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General brainstorming for Note-taking software
nudone:
i'll try to spend a bit more time with surfulator this week and then i'll post my suggestions. truth is, that when i went back into surfulator the other day i found it actually did what i was saying it didn't do. another truth is, that i've not made the effort to get to grips with all the features of surfulator so i wouldn't be surprised if i've missed out on a few other crucial features. my previous comment about basic requirements not being met is therefore a bit unfair.
i shall attempt to add a few worthwhile suggestions in a few days.
superboyac:
Hi nevf, glad to hear you're open to discussions. Cool!
So, thanks for the description of your software, that really helps. However, from playing with surfulater and reading your description and plans for the future, I have to say that I'm pretty much convinced that you are going to be in pretty much direct competition with Mybase. I just don't see it otherwise. The only major difference so far is that you started out with the idea of capturing content as the basis for the program, and the other features were added later...whereas Mybase went the other way, where they started out as a information organizer, and the web capturing tool came later. So needless to say, Surfulater is more advanced as far as a capturing tool, and Mybase is more advanced as an information organizer. TO the end user, though, the two programs perform almost identical tasks, and hopefully, one of them will become the undisputed leader (hopefully! So at least we can have some peace of mind! ha).
Personally, I like the direction you're headed with Surfulater, and your philosophies behind it. I will use Surfulater a bit more, and then I will write more about what I feel is missing and what are it's strengths right now. I wasn't too clear from your blog, but it looks like you're not going to be able to avoid making Surfulater a full-fledged notetaking program. My reason for this is the following:
Let's assume Surfulater is the best way to capture information from the web. Unless Surfulater is ALSO not one of the best notetaking programs, then where are we going to store and organize the information? Are we going to use Surfulater to capture the information, but then port it somehow to another program that is a more powerful notetaking application or organizer? I don't think so, that would be very frustrating. Anyway, I'll have more thoughts on this later.
vegas:
Let's assume Surfulater is the best way to capture information from the web. Unless Surfulater is ALSO not one of the best notetaking programs, then where are we going to store and organize the information? Are we going to use Surfulater to capture the information, but then port it somehow to another program that is a more powerful notetaking application or organizer? I don't think so, that would be very frustrating. Anyway, I'll have more thoughts on this later.
-superboyac (February 27, 2006, 11:03 AM)
--- End quote ---
That is exactly the dilemma no one has been able to resolve yet. Right now you have to use a program like NetSnippets/OnFolio/Surfulater with a program like MyBase/KeyNote/WinOrganizer. Programs like OneNote and TexNotes have been headed in the right direction, but I must say TexNotes is so much bloat, I find it very frustrating to use. I couldn't agree more with superboyac, you can't have two programs managing your information - clipboard use, notetaking, webclipping and file clipping all fall together, it's exactly where OneNote is heading (although i doubt microsoft will get it right, because they don't understand the idea of making things fully customizable or flexible from the users end). Anyways, here is to the second wave of programs trying to get this right, like MyBase & Surfulater, hope they can do it.
superboyac:
True, vegas...I totally think TexNotes is bloat and does way more than is necessary. I was impressed with OneNote at first, especially considering it was a Microsoft product, but then I discovered these other smaller sharewares and I thought they do it much better. (Funny thing, I actually got a free Onenote from MS last year...that was pretty cool). WinOrganizer is okay also, but it does too much also, and I feel like it has a bit too much emphasis on style rather than content.
Mybase and Surfulater seem to hold the most promise at this moment, as far as the future of these programs is concerned. I know mouser was interested in tackling this category (bold move!), so you know if he did it, it would be done right. I'm a Keynote fan, so as it stands right now, I feel that Mybase is "there" more so than Surfulater. But after reading about Surfulater's future, I have a feeling that it will be there in the future also. (Like I mentioned before, I will have some additional comments about Surfulater later.) Surfulater is far more advanced as far as capturing information than Mybase, but since I'm not doing too much more than just text clips anyway, I'm not at a point where I need to capture a lot of complex type of information. Sometimes, if I can't capture a webpage, all I need to do is copy the text usually.
But, the last couple of days, I've really become convinced that the capturing tool has to be complemented by a full-featured notetaking application...and with me, personally, the note-taking features take precedence over the capturing. What I mean by that is that if I had to choose between one or the other (notetaking or capturing), I would give up capturing before I gave up notetaking. And I think a lot of former Keynote users would feel the same way, because Keynote had no capturing abilities whatsoever, and it is considered one of the best applications in this genre.
kfitting:
I like where this discussion is going... because I too am in favor of the note-side of things! Real quick note: Keynote did have capturing capability. It was a fledgling start but compared to many other apps of it's time it was special.
But, I have to jump back on my soapbox, sorry! Note programs need to be able to store and relate information... this ought to be the primary function. I should be able to build very rigid structures (a la Keynote) but I should also be able to build weak relationships and strengthen them over time. And now, before I go off on a wild-eyed tangential dream (and repeat myself!)... I go.
Kevin
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