Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks
IainB:
@sphere: You are concerned that MS are going to deprecate support for maintaining OneNote standalone local client databases.
I'm not so sure that MS would become a cloud-only business, as I wrote above:
* In Microsoft's case, they would seem to be decidedly NOT a Cloud-only business and have many examples of where their software continues for ages, or is responsibly and gracefully sunsetted (and even kept backwards compatible in the Windows 10 OS) - the most recent being, I think, Microsoft Money Plus Sunset
* I would recommend a wait-and-see approach regarding OneNote. Trial/use it anyway. It seems unlikely that it will be killed off for several years yet.
* A licence for MS Office 2019 Plus is available relatively cheaply - e.g., here.
* It was possible to get MS Office 2016 Plus relatively cheaply, but I am unsure if it is still available - e.g., here.
* As regards using MS Office 2013, I wouldn't recommend it as the OneNote functionality would be kludgy - it has been vastly improved on since, in ON 2016.-IainB (April 27, 2019, 04:03 AM)
--- End quote ---
The idea of going Cloud-only or Cloud-compulsory would seem to take away the consumer choice of using standalone local client databases. That's why, for example I would (and do) advise clients to think twice about doing business with Evernote or (similarly) Google Docs and other Cloud-based service providers, etc.. It's simply too risky, and it's an avoidable risk. It puts Evernote or Google etc. in control of your business databases. If you can afford to take that risk - or can't afford to avoid it - then go for it, but I still wouldn't recommend it - especially if you can afford not to take that risk. That is different to things like implementing (say) Citrix Thin Client systems though, which may often seem to be (and often are, in business terms) a no-brainer from the user perspective.
The status quo of doing work on standalone local "fat" clients that are not-network-connected devices and have local databases would be a typical and fundamental user security and ease-of-use/access requirement - e.g., especially in Defence organisations.
I would suggest that commercial use of MS Office licences (which comes as a bundle with OneNote) would stop dead if MS went all fascist and disabled the app from being able to be used stand-alone - it would adversely affect potential security risks, by definition.
However, if you want to ensure that you don't get caught out with your pants down, as it were, in the event that MS does leave OneNote users high-and-dry without the future option for full standalone independent OneNote client functionality (and databases), then make sure that you have a backup copy of the latest MS Office 2016 install + all updates and stock up on MS-Office Pro licences - now! :)
By the way, LOOK OUT! The sky is falling down! I think a lot of the supposition and discussion on this subject might/could be "fake news" promulgated by the IT media who need those clicks from the nervous and twitchy fingers of all those millions of MS Office OneNote users out there. Must be one heck of a big market.
sphere:
I have done some further reading and it does look like if you need/want a desktop application- OneNote 2016 is the best option, as it does not appear there is a OneNote 2019 desktop application. Only the Win 10 OneNote Application and Office 2019 will install/default to windows option.
That being said, @IainB, my questions arise from the understanding that Microsoft has already made the decision to make OneNote an online driven application moving forward. It is possible that my understanding is incorrect but I do not believe that is the case. It is also possible that Microsoft might backstep the decision to make OneNote a web app, or that they will roll out some new enterprise OneNote version. From my vantage point, much of what MS decides depends on the revenue stream and or their tring to "win" over market share. I do not think OneNote's market is solely business. I think they are going after the evernote market, which has its fair number of business persons, most of whom have cast aside concerns for privacy or believe that encryption/passwords are enough. Evernote and other similar products want to sell online storage. Microsoft might be looking to do the same, or looking to use OneNote to help attract people to utilize their other products. In the past Microsoft has been slow to adopt the service model. They now push 365 pretty hard, and I have read some articles that mention them moving to a similar model for their operating system itself.
Back to my understanding of where OneNote is right now. Microsoft has made the move to stop developing/updating OneNote 2016, and instead is only developing the Windows 10 OneNote web app which (as I understand it) requires a login to the web, and only allows working offline through caching. All files are born online. It is a web app that allows for use offline. When browsing Microsoft's forums about this move, people are encouraged to express their opnions through the uservoice channels with the hopes that Microsoft might reverse their decision.
OneNote 2016 will have some updates until 2020 and security updates until 2025 which is nice. That being said it would be nice to see some of the advancements from the webapp in 2016. For one, it would be nice to see better hand writing recognition.
One of my other concerns was my move from Win 7 to Windows 10. I had read a number of people complaining that Windows 10 would cripple their install of OneNote 2016. I found this concerning. I would be interested in knowing if anyone here has had issues with that. I have installed OneNote 2016 on a Windows 10 computer and it seems like both OneNote 2016 and Window's own OneNote are coexisting fine, but I have not tested it thoroughly. I would be interested in hearing from people here if they have had any issues.
IainB:
@sphere:
Sorry, but I don't know where to find the unequivocal statements of purpose coming from MS, regarding OneNote, that might validate, or invalidate your concerns. MS sometimes seem to make statements that obfuscate their plans, or leave things unclear or ambiguous. I suspect that may be because they are waiting for feedback from their users (which they are getting, I gather).
This discussion thread tends to primarily cover Microsoft OneNote - some experiential Tips & Tricks, rather than being focused on other things - e.g., (say) OneNote and MS's possible future migration or marketing strategies for OneNote. I set it up to fill what seemed to be an information void. It's accidentally become a sort of user group - though nowhere near as sophisticated as (say) exusmods.com is for the Fallout games.
If you could find some "unequivocal statements of purpose coming from MS, regarding OneNote" that cause you concern, then it could be useful if you were to share them here, for our edification and comment, but you won't necessarily find a Brains Trust here that knows enough about OneNote+MS to be able to adequately advise you or give you any answers, though there will no doubt be lots of useful comments from other DCF folk. Catching up with and understanding how OneNote works in the first place seems to be a pretty big challenge in itself.
I would suggest though that if we take Microsoft Money as an example - refer Microsoft Money Plus Sunset - Mini-Review - DonationCoder.com - then we might be able to see how MS doesn't tend to leave (probably can't allow itself to) users in the lurch when it sunsets a product. That would arguably go double for the enormous user base of the MS Office suite (which includes OneNote).
No doubt time will tell.
IainB:
Hmm...Interesting post at asap-utilities.com/blog/
For developers; Application.Version returns 16.0 for both Excel 2019 and Excel 2016…!?
Is Excel 2019 just Excel 2016 with a new name?
(Click on link to go there.)
--- End quote ---
One wonders whether the same is true of OneNote...
wraith808:
@sphere:
Sorry, but I don't know where to find the unequivocal statements of purpose coming from MS, regarding OneNote, that might validate, or invalidate your concerns. MS sometimes seem to make statements that obfuscate their plans, or leave things unclear or ambiguous. I suspect that may be because they are waiting for feedback from their users (which they are getting, I gather).
-IainB (September 29, 2019, 09:26 AM)
--- End quote ---
See links and quote at https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=48816.msg432778#msg432778
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version