Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

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kivancmuslu
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Joined: 2011-05-15 00:49:52

Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by kivancmuslu »

Hi all,

I am new to NWP and forums. I have started evaluating NWP recently (have been about 3 days), and I really liked it. I have about 10 days left for evaluation and am strongly thinking of switching to NWP (from Pages).
I want to get your opinion for the following:
I know that NWP 2 is on the way and will be a paid update (or even a new product) for people who have NWP. I asked the customer service for their update policy and the estimated time for release. The customer service couldn't give me a guarantee that I will get a free update for NWP 2 if I buy NWP now. He also couldn't give any estimated time for release for the new version.

My evaluation will be over in about 10 days, so I am in a quite big dilemma about buying or not buying. I really like the product and want to use it as soon as possible. However, on the other hand if I will be buying twice for the first update (that will be around a few months I think), I would feel bad.

What do you think? Anybody has similar thoughts or experience (for older updates, other products etc.)?

Thanks,
~ Kivanc Muslu
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Jester
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Location: Midway through infinity (or Ottawa, Canada).

Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by Jester »

No previous experience on that matter, but I'd wait if I were you.
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xiamenese
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by xiamenese »

I can't comment authoritatively either, but I will say this:

Firstly, Nisus must have been working on the development of v.2 for at least a year now, and since they have finally given some indication of its pending arrival through the publication of a newsletter to that effect, I would hope we are looking at weeks before release, rather than months;

Secondly, I have been using Nisus Writer in its various stages from even before it was Nisus Writer let alone Pro, so I've never been in a position of buying it immediately before the release of a paid upgrade and therefore don't know the company's policy on that; on the other hand, it seems common across the Apple spectrum to allow a "grace" period for purchasers within that period to get the upgrade free. I would hope that Nisus would follow that practice, but given the long development process, I won't predict either way;

Thirdly, you are currently using a feature-rich word-processor, which presumably has been meeting your needs until your discovery of NWP a few days ago. So, while, like me, you seem to be concluding that NWP will suit you better — I infinitely prefer NWP to Pages for many reasons — that doesn't mean that Pages will become unusable for you in the interim.

On those grounds, since you ask the question, I too would suggest that unless there is some compelling feature in NWP that doesn't exist in Pages — e.g. handling footnotes, images, etc. in RTF files exported from Scrivener, or PowerFind Pro and Macro capability — and which would benefit you immediately significantly enough to outweigh the risk of having to pay the upgrade fee, I would stick with what you've got until NWP v2 is released. I myself have always bought software I want at the time of discovering it, rather than wait for an imminent upgrade, even though I have then had to pay for that; if the software is what I want, will meet my needs better than what I have, I have always bought immediately.

With very humble apologies to Martin, Mark et al. for potentially depriving the company of one upgrading fee.

Mark
kivancmuslu
Posts: 22
Joined: 2011-05-15 00:49:52

Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by kivancmuslu »

Hi xiamenese,

I find your post very logical and helpful.

There is no extremely urgent part of Nisus I need. I just realized that it is an easier to use word process compared to Pages and I found .rtf file format more general compared to .pages file format (most of them does not do a good job when transforming to other formats other than .pdf, which cannot be edited).

I hope you are also right about 'weeks rather than months' theory, in this case I think I will wait instead of going into a danger where I would have to pay twice for a very near update.

Thanks again!
~ Kivanc Muslu
Timotheus
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by Timotheus »

My two cents: NWP 2.0 has been officially announced by now; the developers themselves are even talking about a release in the next few weeks, and maybe even sooner.

At this point, in my opinion it is almost Nisus' moral duty to quickly reassure kivancmuslu and all those who are in his position that they'll get a free upgrade to 2.0 when they buy 1.4 now. Any other solution would be completely unreasonable. So I simply don't understand this answer of customer service,
kivancmuslu
Posts: 22
Joined: 2011-05-15 00:49:52

Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by kivancmuslu »

Hi Timotheus,

Thanks for the comment and I completely agree with you.

If the customer service would give me the guarantee, then I wouldn't even wait for the end of the evaluation period. I won't completely change my mind and go with another processors, however this damages me in 2 ways:
1- I cannot export my work to .pdf since the evaluation copy adds watermark automatically.
2- There is a possibility that I won't be able to use NWP for some time (after my evaluation period ends and the new version is released).

The uncertainty of the answer I received was a little disappointment for me, however I am not sure if I have something better rather than waiting for the new release.
~ Kivanc Muslu
samuelas
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by samuelas »

I agree that the lack of reassurance about the free upgrade is disappointing--it also seems to be of apiece with their secrecy regarding what features NWP 2 will include. In any case, I write to endorse the suggestion that the Nisus folks should publicly address this. Or perhaps a stated policy seems unnecessary--perhaps the user base is not growing all that rapidly at the moment (I would suspect that users of Nisus mostly belong to shrinking fields--writers and scholars). Still the most direct competitor Mellel has a very clear policy on this, and always has.

best,
s.
kivancmuslu
Posts: 22
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by kivancmuslu »

Hi samuelas,

I don't have a problem with them not telling about the new features except the track changes and some annotations. Generally apple does the same, you don't know the features almost until you get the update (or the program). However, I still expected the assurance of a free update (without the details of the update) since it is already announced officially.
~ Kivanc Muslu
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Jester
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by Jester »

samuelas wrote:I agree that the lack of reassurance about the free upgrade is disappointing--it also seems to be of apiece with their secrecy regarding what features NWP 2 will include. In any case, I write to endorse the suggestion that the Nisus folks should publicly address this. Or perhaps a stated policy seems unnecessary--perhaps the user base is not growing all that rapidly at the moment (I would suspect that users of Nisus mostly belong to shrinking fields--writers and scholars). Still the most direct competitor Mellel has a very clear policy on this, and always has.

best,
s.
'Writers and scholars :p , but yeah, I agree; I can't imagine writing my poems/stories/theses/etc. in Word or Pages. I just can't.

@kivancmuslu: It'd be nice if Martin (moderator) could answer your question, try sending him a PM.
kivancmuslu
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Joined: 2011-05-15 00:49:52

Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by kivancmuslu »

Just sent a pm to martin, let's see how it turns out...
~ Kivanc Muslu
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martin
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by martin »

I'm sorry for the unanswered question on licensing- we were hoping to have Pro v2 available before any confusion on new license purchases became an issue. We probably left this question unanswered for too long, and I'm sorry for that.

Now that NWP version 2.0 is available for purchase in our store, here is our official policy on recent purchases: if you purchased Nisus Writer Pro version 1.x on or after February 1st, 2011, we will give you a free license key for Pro version 2. Likely you will receive this free license key via email in the next few days.

Let me know if you have any additional questions, thanks.
kivancmuslu
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by kivancmuslu »

Thanks Martin,

This is great news. I have just bought the software!
~ Kivanc Muslu
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Jester
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by Jester »

Great News!!!!
steintal
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by steintal »

A very, very nice update after a long time of waiting. Pricing is very modest for what we get. And we can't complain anymore about the missing vertical ruler ...
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martin
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Re: Switching to Nisus Writer Pro & NWP 2

Post by martin »

kivancmuslu wrote:This is great news. I have just bought the software!
Excellent- glad to have you with us :)
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