If the rumors are correct, Mac OS X 10.7 (otherwise known as Lion) will be released very soon.

Currently, Express 3.3.2 and Nisus Writer Pro 2.0 are compatible with Lion, apart from a few issues that we have identified so far. These issues will be fixed in Express and Pro 2 in upcoming releases. These updates should be released within a week. Pro 2 will receive a handful of fixes for issues that appeared after its release (including fixes for the page number display bug and the Bookends issue).

The other big issue that will come up, if the reports are true, is that Rosetta will no longer be included in OS X.

(A quick primer: Rosetta is software that enables PowerPC applications to run on the newer Intel Macs.)

Rosetta was introduced with Mac OS X Tiger (10.4) and was also included with Leopard (10.5). It then became an optional installation with Snow Leopard (10.6). That is apparently where it will end.

How does this relate to Express and Pro? While both of these applications are universal binaries (which can run on both PowerPC and Intel Macs) the file importers were PowerPC until recently. Since that means using Rosetta, this presents a problem.

In the case of Pro, we have already switched the file importer to Intel, so there is no problem for owners of Intel Macs. We still offer a version with a PowerPC importer, but moving forward we will phase out PowerPC support.

Express uses a different file importer that is only PowerPC. With Rosetta (allegedly) being phased out we will switch Express to use the file importer built into OS X, which is compatible with both Intel and PowerPC Macs.

So that is the update. More information will follow once we get close to release.

The fine folks at TidBits have posted an extensive review of Nisus Writer Pro 2.

Incidentally, the review was written by a person whom some of you may remember.

After a lengthy development and private beta testing period, we are very happy to announce the release of Nisus Writer Pro 2. As I stated in the previous blog post, this is a huge release for us. And believe me when I tell you we are very happy to have this out. We can all sleep now! Well, maybe tomorrow.

This new version has taken us pretty close to two years to realize, and we have added many features that have been requested by our users (that means you guys). We also added things that we like, just to be fair.

Anyway, this new version of Nisus Writer Pro adds the following features:

• track changes
• drawing tools (shapes, lines, floating text boxes)
• watermarks
• paragraph-level borders and shading
• EPUB export
• a customizable “special characters” menu and palette
• saved PDF files create clickable links for cross references, page numbers in generated TOCs/Indexes, and hyperlinks
• spelling panel has “Correct All” button
• preference to control color of page in Page View; color of text in Draft View
• zoom style to “Show Text Width”, which excludes the margins in Page view
• help reducing clutter in files with many comments (they are automatically repositioned and faded out based on current edit/scroll location)
• preference to control navigator pane font
• added a whole slew of PowerFind bubbles
• user can control exact size of an image (numerically), and its padding
• menu to lock page guides so mouse drags can’t accidentally alter margins
• menus to select the next instance of an applied style
• saving a PDF can include comments (as PDF annotation icons)
• text analysis window now also shows results for just the selected text
• vertical ruler

In addition, there are literally hundreds (around 500!) of fixes, additions, optimizations, and other changes in Pro 2. A full list of changes is available at the Pro release notes page. As I stated earlier, this is a huge release for us.

Nisus Writer Pro 2 is available now at our store for only $79. You can upgrade from previous versions of Pro for $49. A three license Family Pack is also available for $99. You can order a CD version for an additional $10 plus shipping. Those of you who have purchased Nisus Writer Pro 1.x in the last 90 days will be upgraded to Pro 2 for free. An email containing a license number and a link to download should be arriving shortly.

Nisus Writer Pro 2 requires at least Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11. As a side note, the main download is now an Intel only version. A version that also works on Power PC machines will also be available. All versions can be downloaded from the Pro download page.

For more information and to download the 15 day fully working demo please visit our Nisus Writer Pro page.

Thank you for your continued support.

We have been pretty quiet over the last few months or so. Our last update to Pro was a little over a year ago. However, that doesn’t mean we haven’t been working. On the contrary, we have been working very hard. We just don’t like to talk about features we are working on before they are ready. We know this upsets some people but we would rather not say anything until we can back up what we promise.

So having said all of that, I can say a few things about what we have been working on. We have worked hard to add a couple of huge features to Nisus Writer Pro: track changes and a suite of drawing tools (shapes, lines, floating text boxes). Those features alone took a great deal of time. There are other features, but those two are the ones I can talk about for the moment. We will announce the other features when we release, which should be in the next few weeks. Hopefully sooner.

The other issue I would like to mention is that the next release of Nisus Writer Pro will be a paid upgrade. The price will be $49 to download the upgrade, and a CD version will be available for an extra $10 plus shipping. The full version is $79. There will also be a family pack and academic pricing.

So that’s the update for now. More after we finalize everything and are ready to release.

Since school has started for most, if not all of you, I thought it would be a good time to mention this article from Macgasm.

In her “Macgasm Presents: A Back-to-School Macstravaganza!” article, Susan Piggot mentions Nisus Writer Pro among many cool and essential apps for those of you heading back to school.

There are many reasons to purchase Pro, but one of the best in this case is cost. The academic version of Nisus Writer Pro is only $39. This is the same version of Nisus Writer Pro that us non-academics purchase for $79. The only difference is price.

So, if you are an academic, and you want a word processor for your Mac that won’t break the bank, Nisus Writer Pro is a great choice.