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Author Topic: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files  (Read 12095 times)

timns

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Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« on: March 17, 2011, 07:20 PM »
Anyone played with this:

http://www.nemo-docs.com/

I think it has some real potential. We should probably let Paul Keith loose on it for a start.

Freeware.

Paul Keith

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2011, 08:29 PM »
Basic Info
App NameNemo Document
App URLhttp://www.nemo-docs.com/
App Version Reviewed0.96
Test System SpecsWindows XP
Supported OSesWindows XP/7/Linux
Support Methodshttp://twitter.com/nemodocs
Upgrade Policyhttp://www.nemo-docs.com/blog/
Pricing SchemeFree Download
Reason for ReviewingLink


Intro:

timns described it better than me. It's like Outlook Calendar but for files.

Nemo.pngNemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files


Who is this app designed for:

Hard to say. If you click on Nemo's Review Link, you'll get such ideas as:

Makeuseof.com

“I can see the calendar view being useful to anyone that is GTD-conscious (red: Getting Things Done) and may want to review files that s/he is working on.”

The Good

Google sync. I didn't actually try it but apparently it can sync with Google Calendar + Google Docs.

Linux version with .deb (i.e. click and install on Ubuntu for anyone coming from Windows)

The needs improvement section

The philosophy.

Spoiler
The application seems to be well praised and the marketing on the windows page as a file manager sounds good at first (the linux page is more honest: It's a new way of managing files. Or rather not manage files. Currently it's a cross between a calendar and a file browser with labels. It's a free/open source GTK application for Linux written in C#.)

...but eventually it becomes apparent that you can't create files and folders within it which is the main functionality of Outlook interfaces like these. Many of the reviewers also appear to be praising it not for the Outlook design but because it supports labels.

Unfortunately the developers seem to have forgotten that labels work for anything without folders not as a supplement to them especially when creation of said folders can be done in an actual file manager.


In the end, it becomes no more than a pretty "layer" file labeler before you actually want to mess with the files.

Spoiler
Unfortunately here too it fails because Months/Weeks/Days are not how most people sort files otherwise most of us won't be trying to clear up our recent documents files.

What is worse is that it simply flat out loses to it's alternatives, not even because it's still in beta, but because their concepts were better.

RecentX for example goes a whole nine yards further in trying to understand the file organization behind Recent Documents and in turn becomes a decent launcher versus a file manager that is actually a file labeler.

Everything, Locate32 and DocFetcher on the other hand are much more meaner and faster file indexer.

Finally for labels...well there are several taggers but I personally use Ultra Explorer...but any file manager that supports bookmarks/favorites can work.

I mention these other softwares though not to downplay Nemo Documents but to show how it seems to be missing an identity. It seems it took one potentially great idea - making a Calendar View for files...and just stuck with it.


Why I think you should use this product

For the ideas, the experience and maybe a lesson in marketing.

As timns said, this is still a software with tons of potential. It's simply an application that will hook you in at first and just the concept alone makes any user a marketer for it when describing it.

It's just that cool whether it is from the screenshot, to the tagline or even upon hitting the page.

Spoiler
It's also a perfect example of a swing and a miss in terms of marketing.

This may seem unimportant if you are looking at it through the lens of marketing as advertising but if it's seen from a usability enhancing perspective, this concept's limitation as a file labeler simply could have been it's strengths...if only it unstuck itself with Outlook and only tried to import the cool options seen there.

Take JetStart for example. It's a launcher that's "nearly" the same functionality as Nemo but without a calendar view and a file indexer and is only limited to programs but it works well as a file labeler because it tries to work within the realms of a file labeler. (double click - search - add for example over slow file indexing)


How does it compare to similar apps

As far as I know, it is a program all it's own.

Conclusions

Nemo is a pretty file labeler for desktop users and those who are looking for a beautiful way to see their files should definitely check it out but those who aren't wooed by the initial interface should just skip it totally.

timns

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2011, 09:15 PM »
Wow - surely some record for fastest-ever review? Thanks Paul.

I'm hoping they'll address some of your concerns - it does still appear to be in beta, so maybe they're still gathering and improving requirements. The developers seem active on GetSatisfaction, so now may be the time to speak up.

arj

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2011, 04:49 AM »
This is Anders from Nemo Documents :)

First of all thanks for the review. We are always very interested in feedback, whether good or bad.

I'll address the issues raised a little later, will just let them sink in first. Just wanted to let you know that we are listening :-)

mouser

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #4 on: March 18, 2011, 05:02 AM »
Welcome to the site arj  :up:

sajman99

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2011, 03:31 PM »
Thanks guys for the find and review. Nemo Documents looks  unique and innovative-- at least I've not seen anything else quite like it.

Those interested can see the freewaregenius review here. There it indicates .NET 3.5 SP1 or later is required.

mwang

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #6 on: May 03, 2011, 12:16 PM »
Thanks a lot, Paul. I found this program a while back on freewaregenius, but didn't have time to try.

Revisiting freewaregenius and Nemo's homepage the site just now, and found myself wondering what's so good about looking at files in a calendar. I decided to check here first before installing it, and found your review. Well written indeed. Much appreciated.

40hz

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #7 on: May 03, 2011, 12:48 PM »
I can see where this would be very valuable for someone who was trying to stay on top of a distributed collaborative project. If each part of the project had it's own file (like articles for a website, code sections, or chapters in a book) it would be easy for whoever was responsible for seeing deadlines met to get a quick oversight of what was being worked on and when.

Don't know how widespread a need there is using it as a dashboard like this. But I could see several viable uses for it in a publishing or writing project where a traditional version control system would be overkill.
 :)

« Last Edit: May 03, 2011, 12:52 PM by 40hz »

IainB

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2015, 05:54 AM »
Just out of curiosity I downloaded the Nemo Documents desktop application and tried it out, yesterday. It is still $FREE.
Quite a good GUI, and very fast/responsive, with the ability to attach labels and Person (email contacts).
You would need to buy the email component to enable the Person (email contacts) component - which could potentially be quite a useful feature.
To make best use of Nemo, it needs to be running all the time, as it apparently keeps its file status catalogues up-to-date by hooking-in with WDS Indexing and NTFS.

The current/latest version is now Nemo Documents v1.3.2 (of update 2014-02-25).

I don't think I'll keep this installed though, as it doesn't really offer me anything that I think I need or could use, though the feature for file labelling - singly or en masse - also could potentially be quite a useful feature.

Ath

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2015, 06:23 AM »
Nice tool, but somewhere along the road it lost its Linux-ability :o That seemed like a nice-to-have feature, but _I_ won't be using it that way, anyways.

Innuendo

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Re: Nemo - it's like Outlook Calendar for files
« Reply #10 on: May 07, 2015, 07:22 PM »
What an odd little program....and I mean that as a compliment.

I don't see me having a use for it, but I can easily imagine that it'd be a highly-precise, custom tool for those who needed what it offered.