The most recent episode of the truly excellent podcast, Nerds on Draft, focused on an extraordinary piece of software called DEVONthink Pro Office. Gabe also wrote a great piece on the rewritten mobile app that complements the main Mac app.
I guess the easiest way to explain what this system does is this: It's a supercharged Evernote that's not terrible, doesn't have Work Chat1, and keeps you in control of your data. Normally, this is the exact type of app that I am all too ready to spend too much money on.2
The whole thing is a nonstarter, though. It's not the price tag. Don't get me wrong - DEVONthink Pro Office is not cheap software. It's a premium piece of software with a premium price tag. $150 gets in you in the door, and then another $20 for the Pro version of the mobile app. But that doesn't matter. Great software pays for itself over and over again. And there's no question that this is great software.
But I don't live in a world where the Mac is the hub anymore. It's been quite a while since I lived in that world. I can't use software where the iOS app is a satellite of the macOS app. Not counting my wonderful Windows work life, easily over 95% of my computing is done on iOS. I use my iPad Pro alongside my Windows machine all day at work. And when I'm not at my desk, my iPhone is almost always in my hand. I power on my iMac, at most, once a week, for an hour or less. Many weeks, I don't power it on at all.
This isn't because I hate macOS. On the contrary - I love it. It's just that I like iOS more, and for many of the things I do, it's faster. And when it's not faster, it's often more enjoyable. For the other tasks, I am happy to move to the Mac.
But the idea of an incredibly powerful software suite that revolves around the Mac that I barely use? It would just be wasted on me. And that's a damn shame.