[bouncingsoul]

The whole pricing/platform debate seems like a red herring.

> Brent took a job at the excellent Omni Group in September 2014, and from that point onward the writing was on the wall. We could have, and probably should have, shut Vesper down a year ago. But we loved it too much. Or at least I did.

> I even cheat, personally, and run Vesper on my Mac in the iOS Simulator

1. There was only one developer in the company.

2. That developer got a day job (quit).

3. Gruber and the musician partner are stranded with an app they can't update and a Mac app they can't finish on their own.

Gruber clearly loves Vesper. He runs it in the freaking simulator. I really doubt he needed to see huge financial returns to keep at it.

It sounds like the real lesson is: It sucks when your technical cofounder quits.

[nihonde]

For a guy who opines all day about Apple, the fact that he can't maintain a pretty simple iOS app is telling. If you really care about the app and your users, you read the damn docs and get to work. I taught myself in less than six months, and my app is free. Although I don't have much time, I still keep it running out of respect for my 50 thousand or so users.

This especially annoys me after their enfillade of blog posts about best practices for UI and pricing of Vesper.

[Unbeliever69]

This is what drove me to abandon Ux in favor of a life-long dream of programming via a mid-life career shift. I was simply tired of relying on programmers to realize my visions AND being beholden to them if decided, for whatever reason, to jump ship. Luckily, I've been a lifelong programmer, but never professionally. The result is that I'm much happier and only have myself to blame if a product doesn't come to fruition.

[panglott]

This is true, but I was glad to see Gruber put his money where his mouth is and spend some time in an app developer's shoes.

[paulcole]

But did he really? Did he have a development role in Vesper? Or was it just project manager-ish?

[rtpg]

I feel like nobody's really obliged to do anything. Maintenance is work, after all. Though I think it's cool when things exist for the community.

If you're abandoning a project, releasing the source seems like a Good Thing To Do. But people should be allowed to walk away from things if they do not enjoy it as much anymore (modulo service contracts).

[elsurudo]

I think the point is that he likely quit due to financial reasons.

[ZeroGravitas]

I've not followed the Apple scene for a while, but working for Omni seems like a great gig for an Apple-centric developer, so it's not necessarily about money.

[veidr]

I can confirm that; as a long time Mac dev, Omni has for over a decade been at the top of the list of companies I would want to work for, if location wasn't an issue. (It is, though, because I live in Tokyo and that's important to me, too; Omni, last I talked to them at least, doesn't do remote.)

But still, one of the awesome things about working at Omni is that they pay you.

A minimalist note-taking app that only runs on iOS — even if tastefully designed by famous-in-the-niche and well-liked programmer, and publicized by the most widely-read Apple blogger — not so much.

They say flat out that it didn't make enough money; I don't see any reason to second-guess them and develop alternate theories...

[doe88]

[...]

You're blunt.

> It sounds like the real lesson is: It sucks when your technical cofounder quits.

But I think you're right.