MyInfo Vs TreePad
Started by Bob Mackreth
on 3/15/2007
Bob Mackreth
3/15/2007 11:34 pm
Just an observation- when I first started looking around for a new outline-style PIM a year or so ago, TreePad was one I considered along with MyInfo.
Among the reasons I settled on MyInfo was that TreePad seemed to inflate file sizes unreasonably. I just had a reminder of this today, while testing UltraRecall. (Huh? Let me explain.) The only was I could quickly find to import one of my MyInfo topics into UltraRecall was to export it from MI to a TreePad file, then import that into UltraRecall.
The export/import process went smoothly enough, but I noted one thing interesting:
-the original MyInfo topic was 36 Mb in size.
-exported into TreePad format, the file grew to 143 Mb!
-imported into UltraRecall, it's back down to 44 mb!!
I sure wonder what's up with that.
Among the reasons I settled on MyInfo was that TreePad seemed to inflate file sizes unreasonably. I just had a reminder of this today, while testing UltraRecall. (Huh? Let me explain.) The only was I could quickly find to import one of my MyInfo topics into UltraRecall was to export it from MI to a TreePad file, then import that into UltraRecall.
The export/import process went smoothly enough, but I noted one thing interesting:
-the original MyInfo topic was 36 Mb in size.
-exported into TreePad format, the file grew to 143 Mb!
-imported into UltraRecall, it's back down to 44 mb!!
I sure wonder what's up with that.
Wes Perdue
3/15/2007 11:57 pm
Bob,
I had used TreePad for years before becoming frustrated about some annoying redraw bugs and application slowness even on a fast machine.
I tried MyInfo and was impressed with its excellent importing of TreePad DBs, so I retired TreePad.
I still use MyInfo it for that one database, but haven't started using it for anything else. I use UltraRecall for my day-to-day project management.
I should apply your data migration method to my database -- then I'd be down one more PIM. Thanks!
Regards,
Wes
I had used TreePad for years before becoming frustrated about some annoying redraw bugs and application slowness even on a fast machine.
I tried MyInfo and was impressed with its excellent importing of TreePad DBs, so I retired TreePad.
I still use MyInfo it for that one database, but haven't started using it for anything else. I use UltraRecall for my day-to-day project management.
I should apply your data migration method to my database -- then I'd be down one more PIM. Thanks!
Regards,
Wes
Bob Mackreth
3/16/2007 12:12 am
Wes-
On quick examination, the migrated documents in UltraRecall seem to have made the trip quite smoothly, preserving formatting, images, etc. No tables in the document, so can't say how they might have fared.
And as I noted, UR slimmed down the bloated TreePad file till it was not much bigger than the original MI topic.
Couldn't hurt to try!
Bob
On quick examination, the migrated documents in UltraRecall seem to have made the trip quite smoothly, preserving formatting, images, etc. No tables in the document, so can't say how they might have fared.
And as I noted, UR slimmed down the bloated TreePad file till it was not much bigger than the original MI topic.
Couldn't hurt to try!
Bob
Ken Ashworth
3/16/2007 12:26 am
Bob Mackreth wrote:
-the original MyInfo topic was 36 Mb in size.
-exported into TreePad format, the
file grew to 143 Mb!
-imported into UltraRecall, it's back down to 44 mb!!
UR stores its data in a sql database, as does MyInfo (I believe). TreePad stores its data as xml (ASCII text) and employs internal zip routines to keep its data file size down. On export TreePad creates a very large text file, as you can see.
Although, I have not used MyInfo, I seem to recall that it had the capability of doing calculations, either in the tables or thru the attributes ???
I seem to recall recently reading a posting by Kinook mentioning the ability of grabbing a group of search results and dropping them into an Excel worksheet to perform calculations - take this in conjunction with the ability to have an Excel worksheet as a UR Template (and have the Excel worksheet displayed and available via the internal browser) - anybody have experience with this ???
Later,
KenA
Bob Mackreth
3/16/2007 1:34 am
Ken-
Thanks for the explanation of the database structures.
I have never used a calculation formula in MyInfo, and a quick glance at the help file shows no mention of the terms "calculate," "calculation," or "formula," so perhaps you are thinking of a different program.
Bob
Thanks for the explanation of the database structures.
I have never used a calculation formula in MyInfo, and a quick glance at the help file shows no mention of the terms "calculate," "calculation," or "formula," so perhaps you are thinking of a different program.
Bob
Thomas
3/22/2007 2:44 pm
I had different experience with db bloat. Around 4MB Treepad file imported into UR, resulted in 80MB big UR database. Moreover import took ages (and I'm extremely patient person).
Take this with a grain of salt, as the sizes above might not be accurate (just off the top of my head), and I didn't do any follow-up investigation, so some fault on my side or other reasons can't be excluded.
Take this with a grain of salt, as the sizes above might not be accurate (just off the top of my head), and I didn't do any follow-up investigation, so some fault on my side or other reasons can't be excluded.
