Just to get back to Steve's original question: whither the ultimate PIM? My 2 cents. As well as the economic downturn and the effect that's having on developers' margins, isn't it also the case that the PIM market has matured?

Okay, so this is probably just my experience which I'm extrapolating into an instant theory... but my impression from talking to non-tech types who found themselves having to use computers is that increasingly they're fairly happy with their information management set up.

People who were forced around a decade ago into the search for the perfect PIM as, suddenly, overnight, they went online and became overloaded with information, have kludged together solutions. Pretty good PIM software is out there. It does the job.

See the latest version of EverNote. The innovation there is at the level of technology. Sure, it's great to access data from anywhere. But as far as information management goes, it does less than earlier versions.

A good business move by EverNote and its VC investors. For many people, the excitement is now in using software to be more creative, to get a real handle on work and so on. Switching from one PIM application isn't easy. Innovation just confuses. And so they stick with what works. Which will be relatively simple, not innovative in the ways in which many hardcore info splicers & dicers might want.

Ike

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Okay, is it just my misperception or is the field of PIM/Outliners gradually
shrinking?

It seems that many of the programs that we used to talk about with great
enthusiasm -- UltraRecall, InfoHandler -- are going the way of ADM and Ariadne.
Basically shrivelling on the vine. There seems little new and exciting in the field
during the past year. Of course, I am awaiting the delivery -- promised for this month
-- of Zoot with text formatting. That would be EXCITING. Brainstorm development
seems to have stalled, and David is working on selling it.

Software development has
always been volatile, and developers fickle, as those of us who loved GrandView and
Ecco can attest. So it isn't surprising to see software come and go. But I guess I don't
see so much new stuff coming along.

In the Mac world, things are a little brighter,
but there are fewer choices to begin with. Applications like Curio and Notebook are
exciting and remain fresh. But even here you get a program like Journler -- which built
up an enthusiastic following and now seems destined for the scrap heap.

I suppose
the world wide economic downturn isn't helping matters. But all the more reason for an
out-of-work programming wizard to devote more time to the ultimate PIM. Is it out
there?

Steve Z.