I was a paying user and they switched plans, removed me. Bloat, constant unwanted change killed it for me. I now use a mix of Notes, Joplin, Notion, Paper and Google Docs.
Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
81–90 of 189 posts
Re: Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
#82It failed because it turned the app into bloat and killed multi-device syncing. Most of the decisions made regarding product features were user-hostile not just to the free tier, but also to paying users who did not want the "features" they kept pushing out.
This is a very similar path to the one that Skitch and Dropbox took. In each case, instead of perfecting and maintaining a really good app, business pressures caused them to pursue growth at all costs. This is a common problem these days.
I think more tech companies need to give up on growth mode and be OK with just being a regular old dividend paying company. I mean honestly, how big can some note-taking app possibly get? Or Snap for instance, which is getting into hardware, into content creation, etc. Who asked for this? I think the business and the users would be better served with being realistic about what an app is for and doubling down on a good user experience, rather than piling on layer after layer of bloat in the hope that some of it sticks.
Re: Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
#83Evernote was the first note taking app I ever used. It was simple and effective. It turned into an unusable monstrosity at some point.
Re: Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
#84Shameless plug but for the past 2 years we have slowly been working to replace Evernote with Notesnook [1]. Sounds weird to say "replace Evernote" when Evernote is absolute shit (no offense) but one of the main reasons we went this route is because Evernote did one thing right: It made personal note taking approachable & actually fun. Nowadays, a lot of the modern note taking apps (Notion, Slite etc.) are focused on…
Do you guys optimize for local-first? Can I drop in to start editing without having to wait for network lag or sync? Is multi-device syncing rock solid?
Can I add pictures and links to other entries?
Can I import my existing Evernote notes?
If I wanted a team workflow, I'd use Google Docs and Notion. This is for just personal note and knowledge base I can tap into quickly via my phone.
Re: Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
#85It failed because it turned the app into bloat and killed multi-device syncing. Most of the decisions made regarding product features were user-hostile not just to the free tier, but also to paying users who did not want the "features" they kept pushing out.
> but also to paying users
I was a paid user of the lower tier, and I decided to leave when they kept showing me nag screens to push me to buy the higher tiers. Totally unacceptable in a product I was paying for.
Re: Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Obsidian is great for syncing my notes across several devices. It was the major challenge I've struggled with for several years before it.
Are you using the Obsidian subscription/cloud service, or have you made a system to sync directly, e.g., Windows Android platforms? If the latter, could you share your solution (I took a quick crack at it, but the link structure seems to require nontrivial management?) TIA
I'm using SyncThing across Windows, Linux, and Android
Re: Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is a very similar path to the one that Skitch and Dropbox took. In each case, instead of perfecting and maintaining a really good app, business pressures caused them to pursue growth at all costs. This is a common problem these days.
Once companies hire Product Managers, it is usually downhill from there in 80% of cases. The problem is that the PMs are incentivized to deliver features, even if that is not the right thing to do. See: Postman.
This is not necessarily true. PMs are incentivized to use product as a means to grow the business. This usually does manifest itself as delivering product features - but it can manifest itself in other ways. Ultimately product managers are tasked with discovering how to grow the product areas they are owning. Great product managers will work closely with users to understand their needs to refine & grow the product. Examples of ways PMs can accomplish things like this without necessarily delivering new product features: better user onboarding, in-app product tours & engagement, etc.
If a PM is just delivering features without tying it back to user needs, business growth & product strategy then they are just a "feature factory" which is bad product management.
Re: Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
#88Honestly Apple Notes works really well. It doesn't have much features, but its simplicity should be the baseline of any note taking app
How do you get your notes out of apple notes though? They're like some sort of covetous demon who won't let your notes go once it consumes them. I literally went to the apple notes discord once and asked them directly and their response was basically "Apple Notes isn't design to be used for more than 100 notes"... so be very very careful about choosing to use Apple Notes cause you may never get your notes out of ther…
Applescript can control Notes.
Re: Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
#89For me it was the constant nagging to pay for it.
That alone wouldn't have been so bad, but even after I paid for their silver tier (or whatever it was called) they then started to nag me to upgrade to the gold one.
No respect for their paying customers.
Re: Why Evernote failed to realize its potential (2021)
#90Over the years I've realized that I don't actually care for or need the "note taking" part of applications like these. What I need is a textual data store that can be efficiently and effectively indexed, searched and (automatically) tagged, and for the ability to quickly filter streams and feeds of targeted information from that data store (with the option to share them publicly via RSS - my public feeds are in my pr…
This is the same use case I have, I use Evernote notably because of the excellent web scraper. Can you share more about your software?