Only three applications I use remain unavailable for macOS 10.15 (Catalina). Unfortunately, these are three apps I use with some frequency and past projects are in the file formats used specifically by these programs. For that reason, I remain a macOS 10.14 (Mojave) user.
I worry about having documents in files that will not open again. That’s not an unreasonable fear, as Microsoft Word and WordPerfect have not always played nicely with other formats. When you’ve used computers since the 1970s, you’re bound to have files somewhere that are nearly impossible to recover. Maybe it’s a database that was discontinued or a niche word processor.
Scriptwriting is a niche and many playwrights and screenwriters use specialized applications.
Write Brothers’ Screenwriter 6.5 and Dramatica Story Expert have not been upgraded for Catalina. Neither has a family favorite, The Print Shop from MacKiev, but that’s mere inconvenient compared to my writing tools.
As I’ve written before, Apple gave developers a three-year warning that applications needed to be 64-bit and support sandboxing. Three years should have been sufficient time for software publishers to address the migration to more secure and more efficient applications on macOS. Plus, Windows 10 is also a 64-bit operating system with similar requirements.
I love Screenwriter and have long recommend it for projects. It’s a great tool for writers. I also love Dramatica products. These are two tools that every screenwriter or playwright should try.
Write Brothers is a small company. I’ve met one founder and worked extensively with the other. The company is fantastic… but they needed to be ready for Catalina.
I don’t mind sticking with Mojave for a few more weeks or even months. It’s not ideal, since some other applications use Catalina optimizations, including video and audio production tools.
If you write software, you should update the software on a regular basis. The notion “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” doesn’t work well in technology. When hardware and software stepped from 16-bit to 32-bit, developers had to be prepared. When PC users migrated to Windows from DOS, developers had to be prepared.
Some transitions have been nearly fatal for beloved programs. WordPerfect didn’t make a smooth transition to Windows and lost out to Word. The same is true of Lotus 1-2-3, Harvard Graphics, dBase, and a dozen other once-dominant applications.
When I do upgrade to Catalina, some beloved games will be lost. I’m not going to keep emulators around for classic Mac games — not even for CrystalQuest and Dark Castle.
Losing games is annoying. Losing applications I use for work? Painful and deeply disappointing.
Please, developers, take the time to stay reasonably current with programming tools, libraries, and operating systems.