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Complaint & Compliment: 3M Post-it Digital Notes vs ConceptWorld Notezilla

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app103:
I just sent this email to ConceptWorld that I think will explain the whole situation:


Subject: My compliments to you for NoteZilla

I am both a developer and a blogger.

While I was in the midst of planning a series of in-depth articles, based on a list of lesser known applications that I love and feel need more attention, I had an unfortunate experience.

Actually, unfortunate is too mild of a word to describe it. Here is what happened:

I have been a long time, loyal, faithful, dedicated user of 3M's Post-it Software Notes, which I purchased some time around 2001. My whole life is organized in it and without it I feel like I have no brain and can't function.

Loving every feature in it, I felt it should be included in my list and had planned on writing an in-depth article about it. To do that, I was going to have to upgrade to the latest version in order to become familiar with any newer features and provide up to date screenshots.

But they don't offer a free or reduced price upgrade to users of the previous version I happened to have installed. And that's OK, they have that right, and I was fully prepared to pay for the application again, at the full price. I felt it was worth it, even though I would lose a few features that they had eliminated.

So, I downloaded the installer and proceeded to install it. It wouldn't allow a side-by-side install, with the previous version on the machine, nor would it allow an upgrade, even with the idea of rolling me back to an unregistered status. It required that I uninstall the older version before installing the newer one.

I made a manual backup of my database of notes & memoboards, and proceeded with the uninstall process. It was a good thing I made that backup, because there was no option to keep my database and the uninstaller just went ahead and deleted it along with the program files.

And to make matters worse, once I had installed the new version, I found that the old database was incompatible with it and there was no way to import the notes and memoboards. Basically, I was screwed, unless I uninstalled the newer version and reinstalled the old one, and copied my backup files to it (which I did).

In order to get my old notes and memoboards into the new version, I was going to have to copy them manually, one at a time, into a text file, and then recopy them into the new version, after going through the whole uninstall/reinstall process again.

I was sitting here, quite angry with 3M...no longer the loyal dedicated user I once was, not willing to write my nice article about their application, and so disgusted at what I had to go through that I started looking for a replacement.

NoteZilla comes as close to what I am used to using as I can possibly find. I have been taking it for a spin for the last few hours, manually copying all my notes & memoboards over to it, resetting all my alarms, etc. This is a lot of work for me and as I copy each note I am hating 3M more and more.

I like what I see in NoteZilla, especially the ability to export my database (even the choice of non-proprietary formats you have provided) and I have just purchased it.

There was a reason why I mentioned that I am a developer at the beginning of this email. I am a donationware developer and member of donationcoder.com. I have been a very active member there almost since the beginning. It was because of their forum that I discovered your product and read the praises of those that use it, praises given by those I respect and know have great taste in software. Everything they said was true. I also saw how actively interested in your users that you are, and how willing you are to provide support for your product.I like that very much.

I used your generous 30% discount to purchase NoteZilla, which brought it down to the same price it would have cost me to buy the latest version of 3M's software. I feel so much better giving you my money, than them.

I think in time, as I grow accustomed to the different interface, I may love your product more than I have ever loved theirs and not even miss it. It has a lot going for it.

Thank you for your kindness for providing that discount to donationcoder.com members. And thank you for all your time, effort, and hard work that you put into your application. It is very much appreciated.

longrun:
Well-written letter. So-called upgrades that ruin good programs are incredibly infuriating.

wraith808:
Nicely written!  And to think, I almost settled on 3M when I was looking for a note program ( :o )

brad4804:
Any opinions of 'Stickies' from Zhorn software?  I've been using it for quite a while and find it quite useful and feature-rich.

mouser:
Any opinions of 'Stickies' from Zhorn software?  I've been using it for quite a while and find it quite useful and feature-rich.
-brad4804 (May 27, 2009, 10:03 AM)
--- End quote ---

I think Stickies is actually quite highly regarded by more than a few members of the forum.  See posts here:
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?action=search2;search=stickies

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