Great software is timeless

I started working as a freelancer in late 2011, on a PC I assembled myself. I knew that was not going to last. In the spring of 2012 I bought my first Mac, a 17" Mac Book Pro. The first thing I did, after initial setup, was to log into the store and buy iA Writer.

iA Writer came out in late 2010 and I remember being so envious of Mac people because they had access to such a great piece of software. I'm not exaggerating in saying that iA Writer was one of the primary reasons why I switched to Mac.

I purchased the—now legacy—first version in April 2012. I then upgraded in 2013 when the new version came out. I bought my first iPhone in December 2014 and guess what's the first app I purchased? Yup, iA Writer for iOS. Still sitting there in my account, at the bottom of the list, December 2nd 2014.

I'm writing this piece on my old 13" MBP, using iA Writer. I write my weird newsletter from the top of a mountain using iA on my phone. I make to do lists with iA Writer. It's been almost 10 years. This seemingly simple piece of software has been with me for a third of my life and almost my entire professional life. Many other apps came and went. This stayed. And will continue to stay with me hopefully forever. Why? Because it never tried to do anything more than what it was supposed to do: help me focus on writing. Each iteration of the app added something new but without sacrificing or compromising what it was at the beginning. It's still a stupidly minimal piece of software, with gorgeous typography and what to me is the best writing experience possible.

So thank you, iA. Thank you for putting all this care and attention on a piece of software. Thank you for not following the stupid trend of trying to make an app do everything. Thank you for not going down the subscription route. I, and I'm sure many others really, REALLY appreciate it.