I bought a copy of OneNote several months ago. It has taken awhile, but I am really beginning to warm up to it. It is very handy for clipping information in various forms. I find it very useful for short-term storage of project-related data. I don't think I would use it for long-term information management, as it is a bit too clunky, especially compared to the likes of Zoot or even Ultra Recall. But for keeping related notes at hand for quick reference while developing a project, it is great.

So I've been checking in regularly with the OneNote users forum at the MS web site, where I've recently found the following featured user testimonial:

"I'm smitten with OneNote. I take project and team notes with OneNote and I rely on note flags a lot to stay on top of action items. I also use OneNote for my oceanography class. My manager and most of my team now use it, and I've also introduced it to friends and family."

ó Tamara Johnston, Microsoft Learning Project Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Is it just me, or is this weird? Can't the biggest software corporation in the world find someone without a conflict of interest who has good things to say about OneNote? This is like Condi Rice touting the Bush White House's foreign policy. Oh, well. What do I know about building a multi-billion dollar corporation? Not much.

Steve Z.

[Steve Z.: Can't the biggest software corporation in the world find someone without a conflict of interest who has good things to say about OneNote?]

In fact, the biggest software corporation in the world is not very good in promoting original products and opening new markets; it is however great in exploiting the ones other have opened and ultimately monopolising them, starting from very humble offerings.

Think: From GEM and Apple OS to Microsoft Windows / From WordPerfect to Word / From 1-2-3 and Quattro to Excel / From Harvard Graphics to Powerpoint / From dBase and Paradox to Access / From Lotus Organizer to Outlook / Last but not least, from Netscape to Internet Explorer.

Remember how non-competitive were the first versions of Microsoft's products? Did anyone ever use Windows 1.0 or 2.0 without regretting it?

Enter OneNote. Microsoft recognises the need for integrated information management. InfoPath is the developer's product and OneNote may become the home version, gradually building up features until the two meet in bloatwareland.

The only trouble is, in the outliner market there is no significant market leader to compete against yet; the market is too fragmented. Perhaps M$ should let the modern outliners like UltraRecall and EverNote build up momentum and then go for it with something "better".

alx

Tamara may be MS' trial balloon for developing a multilevel marketing strategy for OneNote. First you start by presenting the product to friends and family, then...list 100 people with whom you work, do business,....

I've been playing around with Evernote. I kind of like it, and it claims to be able to do most of the same things that OneNote does.

Daly