What bugs me is the developer hadn't touched Mou in a year and was trying to sell it at one point [1]. Then some developers decided to make an open source version of it called MacDown [2], which rubbed the Mou developer the wrong way, and he and his friends were bashing it as a blatant rip off of Mou [3]. The renewed interest in the project only seemed to come about when MacDown started getting traction.
I've used Mou and I think it's pretty stable. I don't see a problem with simply charging for it now. It seems unnecessary to raise money and bring on a whole team.
The developers are lazy about maintaining this software. It's not called 'stable'. I don't expect they would do better after this campaign. If you don't do it right, there is no reason to criticize others for doing it better.
I've used Mou since very early on, and have donated to the developer also. I use Mou every single day, without fail, and so glad to see that it's getting attention again.
My only issue is that the app has been fairly dormant for several months, maybe even up to a year, and I'm not sure what's prompted the urgency to finish and release Mou. It's come such a long way gradually and I hope it isn't rushed at the end.
I also hope it'll be taken in the same direction as originally intended, rather than to extract every last penny out of it. Of course, it's great to see Chen getting the sales he deserves, but I really hope he keeps in mind his original vision.
Or maybe you consider open-source this project, let those who really want to add more new features and fix bugs to do your job, rather than getting paid and doing nothing.
The developers of this project just don't actively respond to users' need. The development is so slow and I don't think they deserve the money.
I guess the Mou developers don't use GitHub at all? So why the software don't support GitHub Flavored Markdown (for a long time)? Every time I open the README.md of some project containing highlight syntax like this:
```js
var test;
```
the document is a mess! I end up writing my README.md in ST3 or vim.
I use Mou every day as well. But the goal of this project seems very vague. Exactly what is going to be added in the "1.0" release? Mou works pretty well for me right now. What is going to be added that will make it worth my while sponsoring this project?
The project vaguely states: "We'll pick the most wanted features from our contributors, implement them in 1.0." But there needs to be a little more meat here. What are some examples of the types of features you are considering? What are the new killer features that will be coming?
I agree, in its current form I don't have any issues regarding bugs or stability, but assuming Yosemite support will be needed some time soon, as well as potentially a Mac App Store integration.
Other than that, I'd say it's a good candidate for a 1.0.0 release, so I'm not sure exactly what the need for $20k is, unless it's to reimburse for time already spent?
I got an email from Mau about their fundraising campaign but the page their email linked to had a link to this HN article. Which is hilarious because (1) I got the backstory on Mau and this fundraising they are doing (which decreased my sympathy for them a lot, and (2) I discovered MacDown which crushes Mau. I opened 5 different README.md files and all of them were rendered much better by MacDown. Wow, what an F-up by the Mau people!
I donated before, in the hope that the visual synchronisation between left and right panel would improve (select something right, and it gets selected in the source left). Unfortunately, nothing happened within a year.
I use it quite a bit too, and have donated before too, even though you can get it for free, I thought the developer deserved something for his work, as it is truly an amazing app to get for free.
Sorry for disturbed you. We only send this news to those who have asked me for help previously.
Since you have emailed me a question about Mou in Augest 21, 2012 (I anwsered your question immediately), we thought you'd be interested in this news and you might be glad to help us.
I've used Mou and I think it's pretty stable. I don't see a problem with simply charging for it now. It seems unnecessary to raise money and bring on a whole team.
[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7948079
[2]: https://github.com/uranusjr/macdown
[3]: https://twitter.com/remaerd/status/484914820408279040