Give the new Owners some time..

[Sugeeth Krish 475]

Hi all, i am a long time Evernote user and used to quite active on the forums. Over the last few years, Evernote launched 10.x - the new unified code - base. It has polarised users, some of them think its the best thing to happen to Evernote (like me), while others who are used for long to the legacy set-up are feeling alienated. 

Like most of you, it indeed came as a shock to know that Evernote, has been acquired. but sadly, its what it is. Over a period of time, as an Expert, it is bound to see lots of changes happening to the product and how the management takes things forward. 

Whether its for good or bad, only time will tell.

Having said this, the inital promise from the new owners, that they are investing in the long term, sounds momentarily re-assuring. But, then, fingers crossed. 

I see a lot of users, raising questions and queries about the future, product related issues, management related issues and so on and so forth. 

The sad truth is that, a substantial portion of the old employees are laid-off. The new team, likely is much lesser in number and they will take some time, to get used to things, and fill the shoes of what the old Evernote employees, did . So, it is possible that some processes/bug fixes/new feature additions/ communications policies may take some time. 

Some expected routine processes may remain non-communicative for a while, maybe, even months, and i hope the new owners, slowly take charge of existing processes, and bring them back to a state of running, like old. 

Until then, i wish to make a request that we, the users, the community, give the new owners some time. 

And i hope in good wishes, that Evernote, the product will once again, see its halcyon days, once again. 

 

 

 

 

[WilliamL 654]

Not for me, I have decided to move my work over to Craft. The difference in engagement and value of the paying user base is night and day. It doesn’t have all the features but I’m adjusting by using a few other apps. 

It’s a pity, Evernote is a really good product but I don’t agree time is needed - communication to those we value is instinctive. 

I do hope they turn it around which is why I’m still active here but I’m working and acting now on the basis this is the status quo. 

[avevers 74]

@WilliamL - I have been interested in Craft for ages, but until recently it was Mac only. Now it seems there is a Windows version, so I'm interested again. Also it looks like OCR is on its way, so I'm even more interested.

Can I ask - have you any experience whether Craft can handle thousands of notes (as I have)? 

[WilliamL 654]

1 hour ago, avevers said:

@WilliamL - I have been interested in Craft for ages, but until recently it was Mac only. Now it seems there is a Windows version, so I'm interested again. Also it looks like OCR is on its way, so I'm even more interested.

Can I ask - have you any experience whether Craft can handle thousands of notes (as I have)? 

I’m not sure how it handles thousands - I don’t have that many, but I have not seen anyone complain and some run it at its upper limits. 

Yes the windows app is out, it’s similar to the web app though web has a few new features making their way down. I would expect Android will be sometime in the near to mid future as the windows app seems based on Electron (though its impact on the system resources is minimal). 

[avevers 74]

Assumed it would be based on Electron. Thanks for your reply @WilliamL - I'll start looking at Craft again.

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,977]

Back to the point of the thread ... I'm inclined to agree. It's hard to imagine what is going on in the merger of two such different companies with different product lines. I have not kept detailed track of the layoffs, but letting go of experienced engineers who hold a lot of the common knowledge of goals and processes would not seem like a good idea to me. If that's what happened; I don't know. Letting go of marketers is rough on them, but less potentially damaging to the product. Actually, the difference in the two companies' previous product lines is encouraging to me: it means that Bending Spoons didn't acquire Evernote just in order to shut down a competitor, as has happened so many times. If Google or Microsoft had bought Evernote, that would have been the end. Not a death spiral but a death trapdoor. As it is, I assume that BeSp wants Evernote to succeed and improve, otherwise they've spent large $$ for nothing.

[wphall 17]

In general, I agree about giving the dev more time and I've not been able to find any articles backing up the claim they've let the Evernote employees go. Didn't spend tons of time, but nothing immediately came up.

Had a good look at Bending Spoons web site and found the following:

- They're web site is pretty flashy.

- Looks like they're pretty much 100% mobile (phone and tablet)

- They seem to be very expensive.. As in many of their In App Purchases are ~$7.99-$9.99 per week. That's worrisome.

My general concern, and this is speculation is that Evernote is going to turn into a super premium product. How the heck else can they differentiate? This is going to take a lot of time. I'm a basic note taker and really not that great at using Evernote. Tends to be my place to sort of dump things and move on. Not the greatest habit. I've started looking at others and find them cleaner, more simple, and more modern feeling. Not going to mention any here because it doesn't matter.

Net Net: Agreed on giving time. But looking at BeSp's current business model, I'm packing my parachute just in case. But, hoping they make it a great product again.

 

[PinkElephant 8,174]

The news about layoffs hitting entire teams at EN headquarter were mainly based on postings on LinkedIn - the sort of "looking for a new challenge".

You can check either on LI (searching for Evernote) or on Reddit.

About where the journey goes: Nobody really knows. There is a lack of communication, which I don't regard as evil - in an M&A situation it is often better to first get a view from the inside, before talking about plans. Those who pay the party are we subscribers - and most of us are on a yearly plan. During a running subscription period we are safe from "inflation". If the rate outgrows the value created, we all should have our options sorted out. There are alternatives, and many can be tested for free before taking a decision.

[idoc 400]

Personally, the cost is irrelevant to me if the product is stable, solid and improving over time.  My entire work and personal life is on EN, so it really makes no difference to me whether it costs $60/yr or $200 or more.  In fact, the headache of moving all of my notes from EN to something else and then learning that new system may cost me tens of thousands of dollars in terms of time.  Therefore, I would never jettison EN for reasons of cost.  However,  I am deeply worried about losing functionality that I was previously used to and having to adapt my workflow in a manner that no longer makes sense for me.  Currently v10 does almost everything that I need except for the one thing that I need the most.  The combination of v10 for most of my needs and Legacy for the 1-2 things that v10 does not do well is a satisfactory combo.  If Legacy goes away I could still survive but would have to seriously adapt certain aspects of my work flow.    

[bmcl26 499]

I am on the Professional plan, which, on renewal, will work out at less than the price of one cup of coffee per week, which I find excellent value.

[Sugeeth Krish 475]

To be honest, as things stand it is painful to use 10.x 

But uptil 2 months ago, it was buttery smooth. At least for me 

So, my guess is some naggy bugs came in from somewhere, and since it's a unified code base, it should be relatively easy to fix and sort out. 

But my main problem is as of now, the mobile client is become terrible. In the current state of affairs, Bending spoons need to get their act together, and bring back the unified code to be stable and sync seamlessly. 

 

That has to be the top priority. 

 

For now, I have an Old phone which runs legacy (the legacy infra seems to be still working well). But I have started to get used to the new 10.x features tasks, calendars, widget box etc. So, 10.x has been designed well, and looks good. 

But when will the bugs get sorted out? That's the question. 

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,977]

19 hours ago, SK_123 said:

But my main problem is as of now, the mobile client is become terrible

Is this an Android, or iPhone? I've seen lots of complaints here about performance on Androids. I recently bricked my old Android (literally--dropped it on a brick porch and destroyed the screen) and had to update to a current Samsung model. I have not had any issues of sync failing (though occasionally lagging a little) or note duplication, so I count myself fortunate.

Quote

But I have started to get used to the new 10.x features tasks, calendars, widget box etc. So, 10.x has been designed well, and looks good.

That is my experience too.