Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
General brainstorming for Note-taking software
mitzevo:
Wow this is a brilliant topic on PIMs/note takers/etc..
I just made a review on AceText, which I think should go into a sub-cat of some thing along the lines of Coders Versions or some thing :P
"Anything that shaves off some time in order to concentrate on important issues is a plus""
AceText is designed to collect text, and text only. Not images, not other stuff. The software is simple and serves a good purpose of organizing text/code only, also the clipboard manager is honestly one of the best I have used.
You can check out the review I wrote for AceText here.
I believe AceText is one of the Top 5 PIM/Note-taking softs... Although from this thread I found out there are ton's of programs in this category each with there own unique features.
I think an official review should be made considering how much discusion this topic has caused. It's going to take alot of time to make a solid review. Maybe as the OP intended you could break the catagory down into subs and display the best 3 PIMs/etc. for each sub.
So what do you think mouser.. How about a nice new PIM/Text Manager/Etc. official review. I think it would be good.
:o
I truly believe this topic has created a good reason to write an official review for this type of software..
mitzevo:
I found a rather new note taker.. mainly aimed at copywriters and internet marketers, etc.
CopyCat
I like the look of this thing. Looks and sounds very good.
doublewitt:
Hi doublewitt,
You might find do-Organizer not suitable to be classified as "Bloatware" or "Fatware" due to its application nature or your personal feel, however, that is not an appropriate reason to deny the fact that some "Bloatware" or "Fatware" do exist in the market.
Widen the scope or adding features/functions of an application from its initial objective does brings side effects, generally speaking it:
1) Cuts down performance or raises hardware requirements
2) Makes documenting more difficult - harder for newcomers to master
3) Lifts the price of the application - those who need only few features will feel not worth it.
In fact, from a software developer point of view, increase in #features or raise in hardware requirements is something inevitable along the evolution of an application, however, blindly/simply adds whatever requested by users is not always a SMART idea.
As a user, if A and B are 2 software which offer the same set of functions at the same price and both do well in what they have to offer except that A does everything more slowly than B, which one do you prefer? This is corresponding to 1) above
If A offers just the set of functions which you need at a lower price than B which has more to offer (which you don't need), which one do you choose? See 3)
IMHO, whether a software is "BLOAT" or a fatty, it all depends... it is more personal feel than an objective issue.-tslim (August 03, 2006, 06:29 AM)
--- End quote ---
I understand your point of view and yet, I'm not basing my claim uniquely on do-Organizer. Personally, I've found that when I load and run programs that seem to have too much - as per critics, I actually don't really see a difference in "performance" in my system. I don't see where the concern is with the systems we have today... If the added features are not all running at the same time, why should it affect performance...?
Perhaps a software will satisfy you today with it's underpriveleged feature set, but what about tomorrow...? Maybe your needs will change in one year or 2 - what then? buy a new program or harass the developer for new features to accomodate your evolved needs?
In one or two years down the road, I will be happy to see they "already" included features that NOW I need. Why purchase a "limited" feature set today and have to continually make changes? Why not have a little bit of foresight...? Why not anticipate changes? Personally, my computing needs are always CHANGING...
Haven't you noticed that computer users are evolving too...? Does everything have to be so ridiculously easy...?
Kids are riding on computers like pros in elementary school - since our world and schooling today is so computer-oriented. It's odd somehow that so much emphasis is on ease of use. Where is the element of challenge in learning? It seems (to me) that people are a little bit lazy...
You might think I'm strange, but what does "price" have to do with it...? If I'm satisfied with a program that produces a complete set of features, and it meets all my requirements, I don't mind to pay $10 - $20 - $30 - or more for the added conveniance... Difference in prices is really not a major issue (for me). If you are saving a few hundred dollars then that would be different... In general, we are talking about a very normal "price range". Ofcourse, you have those little "penny pinchers" who'll jump from a bridge just to save $5.00 People seldom realize as they purchase blindly that their needs change and you don't necessarily have a guarantee from the software producer that they will yield updates often enough. And you don't have a guarantee that they will include your suggestion. Now what? Move on and find another application...? More money...? There is a big problem nowadays getting updates once a year. How many years will you have to wait for your needs to be met...? Good luck...
The problem is we are buying according to today's needs only (an immediate issue) and we close our eyes and understanding about tomorrow... that's a blind purchase.
If you want to run 10 - 15 or 20 applications at the same time, where are you at with performance and hardware requirements...?
Fortunately, the computer age is always evolving... Software developers deserve the tiny little "raised" price. Afterall, they work hard enough for it - can't you see?
Ofcourse, that's just my point of view, nobody has to agree with me. But that's the way I see the affair - and yes, I wasted lots of money running after needed features...
No more will I do that...!
superboyac:
Hi everyone, while I enjoy discussions about the definition of bloatware, I don't think this thread is the place for it. Please keep in mind that this thread is already extremely long and we want to be careful to not veer off-topic if we don't have to.
Thanks!
(remember, it's a thread on "notetaking software")
urlwolf:
Some thoughts on using a simple plain text file and camelCase:
"Big-Arse Text File - a Poor Man's Wiki+Blog+PIM"
http://ideamatt.blogspot.com/2005/08/my-big-arse-text-file-poor-mans.html
This is very close to what I do right now. With vim (or any decent editor) searches are superfast, inserting dates is easy if needed, word completion helps with tagging, etc.
If you want to do this and be portable, it's easy, any computer can open a txt file. Plus, you can access your list online with this:
http://toolbartogo.com
Lots of interesting ideas here.
Of course, if you want to save formatting, images, etc. this won't work for you. But I have been using this system for ~5 years and it works well for me. In fact I started it just to dump the tel. numbers I had in my cell phone's memory... and started adding all kind of other important stuff to it like software keys, passwords, etc. Then I ended up using this file to annotate ideas as they came (kind of like a scracth piece of paper)...
it is still called telephones.txt :D
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version