I have used 3-4 tools for PIM, Knowledge Management and writing so far.
But it wasn't really productive in the sense that the job has to be done in the evening.
So I have decided to remove these two applications from my laptop at work:

IdeaMason v3
WhizFolders Deluxe

Don't understand me wrong: I still like these two applications and they are still present on my PC at home.

What is then the replacement for these two tools?
Ultra Recall Professional v3.

I don't need scientific/academic citation at work and I managed to create a database in UR for software manuals I write for the end users. It is perfect in combination with Word and a pdf printer driver. Further, I use it to manage my day to day work (tasks, notes, time logs, file management, project mangement, web browsing and research, web clipping etc.).

UR is my workhorse now. It took me around one year to understand its potential and I think this is the major issue: the learning curve. I remember when I first installed and started UR around two years ago. My first impression was 'too complex and no very intuitive ...' and removed it straight away form my hard drive. But a second and third look and issues with other tools (ADM etc.) reminded me of UR and so I started using it with v2.

Do you have similar experiences with other software? What is you daily workorse?
Some of the previous post in this forum let me assume that some members have switched or are switching to One Note 2007.

Dominik

Dominik Holenstein wrote:

UR is my workhorse now. It took me around one year to understand its potential
and I think this is the major issue: the learning curve. I remember when I first
installed and started UR around two years ago. My first impression was 'too complex
and no very intuitive ...' and removed it straight away form my hard drive. But a second
and third look and issues with other tools (ADM etc.) reminded me of UR and so I started
using it with v2.

My experience was similar when I first tested UR in summer 2004 (!) I then turned to the now discontinued Hyperclip.

I went back to UR after all the positive reviews I read about it at outliners.com. When I re-installed UR I changed the default layout to show just the data explorer tree on the left and the item details on the top right, with all the rest of the panes as tabs at the bottom right. Things moved swiftly from then on. I learnt to use most of tools along the road, while using UR productively.

Interestingly, in newer installation of UR the default view is much simplified and intuitive; apparently we were not the only ones who found it too complex. I think the learning curve is not steep, as long as one can choose to focus on the main concept, i.e. a classic two-pane outliner with most of the functionality one could ever wish for thrown in.

I now use UR as my starting point for any kind of project; all the background is maintained there, in its original file form, with my notes as imported Brainstorm files. Brainstorm is my main writing environment; after finalising texts they go to Word for layout; when the deliverables are completed, they are saved back to UR, so I have full documentation for the project.

I used to wish for Brainstorm to work as an OLE server so that I could use it from within UR; however, I now find it much easier to concentrate if I am within a separate application for writing, rather than having the data explorer and other similar stuff around me.

alx

Same dilemma, still in trial period considering giving up on IdeaMason, though it's very nice, and implementing same workflow in MyInfo (as at the moment I don't need citations either). Though it's MyInfo only with the prospect of MyInfo 4 coming soon.

UltraRecall is a smart piece of software, but I would keep most of my tasks and reminders in MyLife Organized anyway, so that's not a selling point. And it doesn't allow editing the webpages imported anyway.

MyBase seemed promising, very lean and quick, but it's like something is missing. Particularly import and export features. They have seemingly plenty, but not those I need.

Dominik Holenstein wrote:

[snip] UR is my workhorse now. It took me around one year to understand its potential
and I think this is the major issue: the learning curve. I remember when I first
installed and started UR around two years ago. My first impression was 'too complex
and no very intuitive ...' and removed it straight away form my hard drive. But a second
and third look and issues with other tools (ADM etc.) reminded me of UR and so I started
using it with v2.

Do you have similar experiences with other software? What is you
daily workorse? [/snip]

My experience mirrors yours, Dominik. I am relieved to say that for the first time in many years, I have moved all my data from FF, IE, Zoot, EccoPro, ADM & ADC into one place -- URp. I'm still on the learning curve but I'm finding the current version more intuitive than earlier versions.

I feel relieved that it's all in one place & have some level of confidence because of URp's feature set. OTOH I'm holding my breath that doing all this work was the right decision. ADM was such a disappointment but I'm so glad to be free of it at last.

Do I wish URp had a some other bells & whistles? Yes, but IMO, even in it's present form, it's a very capable knowledgebase & has become the electronic center of my day-to-day life (except for photgraphy).

--
Jan Rifkinson
Ridgefield, CT USA

Dominik and others,

It's interesting that we all share a similar experience.

I mentioned my experience elsewhere; so, I won't go into a lot of details here, but several short tries in UR over the years until I gave it an extended trial, and now I'm hooked.

It's now my main information storage for everything except bibliographic/writing software (IdeaMason).

Ken

Dominik Holenstein wrote:

I have used 3-4 tools for PIM, Knowledge Management and writing so far.
But it wasn't
really productive in the sense that the job has to be done in the evening.
So I have
decided to remove these two applications from my laptop at work:

IdeaMason
v3
WhizFolders Deluxe

Don't understand me wrong: I still like these two
applications and they are still present on my PC at home.

What is then the
replacement for these two tools?
Ultra Recall Professional v3.

I don't need
scientific/academic citation at work and I managed to create a database in UR for
software manuals I write for the end users. It is perfect in combination with Word and a
pdf printer driver. Further, I use it to manage my day to day work (tasks, notes, time
logs, file management, project mangement, web browsing and research, web clipping
etc.).

UR is my workhorse now. It took me around one year to understand its potential
and I think this is the major issue: the learning curve. I remember when I first
installed and started UR around two years ago. My first impression was 'too complex
and no very intuitive ...' and removed it straight away form my hard drive. But a second
and third look and issues with other tools (ADM etc.) reminded me of UR and so I started
using it with v2.

Do you have similar experiences with other software? What is you
daily workorse?
Some of the previous post in this forum let me assume that some
members have switched or are switching to One Note 2007.

Dominik

Add me in as another person who tried UR and initially "didn't get it". I messed around with an eval copy of v2, but eventually let the evaluation period expire. For some unknown reason I was later drawn back to the Kinook website and ended up submitting a post in the forums about what I thought UR was missing. Kevin from Kinook responded that the v3 beta addresses each issue listed.

I downloaded the beta and within a week decided to purchase UR since I would get the V3 version free. Now I'm hooked.

UR v3 reminds me a bit of Ecco and Zoot from the standpoint of it being a "blank canvas" that you really need to get you mind around before you can leverage it effectively. I'm slowly getting there, and am more impressed with it as time goes on.

There's still some things I want (inability to select and option for new tabs to be "blank" drives me batty). And I wish I could find a PIM that had a built-in NON-RTF outliner. An XML-based outliner like the one in the Oxygen XML Editor (see http://www.oxygenxml.com/xml_outliner.html would be a key "over the top" feature for me.

But in the meantime, I'm very happy with UR v3, although I'll always lament the day development of Ecco stopped.. :-(

PIMfan

I have to chime in here and say that I'm not particularly impressed by Ultra Recall. I tried it late last year and didn't see anything that special. OneNote and EverNote seemed much more innovative, much better for those seeking everything-and-the-kitchen-sink solutions.

Since then, I've dropped OneNote - it's good but I don't want to spend money on yet another meta container.

As for EverNote, I was put off at first by its odd shape, its endless roll of digital paper, the emphasis on a timeline of notes. But I came across GTD Wannabe's essay on setting up EverNote for academic research and was persuaded to give it a go: http://www.geocities.com/gtdwannabe/essays/usingENforResearch.htm

I've switched the timeline off. The roll of paper concept works well enough. I still don't like its shape. For me, Evernote's killer function (I'm using the free version) is its ability for on the fly tagging. And the newish beta takes care of various worries: tidier html exporting, easier category management, a notes list at the top of the roll.

As for Ultra Recall, after reading the latest posts on this forum, I gave it another go. And, yeah, it's got panes and tags and it's an outliner. And it crashed after five minutes.

Ike

Ike,

Interesting. I've switched from Evernote to UR, and I have to say UR is so much more feature rich and adaptable that I don't see myself ever going back. I've touted Evernote here and elsewhere in the past, and I think it's still a good program but UR is so much better for my needs. I think one of the points some of us are trying to make is that in order to fully appreciate UR, you really got to give it a chance and use it for an extended period of time (definitely more than a few hours or days).

Ken

Ike Washington wrote:

I have to chime in here and say that I'm not particularly impressed by Ultra Recall. I
tried it late last year and didn't see anything that special. OneNote and EverNote
seemed much more innovative, much better for those seeking
everything-and-the-kitchen-sink solutions.

Since then, I've dropped OneNote -
it's good but I don't want to spend money on yet another meta container.

As for
EverNote, I was put off at first by its odd shape, its endless roll of digital paper, the
emphasis on a timeline of notes. But I came across GTD Wannabe's essay on setting up
EverNote for academic research and was persuaded to give it a go:
http://www.geocities.com/gtdwannabe/essays/usingENforResearch.htm

I've
switched the timeline off. The roll of paper concept works well enough. I still don't
like its shape. For me, Evernote's killer function (I'm using the free version) is its
ability for on the fly tagging. And the newish beta takes care of various worries:
tidier html exporting, easier category management, a notes list at the top of the
roll.

As for Ultra Recall, after reading the latest posts on this forum, I gave it
another go. And, yeah, it's got panes and tags and it's an outliner. And it crashed
after five minutes.

Ike

Ken

Since trying out PIM software is very much a guilty pleasure for me these days, the fact that UR crashed within five minutes of setting up a new database was doubly irritating. I shouldn't have been downloading it in the first place...

I've just been looking through UR's online help and, yes, its features look good. Perhaps I'll try again.

Further, tangentially, to your comment below, I wish more developers would follow Neville at Surfulater's example - allow potential customers to evaluate software again, give us another bite three months, say, after we've used up the eval period.

Ken wrote:

I think one of the points some of us are trying to make is that in order to fully appreciate UR, you really got to give it a chance and use it for an >extended period of time (definitely more than a few hours or days).

Ike

the fact that UR crashed within five minutes of setting up a new database was doubly
irritating.

Ultra Recall is normally quite stable, and we'd like to fix any crash bugs. If you can send the following details to support@kinook.com, we will investigate.
1) The info from Help | About | Install Info
2) Run RegEdit and export the registry key "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Kinook Software\Ultra Recall\Options"
3) Detailed steps to cause a crash in a new database

Further, tangentially, to your comment below, I wish more developers
would follow Neville at Surfulater's example - allow potential customers to
evaluate software again, give us another bite three months, say, after we've used up
the eval period.

Ultra Recall expires after 60 days or 30 uses (whichever comes later). If your eval has expired and you need more time to evaluate, send a request to support@kinook.com and we'll send another temporary eval key. Thanks.

Kyle

Thanks for responding here. My apologies. I should have contacted you first before shooting off here.

Yesterday something did go wrong. I reinstalled UR today and it's been fine so far. It may have been that I had too many applications running. I tend to do this.

Playing around with UR, I can see why it's popular with many of the forum regulars. I started off with KeyNote and then Treepad and then Ecco and then back and forth. So UR's set up is familiar. It's a great outliner. I like its hoist and cloning facilities. I wish its keywords worked more like EverNote's categories. And I'd like to be able to see the contents of more than one tab at a time. I should take this up with you at the UR forum.

Thanks too for your offer of an extension to the eval period.

My point was that it might be an idea for developers to allow repeat evaluations as a matter of course. After all, it's not just the software that's evolving. I often try software out for one purpose, reject it because it doesn't quite work for that purpose, then find myself coming back because I want to use it, as my digital lifestyle becomes ever more complex, for some other purpose altogether. Developers generally grant me an extension. But if I knew this from the start, that, say, three months after the end of the evaluation I'll be able to have another go, I'd be much more likely to keep your forum bookmarked, keep an interest going in your software even though your software's gone from my computer.

Best

Ike

I've found that OneNote 2007 satisfies my general PIM needs at the moment - it's especially powerful and flexible in sucking in data from all sorts of programs. I'm not a particular fan of Outlook or IE7 but the one button access in and out of ON is hard to beat.

I'm much less satisfied with my writing environment. I need business rather than academic functionality so I use a mixture of project management tools and the Notemap/Word combo for longer documents. I'd like to use Brainstorm but really need an editable overview, as well as some basic formatting.

Jack

Jack Crawford wrote:

I'm much less satisfied with my writing environment. I need business rather
than academic functionality so I use a mixture of project management tools and the
Notemap/Word combo for longer documents. I'd like to use Brainstorm but really need
an editable overview, as well as some basic formatting.

Our needs are quite similar, with the exception of formatting, but I've managed to get along with Brainstorm; I admit that for me it's quite an emotional issue: the plain text interface helps me focus (I haven't been as productive since using WordPerfect 5 for DOS) while the ability to Throw copies of ideas elsewhere while writing, to consider later, helps me maintain the momentum.

After reading so much about Whiz Folders as a writing environment I've been tempted to try it out. However, it's a whole new different approach and I'll probably restrain from it for the moment.

The months away from non-professional internet use helped me curb my CRIMP habits. They also helped me realise a key issue in my long search for the holy PIM grail, namely that one's consistent use of a tool makes that tool ever more useful. Knowledge workers are the modern equivalent of craftsmen and as craftsmen we need to invest time in becoming skilled in our tools.

This doesn't mean that the right choice of tool doesn't impact productivity, nor that one shouldn't include issues such as company longevity in their criteria. But as any Zoot user seems to assert, the more you use it, the better it becomes.

alx

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

They also helped me realise a key issue in my long search for the holy PIM
grail, namely that one's consistent use of a tool makes that tool ever more useful.

I agree completely. I have a terrible tendency to keep shifting from program to program as each one develops and leap-frogs another in its abilities, and it leads to disorganisation and far too much work. If I could force myself to stick to one program for n months or years, I'd probably find I would achieve a great deal more, even though the program concerned didn't do all I required of it.

Graham

Graham, Alexander

I'm not sure that jumping from one program to another is just a bad case of CRIMP or an act of self-indulgence or procrastination or an ultimately frivolous delight in novelty etc. It may be these things. But it must also have something to do with the huge changes in tech that we've all experienced in the last couple of decades.

While most of us developed into knowledge workers in one culture, we now find ourselves in another culture altogether. We play a game of catch up. As we climb up to the next tech level, we find new levels appearing ahead of us. Hardware and software, both outstrip wetware.

So, 15 years ago, I researched and wrote articles using pen and paper. Sure, I messed around with different pens, different notebooks. But I didn't have to think too much about how I was going to go about my work. I'd grown up in a pen and ink culture. I was educated into a particular tradition of scholarship which went back, I suppose, to the early universities, to Plato's Academy etc.

Today, it's all very well to talk about sticking to your craft, but, actually, we don't have any tradition of digital craftsmanship. Not only do I have to figure out what it is I need from the software, but both my needs and the software and the hardware continually change.

So, we spend so much time in these forums. So, we spend too much time installing and uninstalling software. Something similar, though not as dramatic, must have happened - oh, the arguments about which parchment to use - after the introduction of the moveable type printing press in the 1450s...

Sadly, software that does the job today may be inadequate tomorrow. Which is why I'm ready to chop and change software, won't let myself become too enamoured with any one transcendental, meta application.

Ike

Graham Rhind wrote:

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
They also helped me realise a key issue in my long search
for the holy PIM
>grail, namely that one's consistent use of a tool makes that tool
ever more useful.

I agree completely. I have a terrible tendency to keep shifting
from program to program as each one develops and leap-frogs another in its abilities,
and it leads to disorganisation and far too much work. If I could force myself to stick
to one program for n months or years, I'd probably find I would achieve a great deal
more, even though the program concerned didn't do all I required of it.

Graham

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

The months away from non-professional internet use helped me curb my
CRIMP habits. They also helped me realise a key issue in my long search for the holy PIM
grail, namely that one's consistent use of a tool makes that tool ever more useful.

This is true, but I would contend that using selected alternative tools occasionally can lead to even greater usefulness of the primary tool. Often the difference between one tool and another is in the way it conduces you to work rather than any approach it compels. I find that often using an alternative program can make me aware of a better way of doing things, strategies that can easily enough be implemented in the first program.

Knowledge workers are the modern equivalent of craftsmen and as craftsmen we need to
invest time in becoming skilled in our tools.

Just one quibble. I don't think our software tools stand in the same relation to our work as the tools of a craftsman. Or maybe this is just my ignorance of crafts. A craftsman's skill is pretty much expressed in his ability to use mechanical tools to achieve results. Whereas our ability to use softwhere tools is just a component of knowledge worker abilities. A craftsman who can't use any mechanical tools would be incompetent. A lawyer who can't--picking a field I'm familiar with--just gets a secretary or law clerk.

Ike Washington wrote:

So, we spend so much time in these forums. So,
we spend too much time installing and uninstalling software. Something similar,
though not as dramatic, must have happened - oh, the arguments about which parchment
to use - after the introduction of the moveable type printing press in the
1450s...

I think there's an issue of complexity, scale and rate of change; i.e. what you call "not as dramatic" reflects a difference in quantity as well as quality of the change experienced. To construct a new printing press or font would take significantly longer than to develop a new version of a modern program. It is different to be changing tools every several years than every few months.

alx

Stephen R. Diamond wrote:

I find that often using an alternative program can make me aware of a better way of doing things, strategies that can easily enough be implemented in the first program.

I definitely agree; it's clear that a lot of research on methodologies lies behind the development of many of the tools we discuss here; from Brainstorm to Achieve Planner to B-Liner etc. Using them can often be eye-opening.

A craftsman who can't use any mechanical tools would be incompetent. A lawyer who can't--picking a field I'm familiar with--just gets a secretary or law clerk.

Is it as simple as that I wonder? And who is the actual knowledge worker in this case, the boss or the clerk --or both?

In Greece there is a rather expensive legal database titled Nomos; law offices skilled in its use have a substantial edge over traditional "lawyer/secretary" offices. Of course the state bureaucracy ensures that they all have plenty of work, but the number, scale and complexity of cases they can handle varies greatly.

I have the impression that a knowledge worker, in the modern sense of the word, is not just somebody who applies their own knowledge in their field, but rather someone who, through the use of Information and Communication Technology, can multiply their knowledge efficiency many times over, effectively doing the job of many equally knowledgeable professionals.

Just a thought really; but at least in my line of work, I need to regularly increase the number and scale of projects I can concurrently undertake on my own just to stay competitive; I can't as yet hire someone to decentralise some of the work to because it's simply too complex; but I can build my own skills and use those of others (through the applications they have developed) in order to be more productive.

alx

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Ike Washington wrote:
>So, we spend so much time in these forums. So,
>we spend too
much time installing and uninstalling software. Something similar,
>though not as
dramatic, must have happened - oh, the arguments about which parchment
>to use -
after the introduction of the moveable type printing press in the
>1450s...

I
think there's an issue of complexity, scale and rate of change; i.e. what you call "not
as dramatic" reflects a difference in quantity as well as quality of the change
experienced. To construct a new printing press or font would take significantly
longer than to develop a new version of a modern program. It is different to be changing
tools every several years than every few months.

alx

Alexander

I've battered this argument around too much over the last couple of days :-). Just really thinking out loud. Thanks for humouring me...

Yep, I agree with you re complexity, scale and rate of change. But I think we have it tougher than those who came before us.

My throw away comment about the 1450s came about because I've recently been reading through accounts by mediaeval scholars of how they carried out their research tasks. Certainly, "information overload" isn't new. And neither are the techniques used to try to overcome it. It's a function of the introduction of new technologies. It happens to a greater or lesser extent in all societies.

But I do think that what's happening today is different. Data flows carried around the planet are vaster, are faster than ever before. If globalization amounts to anything new, then isn't this what it rests on?

Makes it difficult for us modern knowledge workers, us craftsmen and women left without any useful tradition. There's been a sea change in the complexity, scale and rate of technological change. We haven't quite realised it, not really, and so we scramble for the perfect PIM.

Better to hunker down for the long haul: make sure it's easy to export data out into html/plain text; use a heavy-duty local search app; think of apps as modules forming a larger knowledge system; be prepared to change aspects of this knowledge system pretty regularly.

IMHO

Ike

Far too many PIMs, far too many upgrades, far too many knowledge structuring concepts, and certainly, far too many information sources, and duplicative information sources.

This topic may be the most important of all that have appeared in this and the preceeding forums. Thank you, Dominik and those before, for explicating it. Even being retired, I spend far too much time searching for a "better" PIM. There are far more productive things I could be doing. Sleep, sex, and writing the book that's burning in my brain come to mind.

I once worked with a fellow that EVERY week found a new, better software package to implement the project he led. Years past, but he never produced something that actually worked, but much that irksomely didn't. To those who worked with him, the mere mention of his name, Felix, brings strong emotion.

We are consumers, who, faced with a plethora of brands, models, etc. of basically the same item, cannot make a definitive choice and so try to sample each, or sample none.

Sampling each = CRIMP
Sampling none = plain text editor

Opportunities lost:

A single sentence, heard at a conference, read in a book, or heard as an off-the-cuff remark may result in the blossoming of an entirely new approach to solving a problem, an entirely new approach to problem solving, or even an entirely new field of study.

I expect that most (all?) of us have had a cranky problem to solve and then, usually by chance, heard or seen something that gave us the inspiration, "That's it !!!" But what if we didn't hear or see that "something." The fact is, we are finite: We cannot hear or see every potentially inspirational remark ... or evaluate every, potentially marvelous, PIM.


I believe that the contributors to this topic have pinpointed what each of us needs to do to keep from becoming mired in the CRIMP bog, that is, from becoming "Felixed.":

*Decide what is most important for what we do.
*Find several software packages that singly, or together, will do these things.
*Eliminate those packages that cannot work together--that are too restricted in their import/export capabilities or require too much effort to move from our current software.
*If possible, eliminate those that have uncertain futures. (Have you noticed how much software won't work with Vista?)
*Choose from among what remains, software that has an interface you are most comfortable with.
*Spend a LITTLE time seeing what's new and reading this forum's postings.

Finally, while the information we use is important and the PIMs we use are useful tools, our most important assets are our MINDS.

-c

Cassius wrote:

Far too many PIMs, far too many upgrades, far too many knowledge structuring
concepts, and certainly, far too many information sources, and duplicative
information sources.

This topic may be the most important of all that have appeared
in this and the preceeding forums. Thank you, Dominik and those before, for
explicating it. Even being retired, I spend far too much time searching for a "better"
PIM. There are far more productive things I could be doing. Sleep, sex, and writing the
book that's burning in my brain come to mind.

With all respect, Cassius, you're overlooking one important factor: for many of us, playing around with software is fun.

Popping into this forum is my equivalent of a car buff spending time on an auto forum, or a sport fisherman hanging out online with other anglers.

"All work and no play," you know. :)

Bob Mackreth wrote:

With all
respect, Cassius, you're overlooking one important factor: for many of us, playing
around with software is fun.

That's the truth! I remember when I had my first computer -- one of those clunky "portable" Compaqs that had the monitor built in and two 5.25 inch floppy drives. The first thing I did was get a flat file database program and create a database of all the books I had read -- which, until then, I'd kept in a notebook. Uncountable computers later, I still have the remnants of that same file which I now keep in the desktop version of Ilium ListPro. Among other favorite DOS programs there was a program called InstantRecall, really the first PIM I owned... no, wait, I had Sidekick before InstantRecall... Then I got hold of a wonderful little note manager called MemoryMate. Finally, I found GrandView and my view of software changed forever.

Steve Z.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

I remember when I had my first computer -- one of those clunky "portable"
Compaqs that had the monitor built in and two 5.25 inch floppy drives.

Sounds just like my Kaypro 2 !

The first thing I
did was get a flat file database program and create a database of all the books I had read
-- which, until then, I'd kept in a notebook.

Heh... it was Perfect Filer and LP records for me. (Remember LPs? Remember CP/M? Remember woolly mammoths?)

Finally, I found GrandView and my view of software changed
forever.

Out-Think, for me.

Bob

Bob Mackreth wrote,"With all respect, Cassius, you’re overlooking one important factor: for many of us, playing around with software is fun.

"Popping into this forum is my equivalent of a car buff spending time on an auto forum, or a sport fisherman hanging out online with other anglers.

“'All work and no play,' you know. :)"

AND

Steve Zeoli agreed, "That’s the truth! "

Hey, you guys! Didn't you read my last point, "*Spend a LITTLE time seeing what’s new and reading this forum’s postings"?

I said "LITTLE" because I should be writing my book, not this.
-------
My first was a Commodore 64 with the marvelous Pocket Writer. It's amazing what tightly crafted code can do. Then, on to a heavy NEC notebook with two floppies (A:, B:) and GrandView. (Agenda wouldn't fit.)

-c

Cassius wrote:

My first was a Commodore 64 with the marvelous Pocket Writer. It's
amazing what tightly crafted code can do. Then, on to a heavy NEC notebook with two
floppies (A:, B:) and GrandView. (Agenda wouldn't fit.)

Cassius,

My second computer too was the NEC notebook with the two floppies! That didn't last too long after I discovered the value of a hard drive!

Steve Z.