

This is classified zenware - light, fast and free. Write Monkey: As basic as it can get, Write Monkey's makers haven't wasted time calling it what it is. Another feature most writers enjoy: one can configure the software to replicate the classical typewriter keystroke every time a key is pressed. A good tool for writers who want to devote a specific number of hours every day to their craft. Apart from the word count, there's a ticker that shows the time spent writing. Otherwise the full-screen view is minimalistic. All the formatting options appear only when the mouse cursor is moved to the corner of the screen. Only here, the free version even allows the user to create themes. The one I recommend, however, is an earlier version that is available as a free download for both Mac and Windows from their official websiteįocus Writer: A free word processor application that works similar to the OmmWriter. The latest version of OmmWriter is a paid-for App in the Apple store, available for both the Mac and the iPad.

There is literally nothing between you and your words. They rip off the formatting and other option keys. There are options that enable you to play soothing Zen music to help you focus on the screen. OmmWriter offers backgrounds that range from a pearl white screen to a Zen garden. The company details its mission while describing the product - “to recapture what technology has snatched away from us: our capacity to concentrate.” OmmWriter from Dana: One of my favourites from the applications I've tried in the past couple of months on my iMac, the OmmWriter is a word processor that introduces an element of Zen into the writing process. Formatting is minimal and one may not be able to save rich text. Please note: all the writing software discussed will probably not have any use for the mouse at all. Now, a generation of software and applications is trying to simplify these activities. In a way, personal computers that are supposed to simplify our lives have only ended up complicating it. Life was a lot simpler.īut, in an integrated Web experience, where every major service from Google to Facebook lays emphasis on remaining ‘logged in', that degree of detachment required to focus on a single task - be it writing or reading - seems near impossible. If you opened a word processor, there wasn't a chance that some other program - a chat window or a Facebook wall - would interfere. Computers had arrived, but in their most primitive form desktop computers were few and far between. Digital immigrants might still remember a world where mono-tasking was the norm.
