But when it was clear from my use of the X9 trial version that no fixes were present and it wasn’t even a 64-bit application, I realized it was time to go elsewhere. I was frustrated for ages with the bugs and slowdowns in ENX8 but was very reluctant to try to switch to another application for referencing. Like many of you, I was a very long-time EndNote user (as in, I started with EN4). Don’t make me suffer through another transition to a new program. But I wonder if there isn’t a small startup somewhere with some talented programmers huddled around a grungy table looking for a field begging for innovation and competition.Ĭ’mon, Clarivate, step up and get it done. All seem to both appeal and repel, so far. I am heavily invested in EndNote (>92,000 references), but I am constantly looking at other programs. Solicitations for software improvements that never appear in the program… Increased dependence on talented “super-users” to respond to forum questions. Software “support” means that the company will answer your specific questions, but will make relatively few fundamental improvements to the program. The signs of neglected software? Updates that contain little increased functionality and become mostly bug fixes that you pay for. You also risk moving to software that is not as functional in some areas that you most value. You essentially lose the investment of time and effort into EndNote if you switch. There are other reference management software packages out there, but changing always comes with a period of learning that means you have to focus on the software and not on your work. I fear that EndNote is headed for the same fate as Research Manager and ProCite. I cringed when I saw that EndNote had been purchased by a new owner not long ago. Reference Manager was bought out by the then owners of ProCite and was essentially negrlected to death. I started with Reference Manager in the mid-1980s and was forced to switch to EndNote four or five years ago. Having said that, I have yet to see an alternative reference management system with a better integration for the omnipresent MS Word? I can live with a nagging prompt about 32bit applications, but the performance issue is a significant issue! Needless to say, I have held off deploying X9 at the higher education institution where I work. And this is with a library stored in a desktop folder with no attachments, running on a late 2013 Mac Pro with 32GB of memory, or a 2017 15in MacBook Pro. Adding / editing even a relatively small number of records, the application slows to a crawl … and this is only resolved by closing and re-opening the library. Version X9 under macOS Mojave is almost unusable. Recent upgrades haven’t been associated with signigicant improvements to functionality and more importantly … haven’t addressed significant known bugs, particulrly with the macOS version, e.g. But I am more concerned about basic functionality / useabilty of the desktop application. Yes, it would be ‘nice’ to see improvements to the iOS app and the introduction of an Android alternative. Having provided EndNote support to researchers since the introduction of version X, I agree that the application is due for a significant update. Please chime in to this discussion if you can. Of course, maybe I’m off base here, and someone else can offer a glimmer of hope that I’m not seeing. Add to it the 2007-era interface, and it just seems like Clarivate plans to keep the software going in its current form until it stops making money. Thoughts? For me, it’s one of those things where I’m moving on to a different product if there’s no further planned development on the horizon EndNote is far from perfect, and I’m just tired of struggling to find ways to access my documents on the go (the website is not viable option). I’m sure Clarivate has 1 or 2 developers on staff to patch show-stopper bugs, but it seems obvious to me that any attempts at bringing “next-gen” features to market would have happened long ago…the last two versions of this software seem completely iterative. It’s February 2019 and we still have no Android app, the iOS app is terrible, and the desktop software is a security risk and a resource hog. That is, do you feel that EndNote is basically done being actively developed? This thought originally started in response to another thread post, but I’d like to see if others’ perspectives match my own.
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