![]() ![]() Again, this is so easy to fix and the competition is still limited. And if you do eventually get to the website you have to do a lot of work to understand and more importantly believe the value proposition of NWE. Mariner and mellel come up, but no nisus. And if you don't believe me try typing "mac word processor" or "word processor mac" into google. However, I also think nisus has a bit of a marketing problem, or at least a few missed marketing opportunities. I think NWE is great and has lots of potential. Good marketing sells software and the more software nisus can sell the more resources they have to invest in the professional features that we all want. However, most people will not likely spend the time to figure out the NWE value proposition. With MS Office not supporting intel macs (well) until next year (at the earliest) people like me are looking for alternatives. Why is this important? Because great software doesn't sell if people don't know why it is of value to them. They clearly communicate why someone should be interested in their software. If you look at their new website (which still isn't great) its moving in the right direction. This is a missed opportunity and Mellel is selling the NWE market position. It talks quite a bit of work before their value proposition is clear. I think that NWE is a really innovative little gem, but you don't get this impression by visiting there website. To use Seth Godin's term, it's not much of a purple cow (if you haven't read the book its a good one). Right now the website looks a little bit dated and just average. I also think that the nisus website could use a face lift to better promote the mac-like and innovative side of their "word processor for writers" value proposition. ![]() More importantly, I really want to see the addition of academic writing tools like outlining and tight GUI integration with reference management software (Sente and Bookends). I also like the interface, although I would like to see a bit more graphic polish. I think this is a brilliant way to navigate large documents and keep them organized.Īt this point I am leaning towards NWE, largely because I like having my files stored in a standard format - RTF. I also really like Mellel's outline pane. Sure, it's easy enough to scan an RTF document, but a GUI interface make reference management a joy. Mellel has nice integration with reference management software, which is becoming important for people writing academic papers. Beautiful things just seem to work better - because they are a joy to use. NWE also has a real nice UI, which is important to me. It's a real convenience to send people a file without having to think about doing a conversion and knowing that they can open it. I like that NWE uses an open file format - RFT. I am still just evaluating these products and there are things I like about both. I also like the fact that both these products seem to have a good community of users who actively help shape the end result. The "writer's word processor" is a powerful value proposition to me - especially if the product can actually deliver on this promise. These products are loved and used by professional and serious writers. In both cases what really started to sell me on even considering NWE or Mellel over Word was its market position. It's nice for its page layout abilities, but not really great for serious writing work. There is also Pages, but its not really a lean mean writing machine. It seems that these are the two main Mac OS X only word processors out there. Then I discovered Nisus Writer Express and Mellel. NeoOffice has some potential, but its not ready for intel. In other words it doesn't work the way a mac app should. Moreover, it's not very mac friendly at this point. I was familiar with OpenOffice both on Linux and Windows and while I think it has a lot of potential it has little market acceptance at this point. All that to say, I started to explore other options. In particular, because I have an intel mac. However, I wasn't really impressed with word on the mac. I was also a long time word user, largely because it's popularity has made it the standard for word processing documents. I love innovative people and companies who care about using technology to make my life better. And the NeXT heritage of MAC OSX was a significant part of getting me to finally switch. While at University I also spent some time using the NeXT platform. I have used various versions of the mac os through the years, having worked and studied in the creative arts and design education industries. I am a recent switcher to the mac platform. The following are some marketing thoughts about NWE as it relates to my experience as a potential customer. ![]()
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