Up & Coming Contenders
Posted by srdiamond15
on 7/21/2004
srdiamond15
7/21/2004 6:34 pm
Here are two new free form database programs that deserve mention because of the speed of their ongoing development and the ability and conscientiousness of their developers:
1. General Data Base (www.Baltsoft.com) I have found it odd that some of these hierarchical programs--even an occasional very good one--force the alphabetical sorting of headings. Very curious about why these vendors would cripple their product, I sent a few emails to the developers or to their user forums.
One example, Black Hole Organizer, which I think is generally a pretty good inexpensive traditional product with absolutely the best on-the-fly import from the net and very responsive to customers. The developer told me that to change this would be a really major alteration, and since no one has ever requested previously, he didn't plan to make any changes regarding that limitation.
InfoRecall said the product's intent was to allow the user to find things as fast as possible, and for that purpose strict alphabetical sorting was appropriate. I think that was a pretty good answer, since InfoRecall provides alternative methods for organizing information for a specific writing.
General Database developer Baltsoft tersely replied in the user forum: "This is bug. Will be fixed next version."
I checked back a couple of months later, the limitation was gone.
Maybe a week ago, I said in their forum that General Database could be a top product in its category with two additions: (you guessed it) multiple selection of headings and a multiple document interface with tabbed windows. (Currently the program has imo the best editor in this category, among numerous other strong features.) He replied, "OK, these features will be included next release." The next release is less than two monhs away.
2. Steve Cohen mentioned this product fairly recently: ndxCards (www.trutamil.com) I dismissed it at the time because of the extremely limited outlining. Outlining will probably be substantially improved by the next major version, to be released at the end of summer. In general it provides a very convenient interface for organizing a document from notes, and the support and development teams seem unusually capable.
srdiamond
1. General Data Base (www.Baltsoft.com) I have found it odd that some of these hierarchical programs--even an occasional very good one--force the alphabetical sorting of headings. Very curious about why these vendors would cripple their product, I sent a few emails to the developers or to their user forums.
One example, Black Hole Organizer, which I think is generally a pretty good inexpensive traditional product with absolutely the best on-the-fly import from the net and very responsive to customers. The developer told me that to change this would be a really major alteration, and since no one has ever requested previously, he didn't plan to make any changes regarding that limitation.
InfoRecall said the product's intent was to allow the user to find things as fast as possible, and for that purpose strict alphabetical sorting was appropriate. I think that was a pretty good answer, since InfoRecall provides alternative methods for organizing information for a specific writing.
General Database developer Baltsoft tersely replied in the user forum: "This is bug. Will be fixed next version."
I checked back a couple of months later, the limitation was gone.
Maybe a week ago, I said in their forum that General Database could be a top product in its category with two additions: (you guessed it) multiple selection of headings and a multiple document interface with tabbed windows. (Currently the program has imo the best editor in this category, among numerous other strong features.) He replied, "OK, these features will be included next release." The next release is less than two monhs away.
2. Steve Cohen mentioned this product fairly recently: ndxCards (www.trutamil.com) I dismissed it at the time because of the extremely limited outlining. Outlining will probably be substantially improved by the next major version, to be released at the end of summer. In general it provides a very convenient interface for organizing a document from notes, and the support and development teams seem unusually capable.
srdiamond
sub
7/26/2004 9:16 am
[ Here are two new free form database programs that deserve mention because of the speed of their ongoing development and the ability and conscientiousness of their developers ]
I'd just like to mention here Ideaspad, a product suggested at this forum for its use of templates; it's a simple way of combining free-form and structured data.
http://www.mindwarp-consultancy-software.com/ideaspad-shareware-download.html
At the time I was sceptical for its use of HTML rather than XML to store the form data; Ideaspad developer responded and has included a comprehensive XML exporting feature in the new version (currently a Release Candidate I believe). At $25 I think it's definitely worth taking a look at.
Incidentally, Hyperclip, mentioned elsewhere, apparently uses XML as its native format, which I think is an added benefit.
In the long term, I guess that all outliners and similar programs should switch to XML as a native format; then we can perhaps use a standard like the Resource Description Framework (RDF) to ensure that files are interpreted in the same way from all programs we use; and then (am I talking science fiction here?) we'll be able to switch between tools depending on their individual strengths in composing / viewing / re-organising and our own preferences (right/left brain etc) without worrying about the technicalities of the underlying data since we will all be using the same file formats.
OK. I may have been carried away, but it still seems reasonable, doesn't it?
alx
I'd just like to mention here Ideaspad, a product suggested at this forum for its use of templates; it's a simple way of combining free-form and structured data.
http://www.mindwarp-consultancy-software.com/ideaspad-shareware-download.html
At the time I was sceptical for its use of HTML rather than XML to store the form data; Ideaspad developer responded and has included a comprehensive XML exporting feature in the new version (currently a Release Candidate I believe). At $25 I think it's definitely worth taking a look at.
Incidentally, Hyperclip, mentioned elsewhere, apparently uses XML as its native format, which I think is an added benefit.
In the long term, I guess that all outliners and similar programs should switch to XML as a native format; then we can perhaps use a standard like the Resource Description Framework (RDF) to ensure that files are interpreted in the same way from all programs we use; and then (am I talking science fiction here?) we'll be able to switch between tools depending on their individual strengths in composing / viewing / re-organising and our own preferences (right/left brain etc) without worrying about the technicalities of the underlying data since we will all be using the same file formats.
OK. I may have been carried away, but it still seems reasonable, doesn't it?
alx