In my view (perhaps different from yours because I am an architect/law student). I want a nice UI and easy access to my information. The information is what it is all about. As far as a text only programs there should be not discussion. There are a ton of text editors that all do the same thing. What is important is a tool that will allow you to gather information from everywhere (the web included) organize it (usually trees) and link it. Obviously the ability to grab information from the internet is important (because there is so much information out there) but you need to also be able to use simple text or import from other sources, docs, pdfs, etc.
....
With this said, I am placing my bet on Surfulater. I down loaded this program with about 20 others and it is still installed. My process for evaluating is as follows:
1. Go to download.com and do a general search so you get as many results as possible (then do it again so you do miss it)
2. Go through the hundreds of results, read the descriptions, look at screenshots, visit homepages, and finally download promising programs.
3. Install all the promising programs (I do it while I am searching)
4. Gather all the new shortcuts on the desktop, and open each of the programs
5. If the UI sucks - uninstall the program
6. Take a closer feature look at each of the remaining programs. Can you import the information you want? Does it work well with other programs? Can you input data easily (i.e. is the structure of the program not so restrictive that it takes to long to input simple date), etc, etc,....
I use a similar, subjective approach - but that's what it's all about, surely? Everyone has different needs and preferences and no one piece of software will please everyone!
I was a little disappointed to find that both Surfulator and Mybase are not freeware! Surfulator sounds great. Oh, well. Personally, I have used EverNote quite extensively, although less so recently, perhaps because there seem to be so many new web-based developments:
- Voo2do - advanced task and priority management
- Spurl - store, share and search all the interesting things you find on the web
- Clipmarks - clip and save pieces of web pages
- Performancing for Firefox - a full featured blog editor
These are some the ones I currently use or am trying out, although I can't say I feel fully satisfied with any of them or in combination. There are pros and cons of using "separates" versus an all-in-one application, too.