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ADM: Eric's Resignation from Advanced data Management
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Posted by Jan Rifkinson
Mar 10, 2007 at 04:36 AM
>Petko (MyInfo) has been pretty rigid about including any kind of calendar/date/time function which was >another thing that got me back to URp but we’ll see….
Should have written ‘pretty rigid about *not* including…
—
Jan Rifkinson
Ridgefield, CT USA
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Mar 10, 2007 at 04:45 AM
Jan, I wonder if Petko’s rigidity come from Milenix’s plan some years ago to develop a planner called Plana (I think that was the name)?
The plan was dropped.
I could never understand why they wanted to develop it as separate from MyInfo.
Perhaps Petko’s rigidity reflects a possibility of resurrecting the former project.
If that’s the case, it would make a lot more sense to put everything into MyInfo, especially considering how much it has advanced since then.
MI has a simple elegance that is pleasing. I think it has a lot of potential.
UR 3 is good—some neat improvements—but it is too Microsoft-centric for my liking.
Daly
Daly
Jan Rifkinson wrote:
>>Petko (MyInfo) has been pretty rigid about including any kind of
>calendar/date/time function which was >another thing that got me back to URp but
>we’ll see….
>
>Should have written ‘pretty rigid about *not* including…
>
>—
>
>Jan Rifkinson
>Ridgefield, CT USA
Posted by Cassius
Mar 10, 2007 at 05:29 AM
The developers of Jot+ and Inspiration also eschew calendar/planning. I tried to convince the Inspiration people that students` would be much more likely to use it if it included the ability to enter dates due on assignments along with automatic/pop-up reminders of assignments coming due. No go.
-c
P.S. Sorry about this—my brain must be about to give birth to ... something: Why aren’t ReckLESS drivers called WreckMORE drivers?
Posted by Tom S.
Mar 10, 2007 at 12:55 PM
Daly de Gagne wrote:
>Kinook has been one of the best software companies in terms of
>customer relations. And it is obviously paying off for them.
That’s true, Daly, but its really more than that.
Its metadata capabilities has already been thoroughly discussed in a previous thread but UR also has what I consider to be a very unique layout. The ability to put an item in multiple positions in an outline and see, in one view, where it sits in all places at once (parent item frame) is a pretty good design. If I remember right it has a frame for child items as well. Of all the outline type programs I tried, its the one that caught my imagination and got me using it the earliest in its development. I signed on literally after testing version 1. I’m not currently using it but I’m a big fan.
As far as it being MS-centric it does have a lot of conveniences for OL users but AFAICT it isn’t necessary to get the full poser out of the program.
Cheers,
Tom S.
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Mar 10, 2007 at 03:54 PM
Tom, I agree. Kinook has a great product so there is the steak behind the sizzle of good customer relations.
I have tried UR off and on.
Initially, I was confused by its approach to metadata—also I find some of the directions in the help file, which I am now printing the PDF of, somewhat confusing. Perhaps I should offer my writing services. God knows I could use the money.
The other aspect of UR—and this is so uniquely personal—is the aesthetics. I like to have the tree pane background one colour and the page background another. I like to play with fonts in the tree. I am very visual, and I like to warm up the appearance with colour and fonts, plus it’s a quick visual code directing my eyes to certain place.
Until this version I found the tree hard to navigate.
I am still not crazy about it, but the hoist features, and the tab features from last time, have made it easier.
My other concern came from the discussion on the forums some time back about the difference between storing and linking to Word and other doc types, and whether it is possible to make changes in them.
Which comes to a point Jan made in one of his most recent posts, and that is that some people are looking for an all-in-one program, while others, such as myself, seem to be OK with multiple programs.
So, if I was to go to UR, I am not sure I would want to let Surfulater go, for example.
I do not want to use UR as my main browser.
For writing I like multiple windows so I can back and forth over bits and pieces of material.
ADM came as close as any to being an all-in-one program for me, and missed by not much if one factors out the bad business practices. Unfortunately, a miss is as good as a mile.
I also believe that once the Admiral gets Zoot 32 launched, that we will begin to see many other kinds of enhancements in it.
And I am watching closely Manfred over at InfoHandler for some neat new developments.
Neville at Surfulater is no slouch, and if he morphs into non-web info more than he already has I bet we could see some new competitive action.
At MyInfo there is beta development of the next version, and though Petko seems to be a little rigid, I think the results will be interesting. Right now, I think his rigidity may be an attempt to set some parameters on developmment of the next version, what I said last night about Plana notwithstanding.
Petko has a unique challenge, or balancing act.
He has developed a simple, clean, and elegant program that has some of the features we increasingly take for granted—metadata columns, keywords or tags, tabbed files, etc.
But how far can he go without losing the simplicity and elegance? How much dare he add before more becomes less? It seems his niche may be between UR on one hand and WhizFolders plus the old-line two-pane outliners such as Maple and Jot.
Anyhow, just some random thoughts.
Daly
Tom S. wrote:
>
>
>Daly de Gagne wrote:
>
>>Kinook has been one of the best software companies in terms
>of
>>customer relations. And it is obviously paying off for them.
>
>That’s true,
>Daly, but its really more than that.
>
>Its metadata capabilities has already been
>thoroughly discussed in a previous thread but UR also has what I consider to be a very
>unique layout. The ability to put an item in multiple positions in an outline and see,
>in one view, where it sits in all places at once (parent item frame) is a pretty good
>design. If I remember right it has a frame for child items as well. Of all the outline
>type programs I tried, its the one that caught my imagination and got me using it the
>earliest in its development. I signed on literally after testing version 1. I’m not
>currently using it but I’m a big fan.
>
>As far as it being MS-centric it does have a lot of
>conveniences for OL users but AFAICT it isn’t necessary to get the full poser out of the
>program.
>
>Cheers,
>Tom S.