topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Thursday March 28, 2024, 4:32 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Last post Author Topic: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote  (Read 44077 times)

vegas

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 357
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #25 on: April 10, 2012, 05:46 AM »
After evaluating on and off for 3+ years, I finally bit and purchased a standard license back in January, now I have upgraded to the Pro version (for a couple features).  I went from WinOrganizer (formerly Golden Section Organizer) to Keynote to KeynoteNF to RightNote.  For me, it is everything I've wanted in an organizer (minus a nice calendar system and easy, yet powerful web clipping like Surfulater, but those aren't THAT important to me right now).  The development and updates have really taken off in the last year and the program is becoming quite polished.  Satisfied customer here. :)

TaoPhoenix

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2011
  • **
  • Posts: 4,642
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #26 on: April 10, 2012, 06:22 AM »
What can you do with above mentioned products that you cannot do in EverNote?.
I did a medium study of all these tree databases a couple months ago.

The big gun feature for me is import and export capability.
Import: Import a ton of existing text documents and automatically load them into nodes.
Export: Roll up and export the whole note tree into a web page. Only two apps could do that export, and one lost out because it both had sloppy formatting and it also obfuscated my file names inside the web page so that it felt like it was "locking in" my data. TreeDBNotes was the winner because the output file is user-interactive, and the file names were recognizeable. (It auto appended some numbers like 367 to avoid file clashes, but that's no big deal".

Maybe if I have time I'll look at these other programs. I'd bet a jellybean that Evernote doesn't export as cleanly into web ebook. (But only a jelly bean. I didn't expect this thread, so I can't recall if I looked at Evernote.)

P.s. I get grumpy about Abandonware. It's the dark side of Copyright. "Ho hum, we can't be bothered to maintain this, let's just abandon it." (4 years later) "Oh look! Someone forked it and is updating it! Sue them! We're losing valuable IP!"
« Last Edit: April 10, 2012, 06:45 AM by TaoPhoenix »

rjbull

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • default avatar
  • Posts: 3,199
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #27 on: April 10, 2012, 03:42 PM »
it is everything I've wanted in an organizer (minus a nice calendar system and easy, yet powerful web clipping like Surfulater

I haven't tried Surfulater, but I thought RightNote Pro's Web capture and clipping options weren't bad?  Pity the options screen can't show what hotkeys are currently set, but that's apparently a Vista/Win7 problem.

[Edit at UK time 2012-04-15, 21:55:-]
I changed my mind somewhat.  RightNote's web clipping isn't as streamlined as, say, EverNote 2.2.  [/Edit]
« Last Edit: April 15, 2012, 03:56 PM by rjbull »

TaoPhoenix

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2011
  • **
  • Posts: 4,642
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #28 on: April 10, 2012, 05:51 PM »
Seeing as superboyAC liked it (our tastes are very similar) I downloaded RightNote and gave it a pretty thorough workout today. I like it enough I think I'll buy it and start moving stuff over.

I just wish they'd do a browser (FF or Opera) plugin for it that worked like Canaware NetNotes used to work before Mozilla broke it for the 5th time.

They can do clips. But it's not the same as tossing an entire webpage into it with a single right click.


Just to confuse the issue, I already checked out Rightnote and it failed my testing. Have any of you looked at TreeDBNotes Pro? It does have flaws but the feature that sold me was its ability to auto produce 12 click websites like this. (This one is a draft of an author index for the ever so awesome Aphelion Webzine! (Product Placement!  ;D  )

http://taophoenix.de...nArchives/index.html


dspelley

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 90
  • But it's a dry heat.
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #29 on: April 11, 2012, 10:35 PM »
Bought RightNote on BitsDuJour in mid-February and like it pretty well. I had hoped to use it to collect and organize web info at my workplace, but it won't work behind our proxy server :(. The developer says it's something he can work on.
We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
--- Richard Feynman (1918-1988)

nosh

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 1,441
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #30 on: April 12, 2012, 10:25 AM »
Have any of you looked at TreeDBNotes Pro?

I tried it briefly today. I've been looking for something to replace Winorganizer forever. It has a heck of a lot of features, for sure. I wouldn't call it slow but it felt slightly clunky compared to Winorganizer.

I didn't like the global search since I expected it to search everything in the file (eg: contacts too), not just search the notes. Am I missing something?

Also, does it have its own spreadsheet feature? I tried it v.briefly so could have missed it.

If I had to choose between TreeDBNotes Pro and Rightnote, I'd pick the former... it suits my requirements more closely.

I tend to be wary about programs that like to bundle everything and the kitchen sink and I can see this happening with TreeDBNotes Pro. They already have a LOT going on and the interface could be more intuitive. Still, it's the best alternative to Winorganizer I've come across (and I've tried quite a few apps), so thanks for mentioning it.

Curt

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 7,566
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #31 on: April 12, 2012, 11:20 AM »
(deleted)
« Last Edit: April 12, 2012, 04:38 PM by Curt »

TaoPhoenix

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2011
  • **
  • Posts: 4,642
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #32 on: April 12, 2012, 03:51 PM »

"I tend to be wary about programs that like to bundle everything and the kitchen sink and I can see this happening with TreeDBNotes Pro. They already have a LOT going on and the interface could be more intuitive. Still, it's the best alternative to Winorganizer I've come across (and I've tried quite a few apps), so thanks for mentioning it."

It's a tough call. If you can indeed bundle "everything" and hit the slam dunk/home run, then you become the market leader or at least a top-5. I don't think I see a spreadsheet "module" but then, I tend to think of spreadsheets as something for Excel and LibreOffice to deal with, not a note app. (Though I can certainly see how an integrated table would be nice!) In a way you have two different comments going on - "distrusting bundling everything" yet you chanced on something they chose not to get into. Softwares go through "cultures" so their feature set must have been what their specific users and/or developers wanted most.

Sure, the interface has some quirks. But overall it's also important that there is a "completeness" of features. TreeDB has a few good ones that include keyboard shortcuts to move nodes around, etc. They misbehave a wee bit, but not bad.

My overall message is if you have 3 programs fighting each other for your next use, what is the 1-2 drop dead must-have features that simply shut everything else out of the picture? For me it was that web ebook creator, and some of the importing, and lesser, some of the node handling. If you get too simple with a program you risk a kind of "data lock in" that the minute you want an advanced feature you didn't think of 3 months ago, you're hosed.

nosh

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 1,441
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #33 on: April 12, 2012, 05:44 PM »
Fair points, TaoPhoenix. Yes, softwares get their features through their developers and user communities.  :)

My concern is, if today there are quirks showing up in areas that aren't significant, it shakes my faith in the quality of the development. I don't want a quirk showing up tomorrow that directly affects the data because the devs are juggling a bit more than they can handle. Robustness is critical, esp. considering the kind of data a program of this nature is meant to handle.

TaoPhoenix

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2011
  • **
  • Posts: 4,642
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #34 on: April 12, 2012, 07:46 PM »
Fair points, TaoPhoenix. Yes, softwares get their features through their developers and user communities.  :)

My concern is, if today there are quirks showing up in areas that aren't significant, it shakes my faith in the quality of the development. I don't want a quirk showing up tomorrow that directly affects the data because the devs are juggling a bit more than they can handle. Robustness is critical, esp. considering the kind of data a program of this nature is meant to handle.

A good strategy for Shareware or even Freeware is "What bugs are on outlying features" and "what bugs are on core function?".  I am satisfied with the basic saving and loading and processing and exporting of my data. Properly done an edge feature shouldn't statistically correlate to a mission critical disaster in the core code. I believe that's a profound concept to work over. So even if Firefox botches a VLC file it's still going to serve html pages.

Edit: We're moving off the model of "100 pure code" because it looks like you're doing nothing forever. The new model is Basic Code + 3 Beta Addons.

nosh

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 1,441
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #35 on: April 14, 2012, 02:30 PM »
I didn't intend to carry on our little diversion in this Rightnote thread, but I chanced across something in the TreeDB forum that was a bit too pertinent to pass up.

I searched "Global Search" on the forum to see if there was something I was missing about the feature and came across this fairly recent thread (Nov, 2011)

http://forum.mytreed...5af2b9e2d5dfb#p12245


Postby coolrat33 » 16 Nov 2011 03:03
Yesterday I had an infurating experience.

I wrote a long note about a complex book I was reading. To work more conveniently, I opened the TreeDB node in an external viewer (a cool feature but now I'm very skeptical about its reliability), resized the window to take up half my monitor, and read a PDF file in the other half.

At some point, I clicked "save the file to database", and must have closed the window. But when I went to look for the file, it was gone. Disappeared off my system. I did a 'global search' but was unable to locate it. It didn't save.

I have not been able to replicate this problem. But I NEVER lose my work by my own mistake in LibreOffice and believe there must be a problem with this feature.
Please look into this


Post by Admin » 17 Nov 2011 07:18
Ok, we will try to explore this function again.


Post by Admin » 21 Nov 2011 14:19
We make some changes in this function. Version: 4.2 Build 03

Postby coolrat33 » 22 Nov 2011 02:29
Hi Admin.

I'll test out the new version. I hope it fixes the various bugs that plagued the previous version.
The app is great... but the bugs are often serious and cause problems that waste many hours of the users time. Its frustrating :( :x

I'll test this feature and let you know what I find.
Thank you


So it appears my gut feeling was spot on, after all. :D :P

OK, all done gloating. Apologies if I'm being obnoxious, it was just too good to pass up.  ;D

TreeDBNotes does show a lot of promise though, I plan to keep an eye on the developement. Right now the deal-breaker for me is the weak global search. Also, when I'm searching contacts, I don't want to specify exactly which field to search for. Let's hope the userbase pushes the dev towards more thorough search functionality. Rightnote has perhaps the best search I've seen in an organizer. *nosh successfully hits the on-topic button*

TaoPhoenix

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2011
  • **
  • Posts: 4,642
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #36 on: April 14, 2012, 02:42 PM »

In a way this topic is about Tree-type programs in general. Heh I don't use the contacts tab and I never search for anything!   So it's that Vive La Difference dept. "Trade you Search for Web Books". :)

And no need to "gloat", I'm not a Fanboy. To muddy waters further, the runner up program I think was TreePad Enterprise (which has now since expired on me.) It handled "inserted Objects" better and who knows what else. So there's about 5-7 of these top tree programs out there, and it goes right back to my remark the first time of "what's the dealbreaker". If you want Search, and I want Web Books, we might end up on different programs. Only rare does a "program dominate all categories".


nosh

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 1,441
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #37 on: April 14, 2012, 02:57 PM »
And no need to "gloat", I'm not a Fanboy.

 ;D
Didn't mean to imply you were one.


Objects! Both TreeDBNotes and Rightnote (running in a VM) couldn't handle an embedded Excel worksheet, they'd let me start off with it, work on it and when I tried to open it again they'd throw a "%1 not found" error.

WinOrganizer handles them slightly better but it's still too unreliable to risk wasting time and effort.

TaoPhoenix

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2011
  • **
  • Posts: 4,642
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #38 on: April 14, 2012, 03:20 PM »
Yeah, so I forget how TreePad performed on that count. But vaguely, prob. not perfect.

So there you have it, the best I know!

J-Mac

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2007
  • **
  • Posts: 2,918
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Rightnote, commercial alternative to abandonware Keynote
« Reply #39 on: May 17, 2012, 10:38 AM »
Couple of quick comments/questions about RightNote:

I purchased the Pro version a few months ago but didn't start using it very often until recently. Here's two items that have me pretty well stumped!
  • First, when a RightNote window is open (on Windows 7 64-bit), clicking the taskbar icon does not minimize it. When minimized a click does open the window. But I can't minimize it except by using the "minimize" icon at the right edge of the title bar.
  • Secondly, I cannot print anything from RightNote! I can use Print Preview, but when I click on "Print" or the Print icon nothing happens for about 20 - 30 seconds, then an error message appears, as attached below.

[attachthumb=#1][/attachthumb]

I thought I would post this here since RightNote has no forum. Has anyone else seen this? BTW, I have not come across any other program that throws an error attempting to print. The printer is my default printer and has no unusual configuration. Also, the inability to minimize - never saw this before either. Anyone?

Thanks!

Jim