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Author Topic: Jello Dashboard + OneNote as PIM/GTD tools - user experience/feedback/advice?  (Read 13366 times)

IainB

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I would be very interested in any user experience/feedback/advice from members of the DC forum, relating to the use of Jello Dasboard and MS OneNote.     :)

Because it seemed to offer some significant potential benefits as a combined PIM (Personal Information Manager) and GTD (Getting Things Done) tool, I have recently downloaded Jello Dasboard and commenced trialling it, with a view to using it to replace a large part of my current dependency on the PIM Info Select  :up: - which latter I have been a long-term user of. (Info Select is discussed elsewhere in the DC forum.)

I have also been trialling OneNote for some time, again with a view to using it to replace a large part of my current dependency on Info Select.

The thing is that Jello Dashboard necessitates the use of Outlook (because it is an add-on to - and integrates with Outlook), and Onenote is definitely more useful if used in conjunction with Outlook.

Though I have had MS Outlook installed on my PCs and laptops for years (it comes with MS Office), I detest using it because of the proprietary and constipated way of working that it forces on the user - though I appreciate that it has many excellent features.    :up:
So, I have avoided using Outlook except when I have been obliged to use it when working on client-owned PCs/workstations.    :(
However, to trial Jello Dashboard, I have to use Outlook. I must overcome my distaste for the latter because the potential benefits offered by Jello would seem to be too great to ignore.

I feel sure that others will have "been there, done that" before me, and I am hoping that the user experience/feedback/advice from members of DC forum on this subject might save me some time, error and frustration and help me to avoid re-inventing the wheel in evaluating Jello and OneNote.

Thanks in advance for any help you might feel able to offer.    :)

By the way, the only useful reference I could find in a search on "Jello" in the DC forum was a brief one in a discussion Managing projects with OUTLOOK on 2007-10-08.

barney

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Can't speak to either Jello Dashboard or OneNote, as they both require Office/Outlook, but I can speak, somewhat, to InfoSelect replacement.  I've been sampling myBase and WikeNotes with a fair amount of success.  WikeNotes is in its infancy, needs a number of improvements, but the author(s) would seem to be amenable to suggestion.  It's also free, so far.  myBase is ~half the price of IS, and will require a possibly significant time for study, but it's holding up well so far.

I know, this is not what you asked, but as a fellow former IS aficionado, I thought it worth mention  :P.


IainB

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Found this post in another thread.
Thought I'd put it here for interest/relevance to this discussion and the proprietary naure of OneNote.
The proprietary naure of OneNote is something that worries me too.

From: InfoQube & TreeSheets: Information managers of the future
« on: 2011-07-15, 05:50:09 »
Meanwhile, I've found a notetaker that I really like. Rightnote, I posted about it before long ago. This tool is a labor of love. If you like oneNote, but fear being locked in its proprietary format, rightnote is the best replacement. Portable. Live search is excellent. It can have different note types, spreadsheets and code. The author is very responsive and releases new versions fast. Probably the best notetaker I know. Its treatment of tags is fantastic. And it can link external files and treat them as notes, that is, index them. It's called virtual notes. This is good for collaborating with people who don't use rightnote. Oh, and it clips snippets with their url. It has displaced cintanotes for me.

Jimdoria

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OK, well strictly speaking OneNote does NOT require Outlook or any of the other Office programs in any way.

If you already have them it will work with them and there are some nice features that take advantage of Outlook/Office, but the CORE functionality of OneNote (really about 95% of the app) is unconnected with either Office or Outlook. The integration piece is just icing, not cake.

You can buy OneNote stand-alone. You don't have to get it as part of Office.
- Jimdoria ~@>@

There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who divide everybody into two kinds of people, and those who don't.

barney

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You can buy OneNote standalone. You don't have to get it as part of Office.
Not from any place I've found via search  ;D.  I've seen many references to OneNote being standalone, but none of 'em included links to a $ource.  (Not pointing fingers, but your post is an example  :P.)  I don't mind paying for it, should it prove worthwhile, but every search for it that I've performed made Office a requirement.

[That's probably a reflection upon my search capabilities  ;).]

rgdot

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I am aware of this, it used to work but I have no idea if as of now the 'trial' download is really what it was before.
http://blogs.office....or-onenote-2010.aspx

barney

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I am aware of this, it used to work but I have no idea if as of now the 'trial' download is really what it was before.
http://blogs.office....or-onenote-2010.aspx

Apparently not ... both the trial and Buy Now produce a MS page with product not found messages  :(.  Perhaps it's not released as a standalone any more  :huh:?

barney

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Update.

I am aware of this, it used to work but I have no idea if as of now the 'trial' download is really what it was before.
http://blogs.office....or-onenote-2010.aspx

Apparently not ... both the trial and Buy Now produce a MS page with product not found messages  :(.  Perhaps it's not released as a standalone any more  :huh:?


Even though I couldn't find a download link, MS used the data I had to submit to find that out to send me an email with a Product Key for OneNote 2010.  However, when I used the link they provided, I was back at a [previously visited, I think] page to buy/trial Office 2010.  Seems not even MS can get this straight  :P.

OK, maybe if I'd clicked one of those Office links I'd have found it, but I'm just not willing to go on a scavenger hunt through MS's links.  If they provide it, it should be so provided, not used as a teaser to MS Office, nor should it be a puzzle.

The email I received for the trial Product Key stated a price for the standalone version.  OK, maybe I can go there, right?  Nope, back at the Office sales page. Fahh Shazbat  >:(!

Funny thing is, I used to be a MS devotee <sigh />.

IainB

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@Jimdoria:
OK, well strictly speaking OneNote does NOT require Outlook or any of the other Office programs in any way.

If you already have them it will work with them and there are some nice features that take advantage of Outlook/Office, but the CORE functionality of OneNote (really about 95% of the app) is unconnected with either Office or Outlook. The integration piece is just icing, not cake.

You can buy OneNote stand-alone. You don't have to get it as part of Office.
Thanks, yes, I was aware that OneNote did not necessitate the use of Outlook - I just said that "Onenote is definitely more useful if used in conjunction with Outlook". I suspect that this is deliberate - Microsoft tend to integrate everything as much as possible, to increase lock-in.
I had not known that you could get OneNote as standalone though - i.e., not as part of MS Office - though I did know that it was originally standalone and had thought it was no longer so.

IainB

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I had not known that you could get OneNote as standalone though - i.e., not as part of MS Office - though I did know that it was originally standalone and had thought it was no longer so.
I chanced across this interesting blog post today - by someone who apparently found how to get hold of and install OneNote as standalone (i.e., without MS Office):
Perfect example of unintuitive Microsoft workflow