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askSam 7 Professional on Bits du Jour
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Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Apr 14, 2009 at 02:37 AM
Jonathan Probber wrote:
>Info Select began life as a sharp, fast DOS app called Tornado Notes. I loved it and used
>it constantly. When the braintrust decided to make it everything to everyone, it lost
>its lustre. I used Tornado Notes, Memory Mate and XyWrite II+ in those days, and was
>probably far more productive than I am now.
>
>Jon
I too used Memory Mate. It was a very handy program. I think I still have the installation disks! Hey, you never know when DOS might make a comeback.
Steve Z.
Posted by Manfred
Apr 14, 2009 at 01:08 PM
InfoSelect 1 for Windows was also quick and well-suited for the task of keeping notes. I still have a version on a Memory Stick (mainly for sentimental reasons). (I liked the way the scraps re-arranged themselves on the screen as you went through them. I don’t understand why they don’t update that version as a lower cost alternative to the present bloatware.
Manfred
Posted by Dominik Holenstein
Apr 15, 2009 at 02:18 PM
I prefer to use UR professional as a free form text database. You can define attributes and forms much easier in UR than in askSam.
MyInfo is another option.
Dominik
Posted by Manfred
Apr 15, 2009 at 10:21 PM
A personal wiki like ConnectedText is a much better (and much more frugal) alternative to AskSam as well.
I tried AskSam years ago, and abanoned it because it was so unreliable then. It seems that nothing has changed.
Manfred
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Apr 16, 2009 at 08:13 PM
I am very glad I started this thread. I should note that I am (almost) cured of CRIMP and had little intention to take ‘advantage’ of the BdJ askSam discount. I mainly posted it as the program has been discussed here in the past (or mostly in the original outliners.com forum).
The discussions here brought up an interesting point for me. In the past I have witnessed several cases of PIM nostalgia, mainly by Ecco Pro and GrandView users. I am guilty of this myself, though not openly so, as I distinctly remember how prolific I was with FileExpress and A4 for DOS, but now can barely get Access to do anything useful.
The various contributions here have highlighted the great number of choices (perhaps too many) now available, as well as the different routes taken: personal wikis, 2-pane outliners and desktop search engines were mentioned, for example.
However, what I find even more interesting is that such tools are available for really very moderate prices. askSam, regularly priced at almost $400 (and actually selling at that price in the past, I imagine) has been compared with contemporary programs costing 8-10 times less—and found at significant disadvantage.
As much as I can empathize with developers finding it hard to earn a living while offering very useful products, I am very glad that I can experiment significantly (in the long term, which would not be possible through trial versions) with the various suggested methods and tools, without risking a month’s earnings. I do hope that the tools mentioned will go mainstream one day; and I mean mainstream.
Alexander