I took another fairly brief look at Zoot. Correct me if I am wrong about its features and limitations.

While it seems facile in manipulating items, it seems remarkably lame about manipulating categories (for which it uses a folder metaphor). In fact, its ability to reorganize categories seems weaker than even the most inexpensive two-pane quasi-outliner. To subordinate one 'folder' to another, you select the folder choose a command to indent it. No subordination by drag and drop, even. Certainly no multiple-selection of categories.

This doesn't look to me like a medium for emergent structure. It doesn't readily allow you to tear down and rebuild higher level structures. It seems best for tasks where the basic structure is pre-ordained. It seems well-designed to organize information within known categories to facilitate the flow of work.

srd

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

This is exactly where Zoot excels. While I agree with Stephen that Brainstorm is
unsurpassed in many of its overall functioning as a brain storming application and
for organizing thoughts, to me Zoot has it beat for the purpose of collecting random
information and making sense of it later because Zoot allows meta-data and has
powerful filtering through smart folders.

The good news is that Zoot and
Brainstorm are very compatible products, since both use plain text and both have easy
processes for importing and exporting material. I'd collect and organize the
information in Zoot, then export it -- using Brainstorm's magic paste function -- to
Brainstorm to mold it into a coherent narrative.

Steve Z.