Mesmeric, ah yes, indeed, but waiting for the Real Thing...

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

I have done the tutorial and quite adore the Scrivener BETA program. For years now, I have missed Three By Five (Corkboard) since upgrading to OS X. Scrivener could work soaringly well in lieu of these outstanding left by the roadside pre-UNIX Mac applications, for writers of all walks and avenues, filling what I perceive as a significant and tumultuous void…

Boy, oh, boy, dear Jesus! how I sincerely wish I could start using Scrivener right now! I have been outlining my next novel with actual 3" X 5" cards (aarrrggg!) and with Apple’s Stickies program, but Scrivener would make this task infinitely easier…! Loath the actual real world index cards do I!

However–being a Mac user for twenty years (my first software was MS Word 1.0), I have a strict policy regarding NOT using, getting attached to, nor creating files, which take hours and hours of my time, with any beta program which will expire (particularly, as in the case of Scrivener, when there is not a released retail version available, or other than informally announced). As a mere end-user, I could never see the point of making beta programs expire, other than developer’s greed (no offense intended, I recognize the inherent peculation involved with publicly posted software of any kind. But rest assured that some {many?} of us do indeed pay for these delightful software aids, realizing the huge factors of time and energy involved in their creation and the just deserts their creators deserve).

Moving on, this all looks remarkable so far, and both my agent and my editor at Random House are excited about Scrivener as well (we are all Mac fanatics), and we all want to, with gusto and verve, indeed, create a discourse of enthusiasm lingering for Scrivener…!

Now all we need is a stable program to confab with other writers about–as in a purchase-able release version application that makes one quite secure with the precious investment of time and thought and energy, converted into language, into files that can be saved and actually utilized for some time without–!POOF!–the program disappearing, expired, extinct, vanquished into oblivion within one’s hard drive driven, digital world.

Kudos to you and your team, Keith. I hope within the next few weeks to see the Scrivener show up and running for “realâ€

2

Given how much attention Scrivener has gotten already, and Keith’s highly motivated commitment to it, I don’t think there’s much worry about its longevity. But geez, if you’re really worried, all you have to do is just export everything to rtf, and no work will be lost. No reason to wait another month or and deprive yourself of such a useful tool any longer.

3

In the year and more I’ve been using the various Scrivener betas, right from the first public beta announcement on the NaNoWriMo forums last year, we fanatically devoted users have never once been without a working version - usually an upgrade released long before the expiry date of the previous beta version. I only remember one instance where this wasn’t the case, and then the same version was re-released with an extended expiry date - that was Scrivener Gold, shortly before it was released as freeware.

Way back then, the same question came up - why force an expiry date?

The answer as I recall it was simply to ensure that nobody started using a beta version and stayed with it when there were newer, much better versions available.

4

Thanks for your enthusiasm for Scrivener. :slight_smile: I totally understand why you do not want to commit to software that is still in beta, but you should not have to wait long now. The only thing holding back a 1.0 release (apart from a couple of forms I need to send off) is my finishing the Help file (unfortunately, there is no “Keith and team” - it’s just me). It’s a rather long and tedious process.

An updated version of the tutorial will indeed be provided with the release version.

Thanks!
Keith

5

I think a certain level of familiarity with the software genre itself goes a long way in regards to an intuitive interface. If you’ve spent a lot of time writing in Ulysses, Avenir, Copywrite, or any of the other “for writer’s only” non-linear editors, I think Scrivener will make a lot more sense upon initial download. Coming from a word processor background might be more difficult, as there are so many radical philosophical differences. If you want to see what a really unintuitive application in this genre is like, I think Ulysses takes the cake. Not only is the interface unorthodox, but the user is expected to adopt a structural philosophy over a stylistic philosophy – not something that most writers in the modern era are used to. But, like Scrivener, Ulysses is tuned to the familiar user. Someone well adjusted to the program can use it without even thinking about the application. It just slips into the background and becomes an extension of your thoughts.

I think it succeeds in doing that. Writing in Scrivener is a beautiful process.

6

Hi toddster63, you are aware of Scrivener Gold, I take it?

literatureandlatte.com/forum … um.php?f=6

It is free and Keith updated it in late November.

It can take your files and you can convert them to the latest version. If Keith drops dead between now and then (from extreme exhaustion and overwork) then you can keep using Scrivener Gold forever, for free.

:smiley:

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Lord Lightning – are you really stuck in b4?! :wink:

– MJ

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Amen! :slight_smile: