Freeform is a Game Changer

[Danfango]

Also I debate the point that OneNote actually works after it and OneDrive trashed several notebooks more than once a while back. Multiple colleagues also suffered OneNote fatalities over the years to the point we actually use markdown in github now for corp notes because that's all they will let us have that isn't confluence.

 

[NY Guitarist]

The trackpad on my 2021 16" MacBook Pro is physically larger than all but the largest iPhone so I'm baffled at why Apple wouldn't allow for the pen tool to be used.

Will Apple let desktop users have the pen tool if they use an external trackpad?

 

[Tagbert]

As a freelancer working between various large creative departments, this is the problem I see with it.

No all corporations have restrictions on that. I work at a fairly large company and we are allowed more freedom in that regard.

 

[Tagbert]

I hate OneNote because of its interface that takes way to much screen estate.

I like apps that present their tools so that you can get to them and don’t hide them behind submenus. I find Apple Notes frustrating because all of the text formatting is hidden away and requires too many taps to apply. I still use Apple Notes but that is an area of frustration. Of course it possible to crowd the content area but I have never run into that problem on OneNote. I sometimes collapse the navigation panels on the left but that is only in special cases.

 

[Tagbert]

Numbers
Pages

I have never run across a situation where Pages or Numbers would not open an older file. Those kind of breaks are just not very common. Most apps maintain support for older versions for decades.

 

[UncleMac]

I work with software design and development and whiteboard tools are our most used tools. We mainly use Miro and Figma (Figjam) depending on use case and fidelity of what we are trying to achieve. Whiteboard tools have been around for ages now and I feel every business I work with use them.

First of all - FreeForm is NOT a game changer. By all means - it is a nice tool and its looks and feels very much like FigJam in that it's a very bare bone whiteboard tool with exactly what you need to created sketches, rough designs, collaboration, technical schematics - you name it. Miro has its advantages in templates (though I barely use templates myself), icons (Icons for all Azure services are nice to have when creating technical drawings) and integrations.

Most/all whiteboard tools are cloud based - Freeform brings nothing new to the table here.

I love whiteboard tools and they have replaced so many applications for me (ie Powerpoint/Keynote - I run all my presentations from Miro).

The main advantage of FreeForm as I see it is that it comes pre-installed on all MacOS/iOS and brings the concept of whiteboard apps to the masses.

 

[rehkram]

I agree Freeform is not a game changer, yet anyway. I regard it a very good start though, for my non-business use case. I haven't encountered any show-stopper bugs in it either.

Re. functionality, if I were Apple I'd wait to see how much uptake the first release receives before investing more time, research, marketing and money in it. They sure do have the resources to compete with anything already out there if they decide to make it 'strategic'.

 

[rehkram]

macOS Freeform doesn't seem to support creating tables either by pasting or from scratch, or at least I haven't found it yet. It would be nice, I have many uses for tables in what I've been using it for.

 

[StellarVixen]

It is depressing what passes as a “game changer” nowadays.

 

[Tagbert]

It is depressing what passes as a “game changer” nowadays.

Is there a formal definition, now? This was someone's opinion and reaction. Understandable. Nothing to lament.

 

[rehkram]

It is depressing what passes as a “game changer” nowadays.

Any Apple app that fills a hole in one's workflow and functions to the degree that you need it to is a "game changer". My game changed, I no longer have notes on music theory & execution scribbled on pieces of paper everywhere

Full function 3rd party apps are OK but vulnerable to unforeseen changes and s/w companies going out of business. I don't have the time or inclination to troubleshoot them after every macOS update. If there's an adequate Apple solution to an existing problem I'll be running it, particularly when it's free. Ergo, my game has changed, for the better ✌️