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PersonalBrain 6 beta released
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Posted by Lucas
May 11, 2010 at 02:33 AM
Just a heads up about the release of the public beta of PersonalBrain 6:
The most notable new feature appears to be web access and syncing. (In the category of minor tweaks, I appreciate that they drastically reduced the size of the install files.)
If I may use a little jargon that I don’t fully understand, I would say that PersonalBrain remains a leader in the “directed acyclic graph” approach to information organization.
Lucas
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
May 11, 2010 at 12:57 PM
I’ve begun using Personal Brain, which I have long toyed with, but finally purchased the Pro edition a few months ago. Four things convinced me:
1. The application is loaded with thoughtful and useful features.
2. The company seems stable and secure, and provides a wealth of information on how to get the most from PB. There is an ongoing effort to educate users.
3. I liked that I could use the application on both my PC at work and my Macbook at home.
4. It is one of the few, if not the only application I’ve found where it seems one file/database can effectively contain all my information.
I haven’t delved into version 6 yet, but it disappoints me to find that the synchronization feature appears to only work through the company’s WebBrain and not through DropBox or other cloud application. This seems like an effort to milk more money from users.
Steve
Posted by Lucas
May 11, 2010 at 02:38 PM
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>I haven’t delved into version 6 yet, but it disappoints me to find that
>the synchronization feature appears to only work through the company’s WebBrain and
>not through DropBox or other cloud application. This seems like an effort to milk more
>money from users.
Perhaps. PersonalBrain certainly is a commercial enterprise. But I’m assuming that it will still be possible to set up DropBox or similar syncing on one’s own. Also, from what I understand, the DropBox method could lead to file corruption if one were to edit the file from two computer’s simultaneously, whereas WebBrain allows simultaneous editing. And they imply that basic WebBrain syncing will remain free:
“We’ve just started with the ability to easily share Brains online. Right now, publishing Brains online is free with no limitations. In the future, we’ll have a free basic service and a subscription based service for those who need more advanced features like security or very large brains.”
(I probably won’t buy a license, however, as I don’t think the features PB offers would be especially useful for my work, although I like them.)
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
May 11, 2010 at 05:59 PM
Currently there is no problem using the same PersonalBrain database (i.e. Brain) on two computers via Dropbox as long as you close the file on one and wait for the DropBox sync to complete before opening it on the other. (It may have been someone on this forum who clued me into that; if so, thanks!) But that’s different than a true synchronization feature, which is what I am assuming is being promised via WebBrain. What I read from the developers is that Brains that do not have attachments would be free to sync through WebBrain, but there would be a fee for Brains with attachments.
Steve
Posted by clacha
May 11, 2010 at 07:13 PM
I am using th Pro version of PB and the main negative point is about dates:
This software handles relationships between concepts but without being able to manage timed sequences.
And the calendar feature is not relevant for this.
I didn’t found any progress in the beta…