Re the Chomebook, that was me. I’ve hacked my Chromebook to run full Linux and installed a 128GB internal Msata SSD. Online/offline isn’t an issue for me. It’s a fabulous accessory device (even has an SD card reader, which the Macbook Air doesn’t have). I agree that MBAs are better machines, I’ve just not sure if they are 4x as good. Maybe if I could only have one device…
I loved your brief feedback on the iOS beta. It’s encouraging because despite being a fan of the Chromebook, I am looking to consolidate and have subtle pressure from my wife to go all-in on the Apple ecosystem since we migrated family comms and organisation to iCloud.
I’m an iPad 2 user who is really, really looking forward to Scrivener for iOS!!!
Having said that I also have an Android phone. I only ever take notes on my phone on OneNote which is available on all platforms I use. Now if Scrivener were to come to Android, I just might give a phablet a try…and this has only become a thought as I was reading this thread. It would cut down on devices to lug around. This makes me wonder how many Android phone users like myself there are who have never given their Android phone a second thought to being a writing device… It will be interesting to see the sales figures after it is launched (whenever that may be).
I adore my chromebook (Toshiba Chromebook 2). It costs about 1/3 the price of a Macbook Air. It’s very fast when web browsing or using google docs, even with dozens of tabs open. Boot up is almost instantaneous. Power consumption is so low that it doesn’t get hot in my lap. It runs for something like 12 hours on a charge. The keyboard letters glow. Google is in charge of updates, so they are often and completely painless. Security is so solid there’s no need for antivirus software. I use google drive to automatically sync my documents to my windows PC (when I need multiple screens or heavy mouse work).
Unfortunately it doesn’t run Scrivener, so I’m looking for a good alternative to run on it. If I find one, I will probably leave Scrivener for good. I had thought Novlr might be it until I noticed they charge $100/year! (If I was a professional writer, no problem, but that’s a little steep for a hobby.)
I keep thinking about how amazing Scrivener would be if it had been rewritten in AJAX like google docs. The same software would work on IOS, Mac OS, Windows, ChromeOS, Android, and Linux. In fact, you could run each of those devices and sync the same project using google drive/drop box/etc. “100 different screen sizes” would not be much of a problem as responsive web design is fairly well developed at this point. There would not be a Mac team and a Windows team (who then learn to do IOS and Android). Everyone would just be on the AJAX team, so the pace of development would increase greatly. There would be few technical uncertainties since an AJAX scrivener would essentially be a mashup of google docs and google drive.
Glad you like your Chromebook. There is no doubting owners seem to like the price. We could debate the price/value issue until the cows come home, but reality is they are very different machines, different specs and quality and cannot be directly compared.
Minor point, and I make this from extensive security experience. No system is so solid as to make anti-virus software (or other forms of protection) unecessary.
The MacOS system (and iOS) are inherently more secure, especially iOS with the secure app store.
MacOS with Gatekeeper enabled is very secure, though even then my personal recommendation is a good anti-virus.
Windows… compulsory…
Browser malware is also an issue on every platform.
As long as you only download from the official Google app store you are reasonably secure, though there have been several notable failures. Outside of that…
I would shudder at the thought of Ajax based Scrivener, too many negatives to even contemplate. I want my writing program to be a tightly coded offline program that maximises performance, no matter where I am.
While I confess to preferring Mac, I do have extensive Windows experience since V3.1 and have a Win Scrivener licence for those times I fire up the Windows 10 box. Look forward to Windows parity.
In my case I need substantial inbuilt storage which rules out any ‘online’ O/S, and there is (for me) the issue of security and privacy of online data. (Yes I do use dropbox and icloud, though choose what level of data I entrust to each).
Keith and crew: thank you for responding in depth to user questions on this forum. I have been using Google Drive to write fiction for three years, since it lives in the cloud and is easily accessible from every one of my devices (PC, Chromebook, and Android phone). However, several other writers have told me Scrivener can be powerful if you move pieces of your novel around alot (like I do), and after doing some research, I like the look of Scrivener’s features for outlining, revising, and exporting, so I’ll be downloading the trial for Windows soon. I prefer to write on my Chromebook, though, so I am very much looking forward to an Android Scrivener app that would allow me write across devices. I saw your post that such a version is planned for sometime in the future, so thank you for letting us know it is in the works!
I use Scrivener on Linux thru Crossover a commercially supported enhancement of Wine for running Windows programs in Linux…
Codeweaver, the company that makes Crossover has just announced a version for Android and Chromebooks. Unfortunately, at this time, only for those with Intel Inside. They do, however say they hope to expand that to non Intel devices.
Hope this helps someone.
Jim
BTW, I too would love Scrivener for Android/Chromebooks
