I entered Scrivener in the “Best User Experience” category. It didn’t even come runner-up. If I said I wasn’t absolutely gutted I would be lying. Wish I hadn’t entered now - yes, I know it is very difficult to win, and the two apps that came top and runner-up look great and are very deserving, but I’m a bad loser. It would be nice if they at least sent an automatic e-mail out to all contestants to thank them for entering and alerting them to the winners rather than uploading the winners and letting other entrees find out for themselves. I wonder if buying a WWDC ticket would have helped my chances…
It’s funny you posted that b/c when I saw the announcements in my rss feed I quickly rushed over to see which one Scrivener won and was shocked (and slightly appalled) that it did not win or come runner-up. It deserved to win for sure. Maybe next year?
Just having a peek around here will tell you the real writers use your program, whereas, although I guess one might when slumming, there really isn’t likely to be a real web developer going to use either of the winning programs.
And I think that’s the clue - it’s unlikely that the judges are either webbies or writers, but they’re likely to be scared by HTML. Anything that makes web pages easier to construct is always going to get a leg up. Whereas, writing, to the uninitiated, is something anyone can do in Notepad, right?
As someone who used to write (not that I’m any good) my stories in Word, I can tell you honestly that your program and especially the interface, has changed my writing life. Every time I think about replacing my iBook with a Win lappie, I think “But Scrivener won’t work!!!”.
I entered a computer contest back in high school. It was one of many contests covering a variety of subjects, and was entitled simply “Computer.” Pretty open, right? Well, my entry was a collection of complex Photoshop projects, 3D modeling projects, and photo tours of my experience in fixing computer hardware. I didn’t even get an honorable mention.
What did the three prize winners have? All three were the same - simple programs written in RealBasic or something like that (one of them was even nothing but the age-old “Hello World!” dialog box popping up).
The reason? The judges of the “Computer” contest were all programmers.
what are contests and prizes? Did the wheel-inventor ever win a contest? I basically dislike contest that separate winners and losers, everybody is a winner and a loser in a way. So, no respect to decisions in contests.
Cheer up, have a pint of beer and enjoy a growing user community and – not at least – some pounds filling your bank account.
I question whether you want to allow yourself to be judged by Apple’s design standards. I don’t think the judges were anything like those in Khadrelt’s high school computer contest in this case…
IMHO, you’ve managed a much more stable and highly functional program than most tools are even at 2.0. And it is just beautiful enough not to distract me from the work at hand.
I don’t mean to be crass, but I felt like sarcasm might best capture my point more fully, and yet disarm you of any sense that my intent is malevolent: I’m not sure if it’s possible to apply again, but if you want to apply next year, you might want to make it so that we navigate horizontally among our Scrivenings using Cover Flow, and when you click on a Scrivening it floats up, flips over gracefully and aligns itself with a 3-D virtual typewriter drum that really rotates as you type (using Core Animation).
For good measure, put those new Accordion type things all over the front page of this website. On second thought, don’t bother…
PS: Steve Jobs spent how much time using Cover Flow in … his Applications folder? That was his demonstration that Cover Flow will revolutionize the Finder. It was fun to see the big icons zoom by. I think this could be a useful tool, but somehow the priorities were way off. Are end users going to be so forgiving?
I have absolutely no use for any of the design winners, but I use Scr. daily for hours at a time, happily and thanking my lucky stars. I’m sorry you didn’t win, but please accept the deep gratitude of hundreds (or more???) happy users!!! Scrivener is the only program I’m still not eyeing replacements for!
A big part of these awards is more about which apps make the OS look great, and which use the coolest OSX features. It’s a bit of a showcase for Apple using broad appeal apps.
Scriv is absolutely great, but it’s not about showcasing OSX–it’s about writing. In this day and age… it’s not sexy enough to push sales…
Edited because I’m an idiot and didn’t click through to the right page…
Actually, Coda is proving very popular, and with good reason. And there’s no shame in losing to Panic, one of the longest-running and most innovative Mac indie developers around.
Keith, bad luck for not winning, but losing this award to Panic is a bit like losing the Embassy World Final to Ronnie O’Sullivan. And as others have pointed out, those of us who use Scrivener know that it’s a real winner
If I were to enter a contest like this, I would want to know what the judges were looking for. Polished appearance? Intuitive user interaction? Sophisticated or clever program language? Does it do something more or less fresh? (e.g., “not another program launcher is it??â€
An artist scorned today is tomorrow’s genius. It’s obvious the judges weren’t writers, or they have recognized a masterpiece when they saw it. Fortunately, you have many friends who are writers and they do recognize what a great program Scrivener is. Apple may not think you’re number one, but we do and I’d trust our judgment over theirs any day.
Apple is looking for software that splendidly shows off their latest operating system. If you look at the history of the awards they waft gently toward intrinsic merit and then swing firmly back to system promotion.
Think where you were (where Scrivener was) a year ago, and where you are now. This might give some indication about where you could be within a year from now.
For many of us wordprocessors and similar applications are more or less the centre of our computerized world. For the vast majority of computerized people, instead, they are not. Most people don’t give a damn about wordprocessors (because they don’t give a damn about literature and writing), but have instead a lively interest in web designing, in site developing, in photoshopping, and so on. That’s why I would have been almost astonished if a wordprocessor-like program like Scrivener would have won a similar contest.
Oh brother…
But I’m glad that page links to this post (I had read and forgotten about this) and celebrity discussion about “delicious” trends in Apple software rogueamoeba.com/utm/posts/Ar … 1-06-10-00
That really excites the curmudgeon in me.
Keith, you get your awards for Scrivener here. A whole forum full of it. Your users are a far more important and competent jury, I’d guess…
I had a look. Seems to me this award is for software that let a Mac look good. Okay. But honestly, I prefer a software let let my novels look good. I doubt a program with a lot of twisting and whirlings somethings would be helpful for that aim; it is instead Scriveners wellconsidered understatement that appeals to me.
Scriveners biggest advantage is to achieve that from time to time I completely forget the software, the computer, everything - and stay focused on my writing instead. This is how it should be.
I should hasten to restate that I don’t begrudge the winners one iota - they look like great pieces of software and I can very well see myself using Coda for writing web pages if, as I suspect, it will allow me to write HTML and check how it looks in a web page all at the same time - great!
No, I was just bemoaning my losing, not their winning. And the guys at Karelia have had their ideas “stolen” (quotes to avoid a lawsuit ) by Apple a couple of times, so they deserve some acknowledgement.
Keith, You’ve created a piece of software that, to my mind, is changing the meaning of the computer as a writer’s environment. Although I agree that awards not always chose right, it would have been great for you that Scrivener had more exposure. But I believe that Scrivener doesn’t need an award to entice its users. Let the grieving happen, but then put it behind, because the best writer’s environment in the industry needs you.
Wish I hadn’t entered now - yes, I know it is very difficult to win, and the two apps that came top and runner-up look great and are very deserving, but I’m a bad loser. 
It would be nice if they at least sent an automatic e-mail out to all contestants to thank them for entering and alerting them to the winners rather than uploading the winners and letting other entrees find out for themselves. I wonder if buying a WWDC ticket would have helped my chances…
