Have to say, I'm really rather impressed by a first "sniff" at Biblioscape, although it does appear to be a vastly complex piece of software (the kind of thing I tend to avoid, on the whole). But the underlying logic looks fairly well thought-out. Does anybody actually use it as an authoring tool?

@Carrott: You'd be surprised how many information managers do _not_ provide the kind of versatile/discontinuous selection that you (and I) would expect. I'm quite certain that it has been mentioned in the forum before that MyBase indeed does not provide it. By the way, as far as I understand, it is quite complicated to implement in terms of programming.

@Bill: Just wondering whether this http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3333/0/biblioscape-9--the-end-of-searching- is the thread you wanted to post to :-)

Thank you for your reply!
It seems then that myBase indeed does not have this immensely basic and highly intuitive feature. This seems like an incredible oversight greatly reduces the usefullness of the application. What a silly way to annoy users and cripple the usefullness of an application. It looks like I'm going to abandon using it and get a license for Ultra Recall or MyInfo.

Cassius wrote:

Glen,

I'm now retired, so my comments are from someone who now uses PIMs mainly to
save personally useful information (e.g., info on good plumbers) and items of
personal interest.

In DOS days, I used GrandView for everything. When it became
difficult to use, I switched to TreePad, Duplicate File Cleaner was working but Henk discontinued developing it for some
time while developing an enterprise version. I later started using the Business
version, but found it a bit slow, so I switched to a very user-friendly product, Jot
Plus, which was rtf-based and one could paste in images from the clipboard. I have a lot
of information stored in Jot Plus so hesitate to give it up, but development of it has
essentially ceased.

I occasionally use Inspiration, which is a bit quirky and has
some limitations, but also has advantages. It has never lost data or committed other
"crimes," unlike NoteMap of which I had high, but then dashed, hopes.

I looked at
UltraRecall when it first appeared. As I believe you feel, it seemed overly
complex/"computer geeky." I offered to revise the user manual to replace the
technical, computerese & database jargon with more user-friendly language. The
developers were not interested.

I have only looked at myBase 6 for a very short time.
One problem with version 5 was that it had no Boolean search options (e.g., "x" and "y" ,
"x" or "y"). It seems that the developers have decided to remedy this by introducing
"regular expression" search, which I believe is overkill and will turn off a lot of
potential users (like Ultra Recall does).

I also looked at MyInfo, but found its
import of Web pages inferior to myBase, Surfulater and WebResearch.

While still
working, I found a very worthwhile use for Personal Brain, which could have been
improved with a simple addition. The developer wasn't interested, although I think
that it may have since added my suggestion. The idea was to use Personal Brain to map a
large organization with all the connections between the organization's parts. Each
part could then place itself at the "center" of the organization's universe and see
how it linked to other parts. (This would also be useful for management, which usually
has little, if any accurate knowledge of what is really going on.)

I have
Surfulater, but so far, it just doesn't "feel right."

As I explore MyBase 6, I'll
post more comments in this thread.

If you have any insights with respect to
comparing myBase and WebResearch, they would be
appreciated.

-cassius

============================
Glen Coulthard
wrote:
>I'd love to hear your feedback Cassius. As many others here, I've purchased
almost all
>of these types of products in the past (looking for that "perfect"

>outlining/notetaking application.) Here is what I've found:
>
>- UltraRecall:

>difficult to realize/access the power without a deep dive; never really could get
it
>to fit my workflow -- too many options, templates, etc. that just seemed like it
was
>trying to do too much through a "programmer's" interface (remember that this is
my
>perception of the product, rather than an objective review)
>
>-
MyNotesKeeper:
>inexpensive, easy-to-use, and one of the nicest and cleanest
outliners/notetakers
>with good handling of images and file attachments;
however, developer is
>unresponsive and updates are far and few between. Difficult
decision to use as a
>"trusted system" given questionable development.
>
>-
MyInfo: great use of columns
>in the tree/navigation pane, but only basic image
handling and only one file
>attachment allowed per new node; for my purposes

>(academic/professor-researcher), I regularly attach 3 or 4 file versions to a

>single node, so MyInfo never worked for me as the tree became too cluttered with

>multiple "child" attachments displayed.
>
>- myBase: nice file management and

>attachment capabilities, and allows for multiple windows to be open at a single
time
>(which I like); also, the best "web capture" capabilities I've come across
aside from
>Surfulater and Macropool's WebResearch products. In fact, the web
capture and other
>plugins for importing/exporting to HTML and Word are the key
reasons I first
>evaluated myBase. I also find the whole Javascript API plugin
development platform
>very intriguing -- what can't you do with that type of
openness and a few smart
>developers?
>
>- ConnectedText: not fair to mention
here, as it is not a 2- or 3-pane
>outliner/notetaker, but this is my GoTo application
for writing and referencing
>content; but mentioned because any application has to
transfer information back and
>forth nicely between/with CT (and
PersonalBrain)
>
>So, currently, I am using
>ConnectedText as my personal wiki,
WebResearch for my web clipping and link storage,
>PersonalBrain for processing
and organizing local and web content, and
>MyNotesKeeper (MNK) for drafting and
laying out articles (because of its image and
>file attachment capabilities.)
Currently, I am evaluating both myBase and Amode as
>alternatives to MNK - both seem
quite powerful and extensible.
>
>Well, that's it in a
>nutshell.
>Glen
>
>
>
> Being a software Programmer & Developer

myBase 6.05 is now available. Wjjsoft, the producer, sent me the following information:

"... the latest v6.0.5 has improved the 'Advanced search' options/feature, you'll need to clear and rebuild the index data to see the improvements."

MyBase 6.06 has just been released. It now supports editing in its browser (i.e., of Web Pages).