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askSam - or not...?
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Posted by Kenneth Rhee
Dec 23, 2006 at 01:16 PM
Derek Cornish wrote:
>As an occasional user of askSam v5 I regularly think about upgrading to version 6,
>especially when those Christmas update special offers come round.
>
>Is anyone
>(still) using askSam v6 on this forum, and has performance and support been
>improving? I used to use askSam-DOS a lot but fell away rather after moving to its
>WIN3.1 version. As the upgrade is reasonable ($50 for a Professional->Professional
>upgrade), it is tempting in a CRIMPish way.
>
>Derek
I haven’t had much problem with Asksam 6.1. I don’t use it every day, but I still keep all my e-mail archives in the database, and I still use it to search for my old e-mail. I’ve been using it since DOS days and when they came up with Windows version (I think it was version 3) I upgraded, and has been upgrading ever since. There are some issues with the Asksam program such as editors not supporting tables, etc, but it’s still a good program.
As far as Citation is concerned, Asksam bought it from Oberon (I think that was the name), and the support suffered, but last time I checked and communicated, they are taking control back and Citation 9 is a much better program. As far as support from Asksam, I haven’t had much issue. Then, I don’t even bother with the forum. I’m on their other list server and most of the “big shots” at Asksam are still on it.
I know they are working on version 7, but don’t know when that might be released.
Bottom line: I can’t recommend getting the program at full price, but at a reduced price, I would be tempted as well.
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Dec 23, 2006 at 07:16 PM
There are two programs that stand alone and deserve much credit for promising so much, delivering so little, and making a mockery out of the whole notion of consistent support:
One is InfoSelect—enough said, apart from the fact I regret the money spent out of curiosity for my current one-year subscription.
The other is AskSam, which I have trialed in both of their last versions.
If personal experience is insufficient, I advocate strongly following AskSam’s official and unofficial forums to see what I mean.
Getting back to the thread I started here recently about programs being passed by advancing technology, I think you would have to add AskSam to that list.
Daly
Ian Goldsmid wrote:
>Hi Derek
>
>Tried it 6 months ago. Its incredibly flaky - data corruption included -
>plus various annoying application bugs, plus their support gets the prize for being
>the worst, slowest, even periodically non existent. It is a shame because there are
>some redeeming features - but overall I would recommend to stay well away from
>it.
>
>The only good thing I can say about them is they gave me a refund without any
>hassle.
>
>Cheers, Ian
Posted by Ian Goldsmid
Dec 23, 2006 at 11:46 PM
Daly
There is one program that I am becoming more and more impressed with - and I’ve been using it on and off for about one year: http://www.connectedtext.com.
It is a desktop wiki, but it is gradually adding more and more of the facilities that you expect with an all round PIM. I won’t list any features/functions as they are all extremely well documented at the web site and in the downloaded program.
One of the most impressive things is the developer has the most diligent and considerate response to users requests - he is carefully listening to all the posts in the active forum, and is implementing all the good ideas systematically.
He has just released version 2.0.0.8 today with some great new features - and some outstanding new features are promised for version 3 which is coming fairly soon. If you are like me, and really appreciate when a product is continuously developed, not just in occasional spurts, but consistently over time, and the developer not only really listens to users, but is also really savvy in implementing the most useful new features - then check it out.
(P.S. 11:44am GMT today - the site seems to be down probably for quick maintenance - so don’t let that put you off)
Regards, Ian
Posted by Derek Cornish
Dec 24, 2006 at 03:59 AM
Graham -
Yes, I remember your askSam experience earlier in the year. Their behaviour seems positively self-destructive, unless they have a huge pool of satisfied corporate users we don’t know about.
As for Citation, I’ve been down the same path. I wanted to upgrade to v9 - as I said earlier, it is an elegant program - but the support was so dire or simply absent that I just couldn’t. I’d be interested to know what is behind this sort of problem with some software. Do the original developers sell out to box-shifters? Does the developer get bored? Do the programmers move on? (Sounds like the Symantec story…)
Maybe it’s just another form of the burnout that tends to afflict lone developers (e.g., KeyNote).
Derek
Posted by Derek Cornish
Dec 24, 2006 at 04:08 AM
Kenneth,
It looks as though your experience with askSam is very like mine - DOS, then version 3. The main reason I stopped at v5 was because I wasn’t using it enough to justify the upgrade at the time. I should also mention that, like a lot of users, I became very discouraged by askSam’s prolonged failure to sort out massive bugs in SurfSaver. Like many I moved over to ContentSaver (now Web Research) instead.
Having Zoot and X1, I can’t justify upgrading for e-mail storage at this late stage, though I might have done before X1 came on the scene. I think Jim Fallows also uses it for this purpose. Maybe I’ll play around with v5 a bit over Christmas and see where that leads me :-).
Derek