Universal/Internal URLs

Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Jul 16, 2006 at 10:02 AM

Stephen,

ClipMate and ClipCache 3 beta were the ones I was aware of. I actually have a license for X2Net Smartboard but haven’t used it for a while; it has a client-server architecture so it makes sense that it’s database based (pardon the pun), though they don’t mention this in their info as far as I can tell. I didn’t know of ClipMagic.

All in all it is interesting that some of the most popular clipboard managers rely on a database, whereas only the most modern outlining information managers have such an infrastructure. I think it’s basically an issue of “roots”, i.e. classic outliners (especially one-pane ones) originally dealt with structuring documents and additional features were built on that premise. Examples include Ecco, Inspiration, InfoRecall, Treepad, etc.

I think another approach has (potentially) been taken by AskSam, MDE Infohandler and Zoot. I am mainly considering this by their database-like interface and access to data. One more database candidate is GrandView but I have never even glanced at the program. On the other hand, an obvious candidate would be Brainstorm but I know that it hasn’t taken that route.

The dividing line between document-oriented and database-oriented programs seems to be an emphasis on structuring/visualising, i.e. on a tree outline, vs storing/categorising/searching.

IDEA! and UltraRecall are modern programs built from scratch with a broader concept in mind and so can have the best of both worlds; i.e. a visual tree on top of a database infrastructure. Another example is TheBrain.

The advantages of the database infrastructure can be summed up in scalability, data integrity and speed; see for example Kinook’s explanation for their approach on UltraRecall http://www.kinook.com/blog/?p=18 or TheBrain’s massive WebBrain demo at http://www.webbrain.com/

alx