Forum Posts Feed
InfoSelect Discussion Interesting
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Sep 30, 2009 at 05:47 PM
I don’t know how many people here use or follow InfoSelect.
On the eve of a new version of IS, its creator Jim Lewis actively participates on the IS Yahoo group. To his credit, he’s hanging in on the discussion that focuses on some key issues as to overall quality of features, pricing, and support.
My sense is Jim is trying to figure out how IS got where it is today, and what he might do to chart a more positive course. I think people are generally glad to hear from him, and are trying to keep critical responses as positive as possible.
I respect that Jim has come forward, and made himself approachable to at leas those users who follow the Yahoo group.
If there was a name to be given to the exercise he’s engaged in, it could be The Rebranding and Recovery of IS.
Has anyone else been following the IS Yahoo group, or have comments on IS?
Daly
Posted by MsJulie
Sep 30, 2009 at 07:39 PM
Daly,
I had my whole LIFE in InfoSelect—and that life started with Tornado Notes. I have 2 GB of largely text captured there. But InfoSelect got quirkier and quirkier, and more and more fragile.
It did not work well with Dragon Naturally Speaking. In the 1990’s Dragon was terrible and typing was always just as easy—but Dragon got better! I knew it was of little use to appeal to the developer, so my thinking/composing work went elsewhere (UltraRecall remains).
Then the email service went south, and I had to migrate to Outlook—kicking and screaming.
Still I liked the way IS would capture information from websites—yes, you had to clean up a lot of stuff, but I had macro’s for that. But IS just got so unstable and the transporter didn’t function. I learned about Surfulater here, and I have lived happily everafter.
Now I use IS to strip out HTML codes when pasting. Still, I’ll keep it up because I have so much information in it. I just really wonder how much all that old information is worth. Less every day I don’t need it, I’m sure.
What’s interesting is that Jim Lewis is opening himself up to comments and reflections now that IS 10 is about to be announced. I mean, shouldn’t he have done that in the beginning of the process?
Thanks for your posts.
Cheers, Julie
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Sep 30, 2009 at 09:17 PM
Good points, Julie.
I use Surfulater a lot, and really like it. I also rely on Evernote.
Since Zoot 5 I have looked at that software again, and am increasingly excited when I see what is in Zoot 6 beta. I am not geeky enough to get it all on my own,however, so am thinking of reaching out by phone and talking to someone from the Zoot Yahoo Group.
You are right, it would have been better if Jim had started communicating at the beginning of the IS beta process. Why now, I am not sure, although it has coincided with the Yahoo IS group offering the group to him, Whether there is more to the story than that, I do not know.
For years the concerns around IS have been growing, and in spite of questions about Jim’s presence he has been most invisible. Now, however, Yuri seems no longer in the picture, and there are new people.
Having been a vocal IS critics for years, having invested some money in subscriptions and many hours in trying to get IS to work well, I must say I have a lot of respect for Jim stepping forward now, and doing his best to really hear what people have to say.
Daly
MsJulie wrote:
>Daly,
>
>I had my whole LIFE in InfoSelect—and that life started with Tornado Notes. I
>have 2 GB of largely text captured there. But InfoSelect got quirkier and quirkier,
>and more and more fragile.
>
>It did not work well with Dragon Naturally Speaking. In
>the 1990’s Dragon was terrible and typing was always just as easy—but Dragon got
>better! I knew it was of little use to appeal to the developer, so my
>thinking/composing work went elsewhere (UltraRecall remains).
>
>Then the email
>service went south, and I had to migrate to Outlook—kicking and screaming.
>
>Still I
>liked the way IS would capture information from websites—yes, you had to clean up a
>lot of stuff, but I had macro’s for that. But IS just got so unstable and the transporter
>didn’t function. I learned about Surfulater here, and I have lived happily
>everafter.
>
>Now I use IS to strip out HTML codes when pasting. Still, I’ll keep it up
>because I have so much information in it. I just really wonder how much all that old
>information is worth. Less every day I don’t need it, I’m sure.
>
>What’s interesting
>is that Jim Lewis is opening himself up to comments and reflections now that IS 10 is
>about to be announced. I mean, shouldn’t he have done that in the beginning of the
>process?
>
>Thanks for your posts.
>
>Cheers, Julie
Posted by Manfred
Sep 30, 2009 at 09:54 PM
I gave up on InfoSelect long ago, but have kept an interest in developments having to do with the program. In any case, not everyone sees the developments in the Forum involving Jim Lewis positively. Apparently, there has been censorship since he “took over.”
There is even a back-up Forum to be used, if censorship becomes intolerable.
Take a look at this Jhttp://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/bb/index.php?topic=19996.0
All in all, not a pretty picture ... I think.
Manfred
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Sep 30, 2009 at 10:07 PM
It will be interesting to see how “improved” InfoSelect 10 is. In the past, each improvement made the application worse… more bogged down with stupid and ill-conceived features. It should have stayed an inexpensive note program and it could have ruled the universe.
Steve Z.