WriteRoom 2.0

I don’t personally feel the need for a full-screen writing mode, but many people do, and WriteRoom 2.0 looks like a great implementation of the idea. It’s a tricky problem to solve: How do you make an app that feels Mac-like but which hides the entire Mac user interface? WriteRoom 2 feels like the answer.

WriteRoom 1 was (and remains) freeware; version 2 costs $25. Unsurprisingly, the cheapskates popped out of the woodwork to complain about the price, and WriteRoom developer Jesse Grosjean seems at least somewhat disappointed by their criticism. This sort of thing is inevitable for indie developers: if your price is high enough for you to be successful, some people will complain, sometimes harshly, that it’s too high. But if no one is complaining about your price, it isn’t high enough.

★ Friday, 5 January 2007