Anyone who has watched Ubar constantly break across macOS updates will understand the point of a subscription fee. It’s non trivial to maintain and I doubt vibe coding is gonna help.
Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
121–130 of 327 posts
Re: Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why not offer both? I personally dislike subscriptions to the point where I’d gladly pay more to own, and as this thread shows, I’m not alone. So why not offer both?
Why offer both? Some people will take the subscription with extra steps and worse retention and I'm saying the product will be worse off for it. Why not just offer the thing with the simpler messaging*, better retention, and better outlook for actually being supported down the road even if it's not a massive success? * 1 year = 365 days, not when a new major version is subjectively justified Honestly anyone who'd ove…
Why not? Apple decides when a breaking change gets introduced, people on an older Intel Mac might get 5+ years of usage out of a Lifetime license for boringBar if they don't upgrade to macOS 27. It's the people that demand constant updates who should subsidize new versions being developed.
> Honestly anyone who'd over index [...] is doomed unless they learn about conversion rates
Converting those sales is OP's problem. People that don't buy SaaS products are principled and their stance won't change.
Re: Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
#123I am the target audience for this, from a UX and tech perspective. It addresses a problem I have and for which I periodically audition solutions. A subscription for a menu bar, though, kills it for me. I have apps on Macs that are over 20 years old. Some of those companies don’t exist anymore. I’m not going to risk paying $100 for a decade of your app and hope that your company, or your goodwill, stays around that lo…
Since this is the top comment as of now - hijacking this to introduce a change to pricing: ------ OP here - based on the feedback, I’ve switched boringBar to a perpetual license for personal use: https://boringbar.app It’s now $40 for 2 devices and includes 2 years of updates. After that, you can keep using the version you have, or choose to pay for updates again later. For businesses, I’m keeping the existing annual…
What was your justification for the monthly fee in the first place?
There is a model that worked for decades: If you spent a _significant_ amount of work enhancing an existing tool you'd release a new major version. The would be a discount for license holders of the old version. Why reinvent the world over and over again?
Re: Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
#124Amazing what a bunch of swine the commenters are towards OP here. Always complaining, never creating anything of value themselves.
OP: Congratulations on what seems to be a very nice taskbar!
I have two suggestions:
- I miss the ability to pin folders like on the MacOS Dock. For example for your Downloads folder.
- The applications menu should open when the cursor clicks in the corner, not only over the icon. Fitts's law.
- The active window background color is too bright in dark mode. It draws too much attention on the screen.
Re: Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
#125Wow, this looks very clean. I'm not the target audience, but if I was looking for a tool in this category, this would be highly attractive to me. Very subtle design that isn't distracting or busy. Well done! Edit: Ok, feedback. Please know that I'm a junky for independent Mac apps that I find interesting. This is interesting to me. This feedback is entirely meant to be constructive. I like the app so far and I want i…
I can second the issue with the automatic color selection; with my background photo it cashes out to an illegible black on black, and there's no (obvious) option to change the theme or override the computed colors.
It seems like it would be relatively straightforward to honor the user's light mode/dark mode setting, and the WCAG accessibility guidelines [1] do a good job of both discussing the importance of luminance contrast to legibility, and providing resources and advice toward programmatically selecting text vs. background colors to ensure everything stays readable.
(I did go ahead and purchase a subscription, since I was one of the people who asked for the option. I'll keep an eye out over the coming weeks for updates! Considering the immediate and extensive interest in boringBar that's been very much evident today, I'm really looking forward to seeing where development goes on this. Congratulations on your successful Show HN!)
[1] https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG21/Understanding/contrast-minimum...
Re: Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
#126I am trying it but the colors don't seem correct. I cannot read the title of any other tab except currently selected one: https://imgur.com/a/t0BDxuC
PS: How to contact developer? I cannot find email.
Neat idea!
Re: Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
#127Ah, good old Apple, where for only $9.99 a month, you can experience what Linux offered for free 15+ years ago.
as long as we're quipping, free software is free so long as you don't value your time
It takes me longer to login to PayPal than it takes to install Dash-to-Panel: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1160/dash-to-panel/
Maybe that's just what $10 worth of labor looks like in today's economy, though. Times are tough.
Re: Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Feedback from a potential customer: I despise 2-device limits. I used DEVONthink for a decade but dropped it because of that exact thing. At home, I have a Mac Studio[0] set up in my office with my music stuff, and I'm writing this on my MacBoor Air[1] here on my lap in the living room. I also have a work laptop, although it's safely tucked away in my backback right now. My wife has an MBA, too, but that's hers and I…
You can purchase multiple licenses. If you can afford a dozen computers, you can afford a couple more licenses.
Very true! Completely irrelant here, because I only purchased one of those computers as you correctly noted, but true!
Re: Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
Since this is the top comment as of now - hijacking this to introduce a change to pricing: ------ OP here - based on the feedback, I’ve switched boringBar to a perpetual license for personal use: https://boringbar.app It’s now $40 for 2 devices and includes 2 years of updates. After that, you can keep using the version you have, or choose to pay for updates again later. For businesses, I’m keeping the existing annual…
What was your justification for the monthly fee in the first place? There is a model that worked for decades: If you spent a _significant_ amount of work enhancing an existing tool you'd release a new major version. The would be a discount for license holders of the old version. Why reinvent the world over and over again?
Simple answer right? It makes more money.
Not saying that was OPs motivation but that's obviously why the shift happened.
Re: Show HN: boringBar – a taskbar-style dock replacement for macOS
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Given how many developers here use LLMs daily, how do you think about defensibility? Tools like this seem relatively easy to reverse-engineer and replicate with enough time and LLM assistance. Did that influence your decision to charge a subscription or the change to a personal license?
>> how do you think about defensibility? defensibility nowadays is app support and development. the more work you pour into it the more defensible it will be. I personally would gladly pay to have app constantly polished and improved. What I would not use is some vibe-coded alternative that was slopped with AI in a day and pushed to github with a tweet "i made a free X alternative" and then abandoned.
I would not.
I'm not paying $40 for a taskbar replacement. And not for two years of updates and a two device limit on top.
Maybe if it was $10, I could consider it. Prices for macOS apps are insane in my opinion. Everyone wants to charge yearly or every two years now too.