Filed under: Software
Journler's licensing shift means next version is paid-only
When Phillip Dow first introduced Journler, the accessible yet remarkably feature-deep journaling and personal information repository app, he made a distinction between commercial licensing and personal use. Journler users who wanted to make money or do business with the program would pay, and anyone using it for its core functionality (personal journals) could donate what they saw fit for the program. Unfortunately, as is often the case with things that can be had for free, Phil didn't see the revenue from commercial licensing + personal donations that he needed to support the program. To allow him to continue developing Journler, with the forthcoming 2.6 release, the app is moving to a paid-only license: a single use license will be $34.95, with no more free rides (but a generous 60-day evaluation period). Yesterday the educational & family pack pricing for the new license was announced: $19.95 for students, including K-12, undergrad and graduate use; $99.95 for a 5-license family pack. Both special purchase options are a 40% savings over the standard license.
I've come to appreciate Journler as I've used it over the past few weeks, and I think this is the right call for this capable tool. We'll be looking at Journler in more detail soon, along with some of its competitors, but you should check it out now.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
vincentreusch said 2:16PM on 2-02-2008
That's a big jump. I donated, but only ten dollars. I will say, however, that with its categories, comments and smart folders, this is the first journaling tool that I feel is both useful and almost transparently simple. For the first time I don't feel that my journal entries are going into a black hole, never to be read again. I only use this for journaling and freewriting/idea generating, and it's a great tool for that.
A quick caution: When I upgraded to Leopard, my password was lost. That was pretty frightening, but their site gives a simple workaround to delete and re-enter the password. Its password is not really a security-quality protection, but fine for a simple deterrent to curious eyes.
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Patrick said 2:16PM on 2-02-2008
@5cents
Thanks for the link.
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5cents said 4:06PM on 2-02-2008
Who, what?
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Vandil said 9:06PM on 2-02-2008
Nice commercial.
If you spend too much time staring at your collected works, you're probably losing time to actually sit and write.
OSX's TextEdit does the job just fine and is free. Make a nested folder structure in ~/Documents if you need to "organize" several written journal entries, PDFs, and related stuff into their own subjects. If you must amuse yourself with your portfolio and not actually write, you have coverflow in the finder and QuickLook.
Also, I'm not sure how Journaler saves its data, but several loose files backed up via TimeMachine seems superior to the "1 large DB" method many of these paid/shareware programs use. (i.e. copying one whole db each time it changes is a waste of space. Individual documents backup better and restore much more granularly).
If you need something more robust, spend your money on iWork and use that with the nested folder structure.
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yakov chodosh said 10:29PM on 2-02-2008
Journler is great. It actually DOES keep everything in separate files and backing stuff up / exporting is very easy. It also integrates very well with Spotlight. The advantage to Journler is that you can create an entry and start typing and that's IT, that's all you have to do. No looking for a location to save the file, no having to save periodically. When you want it later you can just go into Journler and find your entry either with Journler's own Spotlight search, the calendar, or sorting stuff. It's like iTunes or Mail in that it gives you a nice little "sandbox" to organize your writing. I have a lot of little items in there, for instance an entry called "Dad's school" that includes only the name of the school my Dad went to when he was in high school. To make and save a text file for this would feel kind of pointless, to stick it in some kind of massive "Random notes" file would be less elegant, but to make a Journler entry makes for an easy way to hang onto that little scrap of info. I have lots of little scraps of info in there stored in a similar way -- packing lists (for one night, two nights, and a week), songs I've written, gift ideas for various members of my family, a list of fun activities and places to eat out in NYC, etc. etc. etc.
Having said that, I would definitely say to everyone GO NOW AND DOWNLOAD THE FREE VERSION BEFORE IT DISAPPEARS! This application is definitely worth $0.00 but I'm not so sure if it's worth $35. He definitely should have made a pit stop at $10 or $15 on his way up to that kind of pricing. The app as it stands is very stable and basically "feature complete" and so I have no plans to upgrade to the paid version.
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yakov chodosh said 10:45PM on 2-02-2008
I would add, however, that we should all keep an eye on Phil Dow's "Lex," which looks like Journler on steroids.
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Marko said 3:25AM on 2-03-2008
Journler's always been pretty buggy crash prone for me. I could live with that when it was free, but I just switched to Yojimbo. It's stable and fast and cost me less (as a teacher I qualify for an academic discount).
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eatmytag said 4:43AM on 2-03-2008
I donated to the Journler project a few months ago, but now that it's changing its licensing scheme, I have started to look at Together by reinvented software (bad name to use for a product btw, hard to search for).
What I like about together that journler does not implement as well, is Together's import tab which sits to the right of the screen. That, plus that Together keeps data as files, rather than in a database structure.
Does anybody have comments on why I should keep using Journler instead of moving on to Together?
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ultrasur1 said 6:24AM on 2-03-2008
i think it's a pretty fair move especially if people have been using it without caring enough to support a good program such as this one via personal donation or suggested multiple user fees. despite the 60 trial test, i think the jump to $35 is quite large though and a bit of a turnoff to those who may want to continue using it.
what i wish they would implement is drag and drop web archiving including images and media (rather than just the link), which is one thing that's important to my own needs (and i'm sure for many others). other software such as yojimbo have this incorporated into their programs, but the all around inclusiveness of the program incorporating other mac programs such as mail, address book and ilife has worked fairly free of glitches or bugs.
macjournal is a pretty nice alternative program to this one and contains improved features for the same price.
and despite the many knocks a company such as chronos has taken for its problematic/inefficient support system and frequent updates that require shelling out additional $$$, soho notes/organizer still my favorite PIM out of the bunch i've mentioned (devonthink & omifocus are too convoluted/rich in features for my tastes -- i spend more time customizing it and arranging data than working with it)
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Philip Dow said 4:00PM on 2-04-2008
From the developer and just to clear up some questions/concerns raised by the comments...
@Vandil
Have you ever used Journler? Text Edit, cover flow and nested folders in the Finder are not a substitution. And Journler does not use "1 large database". Journler employs a sophisticated data storage mechanism that stores files individually for quick saving, backup and retrieval while also taking advantage of metadata caching to allow for a fast loading time. No BS here either. I know.
@Marko
Journler has certainly gone through its growing pains, but I am extremely pleased with the latest version. 2.5.4 will be out shortly, and it is stabler than any previous release. Yojimbo has a place, no doubt, but I would suggest that the programs are designed for different audiences and uses.
With regards to concerns about the price change -- this was an extremely difficult decision for me, but it had to be done. Journler is an enormous program with massive support requirements. If I want to keep working on it, I must be paid for my work, and it can't be peanuts either. $15 is nothing for a program of Journler's capabilities. $25 is cheap. $35 is certainly a jump from $0.00, but then so is anything, and $35 remains at the lower part of the spectrum when you compare Journler to similar programs such as Yojimbo, Scrivener, MacJournal, Together and products from DevonThink.
Interested parties may read more about my decision here:
http://www.getsprouted.com/blog/2008/01/18/journler-26-and-the-new-journler-license/
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matt said 11:42AM on 2-05-2008
I use the free version of Journler and must say it is a good program, and the developer is smart and capable and worthy of your support. At the same time, I _do_ think Leopard has become more competitive with organizer apps like Journler. Spotlight and Quicklook allow efficient searching and viewing of files. I became interested in organizers because my directory structure was getting too cluttered; this is not such a concern now. I'm now finding Journler harder to navigate for PDFs and images than the Finder. And when you commit to a proprietary organizer program, your data is committed to that software; I'm not sure how easy it will be to get my stuff out should I not commit to upgrading. If I sound like too much of a cheapskate I _did_ just shell out $$$ for Leopard which was improved with more flexible organization in mind.
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dan sullivan said 7:54AM on 3-08-2008
I've been using Journler for a long time (2 years? Maybe?) and I've been a freeloader the whole time. I use the smart folders and tags to sort all of my stuff from work and personal and family life and everything else. I am very glad that Phil is going to start charging for Journler rather than abandoning it like so many overworked shareware developers. I will gladly pay the $35. Considering that Journler is always running, always fired up when my boss or co-workers step into my cube to tell me something, $35 is a small price to pay. Heck, I use it more than M$ Office and as much as Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Thanks Phil. To everyone else, try it as your offline brain and see.
Features I like:
I can take a picture of a Hipster card and save it in my journal
I can type short notes instantly w/ Quicksilver
I can search back to a day of the week and find my work log in minutes
I can drag an interesting website to the icon and save it to check out later, even if I'm offline.
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