Mourning the passing of Pocketthinker

Posted by Derek Cornish
Dec 13, 2007 at 07:25 PM

PPL wrote:
>It was pretty clear from his e-mails, that he had no interest in working on/selling it
>anymore.

Well, I hope on further reflection he’ll change his mind :-)

>As to a Grandview replacement, what features are missing in the current
>version of SQLNotes?

That’s a very tall order (i) as I recently uninstalled SQLNotes - simply because I am looking for a fully-featured outliner to replace Grandview (GV), not an Ecco-type pim; and (ii) GV is a rather complex program. The two Steves - Steve Z, and Steve Cohen (who used to post here) - are the real GV experts. You can find archive postings on GV by them using the “Search” feature on this forum.

The best thing to do is to get hold of a copy yourself - not an easy thing as Symantec still holds copyright, is not going to give it up, and is not selling the program - a DOS one - any more. But a flavour of the program can be found by downloading its little brother PC-Outline, if you can find it (not the Windows version, which was awful, but the Brownbag Software’s original DOS version). Look at:
http://www.jlarue.com/blastfrompast.html
...for a brief discussion of these DOS outliners, and
http://www.umich.edu/~archive/msdos/database/pcoutline/
...to download PC-Outline (pco330.arc).

Also http://www.faughnan.com/more/index.html contains some discussion of More (Mac) and GV (PC).

When considering single-pane outliners as writers’ tools it’s not simply a question of features - although GV can hoist, clone, gather, binsort, attach categories, and so on - but of general usability, and that intangible but important feeling of being in an undistracting “writer’s environment” rather than in a spreadsheet or PIM. To me this means a program that’s limited in the sense of being focused, and fit for purpose, much in the way that Zoot is. Less is more.

That is not, of course, to criticise, dismiss or demean the notion of adding of outlining features to PIMS, where - as in Ecco - they are essential IMO. But there are usually limits to what is feasible in the context of all the other objectives of the program and the constraints imposed on its design by these other goals.

Needless to say, the very best of luck in building GV’s strengths into SQLNotes, and in creating a creative “island” within the software where one can close off all other distractions and concentrate on brainstorming, outlining and writing.

Derek