How long can I use Legacy for Windows at least? Do I have to find an alternative soon, or can I wait?

[Rainer Winkler 10]

In the help it is written for the Legacy version (https://help.evernote.com/hc/en-us/articles/360052560314):

"For the near future, you may continue to use this version of Evernote for regular, everyday use."

How long is near future at least?

Can I be sure to use it at least until 31 December 2020? Or Until 30 June 2021? Or even until 31 December 2021.

Or is 12 December 2020 the near future?

I understand that Evernote wants to be able to plan flexible.

But we as customers have also to plan. Many of us use Evernote during daily work and cannot use the new version as it is now.

Is it important to find a new note taking tool within a few days? Or can we relax and wait six month and have then still plenty of time either to decide to remain at Evernote or to search for an alternative?

Is there any commitment from Evernote for a time frame, which gives users sufficient time to decide what to do?

Thanks,
Rainer Winkler
Evernote user since August 2016

 

[DTLow 5,736]

21 minutes ago, Rainer Winkler said:

Is it important to find a new note taking tool within a few days? Or can we relax and wait six month and have then still plenty of time either to decide to remain at Evernote or to search for an alternative?

I'm an Evernote Legacy user - I think at least 6 months is a better estimate   
Before Evernote Legacy sunsets, I will have switched      
There's many alternatives; Version 10 would be an easy move - if the work is completed and to my satisfaction

[gazumped 11,664]

6 minutes ago, Rainer Winkler said:

Can I be sure to use it at least until 31 December 2020? Or Until 30 June 2021? Or even until 31 December 2021.

The short answer is - nobody knows.  Not even,  I would guess,  Evernote.  They're aware the product was very feature-poor on initial release,  and they say they're working hard to fix that.  But they can't know how long it will take to get the app to the state where it satisfies individual 'specialist' needs.  Light users will probably get to that stage much earlier.  But even if they decide to end support for the Legacy product,  Evernote will have to give some notice - so you should have at least a month,  maybe up to 6 months to decide whether to move or to stay.

I'm on Legacy and staying!

https://evernote.com/blog/state-of-the-product/

[10gallonhat 20]

Beyond that, I'd consider when your annual subscription runs out, if that's how you roll. That gives me until the end of March.

[tavor 668]

My guess is at least 6 months. I figure it will take at least that long to restore all the functionality (that they intend to keep, as opposed to functionality that is never coming back) that wasn't carried over to the initial release of the new version. Maybe even longer than 6 months, because they'll have to iron out the bugs, so could be a year or so.

Dropping support for legacy EN before that would be forcing users to choose between a v10 that is buggy/missing features and a competitor, and I don't think they want to put that gun to their users' heads until they have a product that they think is best in class.

But the choice might come sooner for premium subscribers with renewal dates over the next few months.

The good news is that every serious competitor that doesn't already have the ability to import EN notes will be scrambling to build in that functionality or enhance their existing import functionality. Evernote has by far the biggest userbase. Any ambitious competitor is salivating at the opportunity created by the disastrous handling of v10 release (both communication and execution) to grow their own userbase exponentially (even a tiny loss of users for EN would be a huge gain in users for the much, much smaller competition).

[s2sailor 2,193]

On 12/11/2020 at 8:44 AM, Rainer Winkler said:

Is it important to find a new note taking tool within a few days? Or can we relax and wait six month and have then still plenty of time either to decide to remain at Evernote or to search for an alternative?

While we are speculating, here is my reading of the tea leaves.  No one knows when the plug will be pulled on legacy. Those who are expecting a high level of feature parity with the legacy version will, I think, be disappointed.  I think they are close to where “they” want to be. If v10 is close to what you need, then you can wait.  If v10 horribly breaks your workflow, and there is a long list of items needed to make you whole, then I would suggest you start the search now. Picking a replacement won’t be easy.  There is no clear winner. It is dependent on your workflow and what features are important to you.

[DTLow 5,736]

On 12/12/2020 at 12:55 PM, s2sailor said:

I think they are close to where “they” want to be.

There are still some bugs to be fixed, and also a pending feature list   
I'm not completely clear on the list, but I know it includes import folders, export options and scripting integration 

>>Those who are expecting a high level of feature parity with the legacy version will, I think, be disappointed.   

Agreed.  I have my list of must-have features, but I recognize Version 10 is a new product and I'm prepared to adjust

[s2sailor 2,193]

13 minutes ago, DTLow said:

I'm not completely clear on the list, but I know it includes import folders, export options and scripting integration 

Same here.  The only other one that comes to mind are keyboard shortcuts.  That will be close enough for me though I’m still mourning the loss of local notebooks

[Rainer Winkler 10]

Thanks to all for replying!

In my understanding it is common practice to give business partners a concrete timeline, when functions are to be discontinued. Partners need this to plan their own IT projects which are needed to replace the lost function. It is, for example not cost efficient for us, to search for a replacement within 6 months, when Evernote already decided to keep the Legacy version for a year, but did not communicate this.

The CEO, Ian Small should explain why Evernote has decided not to do this in case of the Legacy version. I already send him a letter and tried to contact him via Twitter. 

Best Regards, Rainer Winkler

[gazumped 11,664]

9 minutes ago, Rainer Winkler said:

it is common practice to give business partners a concrete timeline

😆 It may be common business practice,  but that's never seemed to trouble Evernote very much...

55 minutes ago, Rainer Winkler said:

Ian Small should explain why Evernote has decided not to do this in case of the Legacy version

I think he made a small attempt to do that recently... see the Evernote blog for more...

Hopefully you'll get a response to your letter / Twitter - please let us know what it says!!

 

[WBurns 0]

I also struggle to understand why the import folders would be taken away.  I didn't realize that until I "upgraded" to the newest version.  Thankfully I was able to find a link to an older version to download and reinstall that.

Am I missing something here?  Without an import folder would I have to drag and drop every single scan individually into Evernote?  The automatic syncing of the import folder is probably the #1 reason I use Evernote - for the ease of use.

If there is a better way that I missed please let me know.

Thanks!

[idoc 400]

Yes, I have the same question.  Actually it would be much better for Evernote if they could reassure us on this topic.  I do not want to switch from EN!  I do not want to start scrambling to find a new product that does not fit my needs as well as EN did.  So, if I have at least 6 months or more I would be happy to just wait and see what they come up with.  If after 5 months I'm not happy I can switch to something else.  As far as I can tell, Evernote legacy is fine for my needs even though not perfect.

[PinkElephant 8,103]

Take it easy, use it and be happy.

Scenario 1: EN says they will remove it in 127 days from now. What if they are not through with releasing all functions from v10 ? Continue ? And what about those users that have migrated, and now call it foul play because the did not need it ? 

Scenario 2: They don’t tell, and one morning it stops working ? Oh class action of a decade (200 million users suing ... what a wet dream for any attorney), here I come !

So what will happen ? They leave it running until one day they are happy about v10. Then, only then they tell users that they will stop to support legacy from the xxx, and please make sure your workflows will work under v10. 2 more reminders, at least 3-6 month of transition, and bang, it stops working.

So no need to know, just go on.

[Rainer Winkler 10]

11 hours ago, PinkElephant said:

So no need to know, just go on.

I agree with your scenarios. It is what Evernote expects us to do. But I say also; we as customers, deserve better communication.

[AlbertR 531]

My opinion: As long as we do without new features on note formatting (like checklists), Legacy will remain usable. EN has no need to replace it with hard power. Calling it "Legacy" means that they will not do anything with it.

I never have seen another example of replacing older by newer software by following such a detailed plan (calling it "Legacy", removing older versions even from foreign download sites, removing older version while installing EN-10 but not removing Legacy, ...). So "use Legacy" is and will be the support answer for a long time to all customers who cannot life with EN-10. 

As time goes by, I really appreciate (not love 😉) this way of moving to newer software. I'm sure there is no other way to address such a huge beta tester community in parallel to keep "normal" work running.

[Rainer Winkler 10]

19 minutes ago, AlbertR said:

So "use Legacy" is and will be the support answer for a long time to all customers who cannot life with EN-10. 

When Evernote makes a clear commitment with dates, many users will able to live with this. And dates can be shifted into the future when needed.

But now they give no clear timeline. So there is a high motivation for competitors to develop and provide solutions which are an alternative to the Legacy version.

All what is needed are two dates:
1. A date where the current situation is evaluated and timelines may be adjusted.
2. A minimum date for End of Live for the Legacy version.

cc  @Ian Small

[AlbertR 531]

Don't insist on dates. They should prepare for quality and stability (of Legacy 😉)
Competitors might fight for EN leavers - but there is really no alternative to Legacy. All they build on Electron with nearly the same look as EN-10. But no one will have the wide coverage of EN features (note pickup, tags, platforms, search, offline usage, language support, API, ...). - Hast du bei einem anderen schon eine deutsche Version gesehen? 

 

[isthisme 11]

I understand that all new development will be on V10. No issues here.

But Legacy (V6) works right now, and is an acceptable "final release" of Evernote for some users. Can they count on being able to use it for another 5 years, without being forced to move to V10/V11/V12/etc?

Or has the countdown started for when Legacy is intentionally disabled? (whether via an intentional retiring, or by changing server-side APIs which break Legacy)

[DTLow 5,736]

2 minutes ago, isthisme said:

But Legacy (V6) works right now, and is an acceptable "final release" of Evernote for some users. Can they count on being able to use it for another 5 years, without being forced to move to V10/V11/V12/etc?

5 years is overly optimistic   
For me, the important point is that I don't have to make any decision today or in the imediate future

I merged your post with an ongoing discussion

[CalS 5,280]

On 12/16/2020 at 3:40 AM, AlbertR said:

Don't insist on dates. They should prepare for quality and stability

We got here with no notes....   Just saying re the quality statement.