Re: The most important thing...

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 2840

Posted by ureadit
2005-02-23 12:57:35

Alex D said: “I almost found it surprising that you don’t use any of the tools discussed in the forum for writing.”

Me too! In the DOS days, I did almost all of my writing in GV…I even added macros for printer codes so I could do equations. I’ve occasionally used one of the PIMs for writing, but only a single-pane outliner is really good for that, and I found NotePad too limiting and Inspiration (at least earlier versions) too clunky and with some unfortunate features, such as bolding the beginning of a new “heading.”

Also, I don’t seem to much need the flexibility of an outliner. I seldom rearrange paragraphs, etc. So, while WORD is a pain in the tush, my customized toolbars make its use almost tolerable. Maybe I’m just getting old…I expect to retire in about a month & then maybe do some consulting (analytic problem structuring & solving…preferably tough problems).

At first glance, I did not care for Brainstorm. (I do that in my head and maybe jot down a note.) But, I guess I should take another look.

I’ve used numerous 2-pane PIMs. InfoRecall would have been nice, but I exercised it enough to cause the bugs to come out. I’ve also used Maple (http://www.crystaloffice.com)and WinOrganizer (http://www.tgslabs.com). I used TreePad until development stopped for a while. I then switched to Jot+ (http://www.kingstairs.com) which is pretty easy to use and seems to have full rtf. Now that TreePad Business is here, I find myself using it a fair bit in place of Jot+...but the jury is still out on my final choice. For saving Internet items I use MyBase (http://www.wjjsoft.com).

As I’ve said before, in two-pane outliners, I treat the left pane as a flexible, rearrangeable Table of Contents and FIND as a flexible Index.

My laptop still runs Win98SE as it is easier to use GV in that environment. I sometimes fantasize about going back to DOS and using GV. (I had a neat program that allowed me to switch between DOS programs on the fly.) Before Windows, GV satisfied me so much that I never felt any desire to look elsewhere. From the participation in this forum, it seems that many have yet to achieve that nirvana.

-sc

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