Update on the release timeframe for Scrivener 3 on Windows
Scrivener 3 on Windows for the Soul
As many of you already know, we’ve been coding Scrivener 3 on Windows for a number of years. It was our initial intention to release Scrivener 3 across both macOS and Windows at the same time during the latter part of 2017. Well, it was our initial intention to release early in 2017, but coding on both platforms took much longer than anticipated. We eventually launched Scrivener 3 on macOS on 20th November 2017, feeling entirely confident that our version for Windows would be available within a year. We proclaimed that Scrivener 3 on Windows would be launched at some point during 2018, and immediately started to offer free upgrade licensing for those purchasing Scrivener on Windows from 20th November 2017 onwards.
Our offer of a free upgrade to anyone purchasing licensing for our current iteration of Scrivener on Windows continues, but sadly, the launch of Scrivener 3 on Windows will not be happening in 2018, as much as we wanted it to. We’ve noticed the ocassional frustration voiced via social media stating that we don’t focus on Windows, that Scrivener users on that platform feel like an afterthought, but that really hasn’t been true since 2009. It’s true that Scrivener was originally conceived and created for macOS, but what was back in 2005, with Scrivener finally becoming a shareware application on Mac OS Tiger in January 2007. Since 2009 we’ve thrown more resources and time at development on Windows than we have macOS. This disproportionate effort continues today, with approximately twice the coding time going into Windows development than macOS.
The creator of Scrivener still codes and pushes the application forward on macOS, so there is always going to be a slight delay getting equivalent features to our Windows users (some features are even impossible or incredibly complex to translate), unless we artificially hold development releases back on macOS. Anyway, the good news is that our development team are making great progress with Scrivener 3 on Windows, as their latest beta release attests to Scrivener 3.0 Beta 11. They will even be including Dark Mode in their 3.0 release, which wasn’t a feature in Scrivener on macOS until version 3.1. Our current release timeline for Scrivener 3 on Windows is Q2 2019. I’d say we’re confident of hitting that schedule, but then taking 5 years to release Scrivener on iOS when we thought it was a development project that would take us a couple of years at most was a tough lesson learnt! Good coding simply takes time, and we naturally always want to be proud of our releases.
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
Douglas Adams famously said, "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” We no longer impose specific public deadlines on ourselves, but we’re coding hard to get Scrivener 3 on Windows right. We are going to miss that 'some point during 2018', but Scrivener 3 is coming together beautifully, and we believe you’re going to love our release version. We’re as eager to get it into your hands, as hopefully you are to receive it.
To learn more about Scrivener 3, please visit our Introducing Scrivener 3 page. Apologies that we’re missing our 2018 scheduling, but Q2 2019 is not that far away. If beta testing is your bag, please help us with feedback on our current Beta 11 that will run until 15th February 2019. We're naturally very appreciative of your patience and ongoing interest in Scrivener 3 on Windows. Many thanks.
All the best, L&L.