LEV  It would be nice if everything were free. And a Lexus is really just a souped-up Suzuki Swift...

Actually I don't think putting Scrivener and Ulysses head to head is quite right. I've used both since they first appeared and I still use both. Scrivener is a brilliant free-form organizer with some very sophisticated writing tools; Ulysses encourages a more disciplined approach. To be glib, Scrivener is for feeling your way forward, Ulysses is for managing a writing project when you already know more or less where you're going.

Given that Ulysses is developed by (I believe) working journalists and Scrivener by a chap who wanted to write a novel and couldn't find the right app to do it in, it's curious that, for me at least, Scrivener turns out to be ideal for non-fiction while Ulysses is rather better-suited to the total immersion required for writing fiction. (Others may disagree, of course.)

Put even more simply, I find Scrivener encourages a smaller granularity that Ulysses. Scrivener's natural unit is a scene at a time; Ulysses', a chapter at a time. Depends what you're doing and how you like to write.

As to price -- well, if you write in order to put bread on the table, the cost of either is small beer compared with the benefits they deliver.

Try them both. You might end up buying them both. How many tools does a carpenter have in his toolbox?  
(Version 1.6r2)

CHANGEWK  Hmmm. Half the price of what it used to be plus an interesting new feature set plus their website advertising is no longer arrogant. Finally got my interest.  
(Version 2.0)

KATASTROPHE  When I first bought Ulysses in (I think) 2003, I didn't balk at the price because there was simply nothing out there doing the job. The closest thing -- a program called Z-Write -- was on its way to becoming abandonware and had stability issues, and of the small number of other programs I found that let me do tabbed documents, all were simplistic to the point of irritating, buggy, or top-loading the program with useless (buggy) features in an attempt to make it more like Word, the program I was trying to get away from in the first place.

Scrivener and other newcomers have certainly changed the playing field, but I do think some of the comments here overly harsh. Is Ulysses high-priced compared to other programs? Yes. Is it the program for you? It may well not be; certainly check out the cheaper options first. But the beauty of Ulysses is not only what it does but what it doesn't do. It doesn't distract you, and yet it does deliver pretty much every feature I actually need, neatly, quietly, and in such a manner that the features are immediately accessible when I look and completely invisible when I don't. That's rare. And, for me, it's worth every penny.

I also want to note that the price on this listing is somewhat misleading. The actual price of Ulysses is (at the moment) eighty Euro, meaning its US dollar price varies depending on the strength of the Euro. Right now it's running about $100, a quarter less than the listing price.  
(Version 1.6r2)

ZO219  Yes, I know others have responded before me ... but I can't get past this astonishing idea that it is a *flaw* of Ulysses that it is not WYSIWYG ... when that is exactly what is intended. Do people not read, say, the description before they post?

One could as easily say that NisusWriter is flawed because it does all this darn formatting as you write. Hello.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. And you try not to waste other MacUpdate readers' time.  
(Version 2.0.4)

STEVEN GOODHEART  As a writer/editor, I can definitely see the appeal of this program. It does have a lot of editing/text manipulation horsepower. And yet, as I tried it out, I had this weird sense that I was suddenly back using WordStar on my first computer, a CP/M machine. I used WordStar and WordPerfect extensively, "back in the day" and knew by heart almost all of the embedded codes for formatting text. Then, WYSIWYG word processors began to make their debut, and it seemed like magic to see your actual formatting onscreen, rather than having to imagine what it would look like, until you printed, or did a formatting preview. After a while, embedded codes seemed so old-school and cumbersome to many people.

And now, 2009, 21st century, here comes Ulysses, with (very powerful) embedded codes and a WordStar-like embedded code paradigm! Of course, Ulysses is way more sophisticated, in many ways, than good ol' Wordstar, but I find it fascinating to see the power of embedded codes presented as way to do day-to-day editing, and not just layout, like LaTeX or the like.

I can definitely see how I could use the Ulysses approach as a way to get WYSIWYG out of the way, and endless tinkering with layout and format, and to really zero in on text creation and content. Of course, one can do this, with discipline, in a any good writing program, and one has to note that Ulysses also offers many, many other way-cool and data-base like features for keeping track of research and notes. I don't know if this has enough to move me away from Scrivenir or StoryMill, but it's definitely piqued my interest.  
(Version 2.0.1)

TALAZEM  This is an wonderful program for what it claims to do: plain text writing. But it really shines when one uses it in conjunction with LaTeX and other markup based writing. Why? Because the new features of 1.5 -- like inline style formatting and markers that can be set to export as markup -- can be be set to export as markup. This is excellent for people who like to export ultimately to LaTeX, with all the necessary markup, but do not want to *see* that markup on the screen as they write. This is a *huge* step in LaTeX editing/writing.

So, for example, you can apply styles to text -- for example, a yellow highlight, or the color red. That's what you see on your screen. Then, upon exoprt, you can have that be transformed to something else, such as LaTeX escapes.

Again, this isn't for people who just want to "type up some notes"; go use TextEdit for that. Don't care about plain text or LaTeX, and need RTF? Then Scrivener is the best of the breed (though, it must be said, that Scrivener also has an *awesome* LaTeX export mechanism due to its MMD integration).

The major weakness of Ulsses? The organizer. I understand they have their own philosophy, but ultimately, if I want to export into something PRINTABLE (as opposed to hypertext), then I need an outliner, a folder-type hierarchy. Why? Because that's how books and book-length documents (like theses) are organized. As it stands, Ulysses effectively has a two-level deep hierarchy. When I'm writing a book, or a thesis, that just isn't enough. Long printed publications are hierarchically based; that's reality. And I need a program that allows me to use that intuitive form of organization, and to move parts of the document around that hierarchy on the fly. It's just too hard to keep track of parts, chapters, sections, and subsections of a thesis or a book without as it stands now.

So -- since other have (unfairly) attacked Ulysses and praised the "competition -- let's be fair, and compare them based on relative *merits*: where do each of Ulysses and Scrivener shine (only focusing on strengths not existant in the other; not commenting on "writing software" features they both have)?

Scrivener: it has a database (to store your research files such as other RTFs, web pages, pdfs, etc, that you can then view within the prgoram); it is an RTF editor (if that's what you need); it has an excellent hierarchical organizer and outliner; it has excellent export abilities through MMD.

Ulysses: the ability to apply inline styles or markers that can then be translated into markup upon export is revolutionary, especially for LaTeX users; it is plain text (if that's what you need); you can choose to have inline footnotes, or footnotes in the notes pane; it is one of the most aesthetically pleasant pieces of software I have seen (not that Scrivener is ugly, and this is a subject thing, yes).

If the devs are listening, please put a hierarchical organizer (outliner) at the top of your developing priorities. That is the only thing necessary to make your excellent program perfect for people with plain text/LaTeX needs.

And if you're a user: please don't flame an apple for not being an orange (and mind you, neither are lemons).  
(Version 1.5)

GAIJIN  I've used Ulysses for 3 months now, and moved all my writing into it. I've tried Copyright, Devonthink, Jer's Writer (a favourite) and Scrivener (another close favourite); in the end, decided to go with Ulysses.

My reasons can be summarised in 3 words: productivity, speed, pleasure.

— Clear interface that speeds up work. I can see all I need on one window. I can view two documents in one window; helps editing a lot.

— Full screen. The best implementation ever. After this beauty, I can't use this feature in other programs.

— Formatting on export is wonderful. First most powerful formatting tools that meets all my needs and saves tons of time.

— Little under-rated 'featurettes' here and there, e.g. coded itallics, superb word counting features, typewriter scrolling (the reason I bought it in the first place), etc. All these save time and help focus.

— Stability. I know I can rely on quality here.

— Good customer support. At first I was put off by the lads' sense of humour, but then it grew on me. A very friendly, supportive team.

For improvement wishes, I'd say I still miss some sort of chapter structuring and chapter sorting on export. But, as I understand, this will be added in the next version, so I don't sweat this too much.

Highly recommended. Good job by the design team.   
(Version 1.2.2)

JOHN F.  I think Ulysses is really a top notch writing environment. No distraction, focus, just right. When I move away from this app, to try out writing in other apps, I get blocked. I have licenses for many apps (OmniOutliner, Hog Bay Mori, DevonThink Pro, Circus Ponies Notebook, and more), but this app is really the stuff for me. It just instantly gets me flowing. Words just start pouring. I don't know what it is about Ulysses that does the trick. I only know that it does. I still use OmniOutliner Pro for notes and outlines, but I do the writing in Ulysses. I think OmniOutliner Pro and Ulysses have become my favorite apps. They both are simple and simply do the trick. I think the transparency is what I love most about Ulysses. What you see is what you get. Nothing too fancy, nothing really hidden. Just focus and overview. For some people, Ulysses will really get you going. It is clearly not for everybody, but choice is good. It's good to know that there's an app for everybody right here on the Mac platform. I am also very happy that the developers didn't change any of the app's philosophy along the way. For the people who depend on this app, it's really reassuring. I choose to use this app because of the philosophy it introduces. I've seen so many apps that get added with a zillion features along the way that I don't recognize the app I fell in love with any more. Not so with Ulysses. Features do get added over time, but the app feels the same. And it is one of few apps which dares to make a bold statement and is made to cater for a specific audience, instead of searching for an audience.  
(Version 1.2.2r2)

LAWRENCE MARTIN  I'm using Ulysses because you can just type away without the many options word processors have. About all I miss is italics, because this is used widely in books and does have its uses.

There's a solid feel to it -- I find I trust Ulysses to type away into. Another very handy thing, perhaps not mentioned enough, is the Latex export. I'm new to this format myself, but if you get hold of TeXShop to make use of an exported Latex file, then hit typeset and print... well, you get a really, really nice looking manuscript; easier to read than a standard word processor print.

One final thing I'll note -- I had a little look at the saved Ulysses file. It is a package. So I did a "show package contents". Inside are more folders and I found the text documents of my writing. Somehow I found this very reassuring, as text files are simple and can be used on any platform. Also, it showed me that Ulysses is doing some extra work behind the scenes compared to, say, a word processor, which would generally save your work in a single file in its own format.

In short, features/qualities I like:

* Stable feel. * Clean, non-distracting interface. * Latex Exporting. * Clever saved files.  
(Version 1.2.2r2)

LAWRENCE GOODMAN  I want to add my voice to those who think this app is outrageously priced. It does have some nice features, but it’s essentially a souped-up text editor. Many of its features can be found in Textmate while Scrivener, in fact, has many more features and is far cheaper.

I really hope the developers will listen and lower the proce.  
(Version 1.6r2)