Pronounced "Nice-us"
Nisus has been developing for the Mac for many, many years. Over that time we’ve accumulated quite a cache of old Apple Developer discs, upon which we recently stumbled.
The US Navy just switched to a new message routing system that finally allows the use of lowercase letters. That’s right, up until May 7th 2013 messages could only employ ALL CAPS, ALL THE TIME.
I wonder, did they add Unicode support? Or maybe they just upgraded to the decadent luxury of full ASCII.
It’s been about a month since InfoClick was released. I am happy to say it is a success, and that’s because of you. We are very appreciative. Plus, quite a few of you have given us some wonderful feedback, praise and even jeers.
As an example, Mr. Szabo writes this:
I’d like to mention that by browsing your website I came across InfoClick. It’s phenomenal. I can finally find any e-mail message I have ever sent or received since buying my MacBook Air two years ago. Thank you so much for producing this app.
J.H. writes the following:
I have to tell you what a great piece of software this is. Best $15 I ever spent. It’s way better than Mac mail, and it’s even better than gmail search. The narrowing capability is exactly what I had often contemplated building myself.
Keep those emails coming! We love to hear from you.
InfoClick has also been noticed by the press. In fact, InfoClick has been named a Mac Software Pick by Tom Nelson at About.com. Kirk Hiner at Appletell wrote a nice note about the release of InfoClick. François Cuneo wrote a fairly extensive review for the Cuh.ck (the article is in French). Finally, Will Gomez of Mac360.com wrote about InfoClick here.
If you would like to see what all of this fuss is about, you can visit our InfoClick page. There you can take a tour of the features of InfoClick, view a quick movie about InfoClick, download a demo, or purchase InfoClick. The price is $15 USD.
So if you would like to stop searching and start finding your emails in Apple Mail, buy InfoClick now!
Most, if not all of us here at Nisus use Mail, Apple’s built-in mail client. It’s getting better and better with each new release of OS X. However, search isn’t getting any better. Improvements there are slower, and it is frustrating. We live in email and need to be able to search through hundreds of thousands of email quickly. In its current state, Mail isn’t up to the task. So we decided to do something about it.
We are proud to introduce InfoClick, our uniquely powerful email search tool designed to guide you to the emails you’ve been trying to find.
InfoClick is designed to be used with Apple’s Mail application to navigate through your emails to see the words, contacts, and information within. InfoClick knows precisely what words you’ve used, so there’s no guessing; it offers a guided process of progressively narrowing down the matches in a series of simple choices. That means you can’t ever produce a search with zero matches. For example, when you’re searching for all emails containing a particular word, InfoClick would show the completions “connection”, “connexion”, and (the misspelled) “connecsion”, if you’d actually used those words in your emails.
As our President and CEO Jerzy Lewak says “Although Apple’s Spotlight search is better than the competition, many still find it inadequate. InfoClick is much simpler, more versatile and much more powerful. Perhaps the most important difference between other products and InfoClick, is that InfoClick guides you to the available choices only. This helps you see associations and prevents empty search results, always guaranteeing a find.”
InfoClick offers additional features to make searching your emails easier. To see all emails received from educational organizations in the US, simply type .edu in the From field. With a single click, you can narrow-down your search to only those emails that had an attachment, and/or those received in a given date range, and/or those that contain specific words. You can choose, as alternatives, all displayed word spellings used in the emails, so you don’t miss an email because of spelling errors.
InfoClick also offers a note editor, allowing you to collect and organize links to emails, files, web pages, and other URLs (notes are completely searchable).
InfoClick requires OS X 10.6.6 and Apple Mail.
The cost is $15.00 and InfoClick can be purchased from the InfoClick page. You can also download a 15 day fully working demo from the same page.
So if you use Apple Mail but are frustrated with Spotlight, InfoClick is for you. Give it a try and let us know what you think.
I am very happy to announce that at long last Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.4 is now available on the Mac App Store for updating and purchase.
So if you have purchased from the MAS please go to the store and download the update.
The good news is that Nisus Writer Express has been approved by Apple and is now available at the Mac App Store as an update or for purchase.
As for Nisus Writer Pro, it has been rejected. We have resubmitted Pro to the App Store and are awaiting approval again. We will keep you updated here and in our newsletter when more information is available to us.
We know that the latest versions of Nisus Writer Pro and Nisus Writer Express have been out for a short while, but we wanted to fix some commonly reported problems quickly. So, we are happy to announce the release of Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.4 and Nisus Writer Express 3.4.3.
Here are the highlighted changes since Pro 2.0.3 and Express 3.4.2:
The complete release notes can be found here for Express and here for Pro. They can also be found under the Help menu in both Express and Pro.
Both applications can be updated from within each app. Select “Check for Updates” from the “Nisus Writer Pro/Express” menu and follow the instructions. You can also download directly from our site.
Nisus Writer Pro and Express require OS X 10.6.6.
For those of you who have purchased through the Mac App Store both Express and Pro have been submitted but we have no idea when they will be approved. It could be a few days or two weeks. We will update this blog and send out a newsletter when the apps are approved.
We are very happy to announce the release of Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.3, Nisus Writer Express 3.4.2, and Nisus Thesaurus 1.1.1.
Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.3 adds support for Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8) and fixes some bugs. One change we should mention up front is that Pro now requires Mac OS X 10.6.6.
Here are the highlights:
• Requires Mac OSX 10.6.6.
• Nisus Writer Pro is now signed using an Apple Developer ID, so it runs under Gatekeeper (OSX 10.8).
• Improved hyphenation for many non-English languages (including Danish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and more).
• Fixed: Splash screen can incorrectly stay visible after Nisus Writer finishes launching.
• Faster subsequent launches.
• Fixed: A variety of issues when making a PDF/printout.
• Improvements to EPUB export.
The complete release notes can be found here or under the Help menu in Pro 2.0.3.
Nisus Writer Pro can be updated from within the app. Select “Check for Updates” from the “Nisus Writer Pro” menu and follow the instructions. You can also download from our site.
Nisus Writer Express 3.4.2 receives many of the same updates as Pro 2.0.3:
• Requires Mac OSX 10.6.6.
• Nisus Writer Express is now signed using an Apple Developer ID, so it runs under Gatekeeper (OSX 10.8).
• Improved hyphenation for many non-English languages (including Danish, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and more).
• Fixed: Splash screen can incorrectly stay visible after Nisus Writer Express finishes launching.
• Faster subsequent launches.
• Fixed: A variety of issues when making a PDF/printout.
The complete release notes can be found here or in Express under the Help menu.
Nisus Writer Express can be updated from within the app. Select “Check for Updates” from the “Nisus Writer Express” menu and follow the instructions. You can also download from our site.
Nisus Thesaurus receives one update: It is now signed using an Apple Developer ID so it runs under Gatekeeper in Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8).
Nisus Thesaurus is free and can be updated from within the application or from our Thesaurus page.
Both Nisus Writer Pro and Nisus Writer Express can be purchased directly from our store. Nisus Writer Express is only $45. You can upgrade from Express 1.x or 2.x for only $30. Nisus Writer Pro is only $79. Upgrades from Pro 1.x are only $49.
For those of you who have purchased through the Mac App Store Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.3 and Nisus Writer Express 3.4.2 have been submitted but we have no idea when they will be approved. It could be a few days or two weeks. We will post to our blog and send out a newsletter when the apps are approved.
For those of you visiting from Macworld, thank you for coming.
To thank you for your interest and to sweeten the deal, we are putting both Nisus Writer Express and Nisus Writer Pro on sale.
From now until July 1 we are offering the full version of Nisus Writer Pro for only $59 (regular price $79). The upgrade is $39 (regular price $49). Nisus Writer Express is now $39 (regular price $45) and the upgrade price is $25 (regular price $30).
Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.2 and Nisus Writer Express 3.4.1 require an Intel Mac and at least OS X 10.4.11.
So please, read the reviews, then purchase either Pro or Express from our store or the Mac App Store before July 1.
It isn’t every day that Macworld reviews our applications. It would be weird if they did, don’t you think? Anyway, since the last newsletter Macworld has posted their thorough reviews of both Nisus Writer Express and Nisus Writer Pro.
Nisus Writer Express was given a 3.5 out of 5 rating. The reviewer stated “…Nisus Writer Express is a very decent basic word processor. If you want to write business letters, school papers (including papers with extensive notes, graphics, and tables), or simply do basic text editing, Nisus Writer Express will do a great job. And it’s a pleasure to use.”
Macworld gave Nisus Writer Pro a 4.5 out 5 rating. In his extensive review William Porter wrote the following:
…Nisus Writer Pro 2.0.0 impressed me so much that I may begin to go to it rather than Pages for most of my writing. True, Pages does a fair bit of what Nisus Writer Pro does and costs less. But Nisus Writer Pro’s higher price is still not unreasonable. And there are things about Nisus Writer Pro’s user interface (like writing in Draft View) and about its special features (including PowerFind) that I, at least, find hard to resist. And although I don’t need Nisus Writer Pro’s long-document features often, I think it makes sense to spend a few more dollars and get Nisus Writer Pro.
If you would like to see what all of this fuss is about, visit our store or the Mac App Store to purchase one (or both!) of these highly rated and favorably reviewed word processors.
I normally do not go in for all of the various World (name your favorite subject) days, but in this case I feel that this subject is very important to those of us who are using computers.
Today, 31 March, is World Backup Day. As someone who has had a hard drive fail and has lost data, this is something worthy to promote.
Let’s face it: there is no excuse for not backing up. Drives are relatively cheap, and the major operating systems have backup apps built in. Backing up is easy and cheap, and a life saver when (not if) your hard drive fails.
So please, do yourself a favor and backup in honor of World Backup Day.
Your data thanks you.
Recently we received an email from a user who asked “Is Nisus going to support Mountain Lion? If so, are you going to support older machines?”
Yes, we are going to support Mountain Lion when it is released. The other question is more complicated. We have, for the most part, ended support for the PowerPC architecture. From here on we will support Intel-based Macs running Snow Leopard and up. Our web stats show that the vast majority (well over 90 percent) of our users are on Snow Leopard or Lion. Plus, there are API’s that we would like to use and we can’t do that if we are supporting older operating systems.
Apple sort of forces our hand in this area. They are a forward moving company and rarely if ever look backwards. As a developer you have to look forward or get left behind. So, we choose to look forward and enjoy the view.
Being under NDA there isn’t much I can say about Mountain Lion but I can state that we are in the preliminary stages of testing for compatibility with OS X 10.8. Hopefully there won’t be too much work to do on this front.
The last two years, thanks to you guys, we finished first in the About.com Readers Choice award in the Best Mac Word Processor category against some very good competition. We were lucky enough to be nominated again for the award this year. The voting has started, and the competition is just as tough.
So please take a minute, go to the About.com Readers Choice Awards site and vote for us.
Thank you for your support.
Seth Godin, on The Domino Project blog, wrote up his experiences writing and producing a (free) book using, among other tools, Nisus Writer Pro.
“I wrote the manifesto in Nisus, a fabulous word processor for the Mac. Using styles, I was easily able to create a numbered header for each section, and to see what the manifesto would look like when it was read. When it was finished, I sent it by email to my trusted copyeditor Catherine, who sent it back redlined in Word. I conformed her changes and took it back into Nisus.
To create the printable PDF, all I had to do was change the styles, add a footer and “save as PDF”. Nisus lets you put live links within the file as you’re writing it, and those links come through in the PDF, which is essential for a manifesto–the riff is a launching point, so I wanted to be sure readers could easily click to find out more about the sources I used.”
Thank you Seth!
You can read the entire blog post here.
We are happy to announce that Nisus Writer Express, Nisus Writer Pro, and Nisus Thesaurus are available in the Mac App Store.
This is a big deal for us since it potentially exposes us to a wider audience. Plus, we can tell people that we are in the app store, which is nice.
Nisus Writer Express is $45, Nisus Writer Pro is $79, and Nisus Thesaurus is a free download.
There are some things you should know, however, if you are thinking of purchasing from the app store. You cannot purchase upgrades, family packs, or any other versions other than full versions. Those items can be purchased from our store, which we will continue to operate for the foreseeable future.
Second, if you have already purchased Pro or Express you cannot use the app store to update your products. They can only be updated through the app store if you purchased through the app store. You can still update through us if you purchased previously from our store.
No matter which option you choose we thank you for choosing us.
I would like to take ’tis opportunity to remind all ye pirates that ’tis be speak Like A scurvy pirate Day.
’tis be a day to relax, stay home, ‘n partake in drinkin’ ‘n eatin’ heartily ‘n merrily. Ahoy thar, matey!
I have read many thoughts and memories regarding Steve Jobs today. The one I like the most is this story told by Vic Gundotra of Google.
To me it sums up what Steve Jobs is about.
From the same company who brought you this cinematic experience and … well, whatever this is, now brings you this:
The full story on the thinking behind this is here.
Windows Phone 7 might actually be a pretty good product. But, this isn’t going to help your cause, mates.
That is so bad I won’t even bother with this page.
And just like that, VersionTracker is gone. It was purchased by CNET a few years ago, and seemed to get less attention as time went on. Now it has been rolled into CNET Downloads.
It’s not that I was a huge fan of VersionTracker, but in its day it was a valuable tool. In its heyday it was the place to find out about updates to your favorite Mac software. You could also read the sometimes hilarious comments and angry rants. It was both fun and infuriating for developers.
If you are not a fan of CNET Downlads, MacUpdate is around to fulfill your Mac updating needs.
But I for one will miss VersionTracker just a bit.
I know that Labor Day is supposed to be a day to celebrate us working folks. But, it also seems to be an excuse to throw a sale. And we here at Nisus are no exception.
From now until September 7th, save twenty percent on most versions of Nisus Writer Pro and Nisus Writer Express. Just go to our store and purchase, no coupons or secret handshakes needed.
So if you ever wanted to purchase Pro or Express and save some money, now is the time.