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most facile outliner
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Posted by JBfrom
Apr 15, 2012 at 10:57 AM
I have no clue what period of time would be better for windows PIM software than 2012. Evernote, Org Mode and CT are all under continuous development, and multiple mature specialized products exist. I’m just glad I was born when I was.
The virus thing is a long-standing false positive about which BrainStorm can do nothing. There’s a certificate of clean health on the download page, or you can get it thru a mega download site like download.com, which AV scans everything.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Apr 15, 2012 at 01:50 PM
I concur that it’s actually a good time for Windows software. I believe that many people (myself among them) were turned off by the uselessness of Vista, and began exploring other platforms—most turned to Mac, I turned to Linux. This may have included some developers.
When Windows 7 came out I was quite impressed: stability and performance were made available with reasonable hardware. So Windows have remained my platform of choice (with Linux providing an acceptable backup) and I have stopped shying away from non-cross-platform applications. In this respect, I am quite happy by the options provided by WIndows-only programmes still actively developed like ConnectedText, Sense, UltraRecall and Zoot, and most optimistic by the growing number of cross-platform apps like TreeSheets, TheBrain and Evernote.
Most importantly though, I do not believe that there is a dilemma between Windows/desktop and web applications. Both are now required and I maintain that applications that do not become web aware in this interconnected world have little future to hope for. I love the simple model with which an ecosystem of desktop and mobile applications has grown around the Simplenotes syncing service; in short, you don’t need to have Evernote-size funding to ensure cross-compatibilty—there’s many a developer out there looking for other apps and services to link their programme too, making it far more compeititive an attractive.
Posted by Gary Carson
Apr 15, 2012 at 02:06 PM
“Brainstorm itself with its ?permanent hoist view? is not always easy to grasp:”
Permanent hoist view crippled an otherwise useful program, if you ask me. Hoisting is a good way to focus in on one level of an outline, but what if you need to refer back to some other part of the outline? The Brainstorm model forced you to go back to the previous level, find the new level, hoist that level, etc., etc. I eventually stopped using Brainstorm for just this reason. A good outliner has to be more flexible than this. The user should be able to control how much of the outline is visible at any one time.
Posted by tradercclee
Apr 15, 2012 at 02:23 PM
Gary Carson wrote:
>Permanent hoist view crippled an otherwise useful program, if you ask me.
>Hoisting is a good way to focus in on one level of an outline, but what if you need to refer
>back to some other part of the outline?
This is where I use the namesake feature the most.
I create namesakes like wiki-links, like this: [[idea]]
I use it to refer to other part of the outline and jump around quickly.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Apr 15, 2012 at 04:16 PM
Same here for the use of namesakes. In my MBA class notes I had ‘fields’ like
etc. and I could very quickly scan back and forth the various material in sequence. I even put all such ‘fields’ under the home entry, so I could go from there to wherever.
The ‘permanent hoist’ view is the essence of Brainstorm. If you don’t like it, then there’s no need to use Brainstorm. Another tool that forces you to focus in a similar way (also coming from DOS by the way) is Maxthink.
As for getting an overview of everything, the ‘balloon view’ is a simple way to do it, but what I usually do is write everything to the clipboard in tab-indented text (Ctrl+W) and paste to a mindmapping program or to TreeSheets.
Let us render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s. No tool is good at everything.
tradercclee wrote:
>Gary Carson wrote:
>
>>Permanent hoist view crippled an otherwise useful program, if
>you ask me.
>>Hoisting is a good way to focus in on one level of an outline, but what if you
>need to refer
>>back to some other part of the outline?
>
>This is where I use the
>namesake feature the most.
>I create namesakes like wiki-links, like this:
>[[idea]]
>I use it to refer to other part of the outline and jump around quickly.