

    Please remember that there is often a 'silent majority' of users who _never_ visit support forums, especially when mature software meets their needs without incident, day after day, year after year. (Sadly, given the demands of modern life, we seldom think to stop and recognize those who are not actively creating 'speedbumps' to our productivity.)

    You are seen, and you are appreciated.

    Keep up the good fight (or retire to a Greek island, if that be your desire),

     Jim

    P.S. To everyone else: when any piece of software ultimately stops being updated, please remember that we now live in the early years of a golden age of virtualization. With the exception of iOS, software that works well today (especially when it doesn't _require_ internet access to facilitate basic functions) will likely be usable in near perpetuity; even if entering data becomes difficult, reading / searching should remain unaffected (e.g. I have a friend that _still_ happily uses the 'Palm Desktop' PIM on a daily basis, to her software developer husband's dismay; there's a community of die-hard DOS WorkPerfect 5.1 users out there as well).

  14. 14 Posted by Sam on 02 Apr, 2024 11:18 AM

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    Hey John

    I've used VoodooPad for ages and it's been fantastic.

    I'm currently upgrading my whole studio and moving to all Mac silicon architecture. So it's important to me that everything I use works properly on my new computers and is going to keep being updated. I don't want to have to run Rosetta when silicon has been around for years.

    When I see a website where the blog hasn't been updated since 2022, no easy to find specification information (does it even work on new Macs?) and a support page that shows people having issues with both Mac Sonoma and the M2 architecture, I'm left thinking that this is a product that is being left out to die.

    You ask what you could do to counter this perception. Maybe a quarterly blog post reminding us that there are still people here (2022 is a while ago now). Some idea of a reasonable roadmap for the future. Some notion that I'm not wasting my time using VoodooPad and that it will do what I want it to for the foreseeable future (ie 10 years +).

    I look at this page and I see a hobby development project when I should see something so much more serious.

    I'm not interested in hunting down a community of people who might be able to get this software up and running in a very ad hoc way (I'm sure they'd be fabulous, but that's not the level I'm working on). I want a professional application that does what VoodooPad does. That's what I've paid for.

    Much love

  15. 15 Posted by Sam on 03 Apr, 2024 12:40 PM

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    Just wanted to say that I got big new brick computer running OS 14.4 on an M2.

    Downloaded VoodooPad, got an alert saying did I want to install Rosetta, clicked OK and VoodooPad is up and doing its thing as nicely as it has been for years.

    Which is just blooming awesome.

    Thanks and much love

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