WriteRoom on App Store for $4.99 (very briefly)

WriteRoom 2.5 for the Mac is now on Apple’s App Store. To allow people switch their download methods from direct purchase to the App Store, it’s heavily discounted. Here’s what Jesse Grosjean, the developer, says:

If you’ve thought about getting this excellent full-screen text editor, now is the time. And if you’d rather have your app upgrades managed by Apple, this is your opportunity to switch. Keep in mind that there are downsides to the App Store. Apple is in charge of what appears and there can be delays in posting. Living outside the U.S. may also be an issue.

Finally, at times Apple can be a self-serving, penny-pinching pain in the neck. Developers are having to use heavy discounts like this one to move their users to the App Store because Apple didn’t develop an upgrade path. All it would have taken was developer-provided discount coupons for registered owners.

Note that you don’t have much time. February 26 is Saturday. Notice too that he says “on Februrary 26th” and not “after.” Friday is your last safe chance.

–Michael W. Perry, Across Asia on a Bicycle

I’m sorry, but why would anyone pay for an app that emulates a 1970s CRT screen?
I like Jesse’s products, but this one has always left me cold. At any price.

People like WriteRoom for the same reason Charles Dickens liked his writing studio in a Swiss-made treehouse across the street from his home. A clean screen avoids distractions. And you can make it look like almost anything not just a 1970s terminal.