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General Software Discussion / Re: In search of an alternative to InfoSelect ...
« on: July 16, 2011, 10:52 PM »
As an update and in case it is of use to someone, I have revisited something that I think we have not discussed in this thread so far, but which was discussed a while back in DC forum - KN (KnowledgeNotebook):
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=22336
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=22592
I had previously found KN to be restrictive and a bit kludgy.
Having reinstalled it and having played around with it a bit, I think it is a lot better, but it still seems a rather odd kind of tool to me. It's a sort of Wiki, I think. I don't think I have discovered all of it's potential in my brief look so far. There is a version for "business" use and one for "student" use. I only tried out the former. I did watch the associated tutorial videos, and saw that the student version apparently has some handy study aids - e.g., simple mind-mapping charts, flash cards (as an aid to rote learning), and a very rough method for comparing your own notes to those of your tutor to see how well-aligned they are.
The KN website is here, if you want to download and try it for yourself: KnowledgeNotebook
For this latest install of KN, I looked at what the KN installation puts onto the disk, and it seems it's based on Railo - an Open Source ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML). It uses a lot of Java scripts, and, I'm not sure about this, but the installation batch files seem to require .NET Framework and MS Access(?). The data files seem to be buried in the C:\Program Files directory in Win7. KN will not install properly except to that as its root directory, and it leaves loose files in that root, which I think is a bit untidy on the developer's part.
So, it looks interesting, but I don't know how well it might meet the user requirements of different potential users.
The point about requirements made above by @Armando is not insignificant:
As an aside: Perhaps little wonder therefore that the Info Select developer has been given such a hard time by his users in their Yahoo forum. However, it is probably his own fault to a large extent as he did not seem to engage in or own up to any systematic gathering, cataloguing and publishing of user requirements before going into redevelopment. He seemed to be entirely focussed on "features" which are not at all the same thing as "user requirements". A lot of the users followed his lead and became focussed on features as well, thereby missing the opportunity to better understand and define their own requirements.
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=22336
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=22592
I had previously found KN to be restrictive and a bit kludgy.
Having reinstalled it and having played around with it a bit, I think it is a lot better, but it still seems a rather odd kind of tool to me. It's a sort of Wiki, I think. I don't think I have discovered all of it's potential in my brief look so far. There is a version for "business" use and one for "student" use. I only tried out the former. I did watch the associated tutorial videos, and saw that the student version apparently has some handy study aids - e.g., simple mind-mapping charts, flash cards (as an aid to rote learning), and a very rough method for comparing your own notes to those of your tutor to see how well-aligned they are.
The KN website is here, if you want to download and try it for yourself: KnowledgeNotebook
For this latest install of KN, I looked at what the KN installation puts onto the disk, and it seems it's based on Railo - an Open Source ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML). It uses a lot of Java scripts, and, I'm not sure about this, but the installation batch files seem to require .NET Framework and MS Access(?). The data files seem to be buried in the C:\Program Files directory in Win7. KN will not install properly except to that as its root directory, and it leaves loose files in that root, which I think is a bit untidy on the developer's part.
So, it looks interesting, but I don't know how well it might meet the user requirements of different potential users.
The point about requirements made above by @Armando is not insignificant:
The subject of the perfect information management software can be discussed endlessly and yet... No magic formula will emerge for at least 3 terribly banal and cliché reasons : users' needs are often different, users come/are from/in various contexts, users possess various degree of geekiness... That's why you'll have people immensely enjoying Compendium while others will find that TiddlyWiki or oldish Ecco are the best things since slice bread... While I'll just be left scratching my headEach PIM user will have different, and usually unspecified requirements - may not even know what they are or may not be able to articulate them coherently to others. These "requirements" will form the paradigm or lens through which they look to see whether any given PIM is "perfect" for them. This is obviously a complete lottery and therefore it would be highly unlikely that any PIM will meet your needs under such a scheme.
As an aside: Perhaps little wonder therefore that the Info Select developer has been given such a hard time by his users in their Yahoo forum. However, it is probably his own fault to a large extent as he did not seem to engage in or own up to any systematic gathering, cataloguing and publishing of user requirements before going into redevelopment. He seemed to be entirely focussed on "features" which are not at all the same thing as "user requirements". A lot of the users followed his lead and became focussed on features as well, thereby missing the opportunity to better understand and define their own requirements.
