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UltraRecall Roadmap posted
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Posted by Ken Ashworth
Jun 29, 2007 at 05:26 PM
Unfortunately, many of these help files are written by the programmers who are not writers. A good user-to-user message board goes a long way towards filling in the gaps.
I would echo many of Jan’s comments reagrding the responsiveness of the Kinook team, both within the forums and to email directed to support (although you may have to wait a day or two, which is understandable).
Regarding the error message comments that have been posted over the last several weeks, these seem to be isloated incidents many of which have been addressed. Since the rollout of v.3 and v.3.1 error message comments seemed to be a very low percentage of the user base and not unexpected with the release of a major program update and the roll-out of an operating system (Vista).
Regarding the learning curve presented by UR, I think that it depends on what you want to do with the program. UR offers so many possibilities (and it offers them all at once) - file storage/organizer companion to an email client, contact mananger, task and scheduling manager, file manager, web capture (although it seems to do best at whole-page capture), and at it’s core is a Database Management System. It’s understandable that this can seem overwhelming (it took me quite a while to come to grips with the program).
UR’s tight integration with the MS Office Suite of programs is both a blessing and a curse. Through the use of various Office templates you can overcome many of UR’s short-comings, but not everyone has access to MS Office (and a fair understanding or Word or Excel is required to exploit much of this integration). And it can
The introduction of Forms in v.3 was a big boost to the Database Management aspect of the program and provides a means to collect structured data. Additionally, the import function is very comprehensive.
Where I feel UR falls down is on the output end. It’s real easy to get stuff into the program, but its Presentation Layer needs some attention. This is mentioned in the Roadmap both as enhancements to the rtf editor and as html output.
Personally, I feel there’s been some very interesting work done over at http://www.webideatree.com, with structured pages and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), principles that could be brought into UR, but Kinook may have other ideas on how best to provide better tools for output.
I found it interesting that both Ken and Jan mentioned iMatch (http://www.photools.com), as I am registered with this program - unfortunately I haven’t had the time to devote to it that I would like, but I see many similarities between it and UR as a file manager. I would mention that Jan is correct in pointing out that much of iMatch’s power lies in scripting, but there is a wealth of script solutions available through the Forum, and I found the script-mavens very responsive in creating new scripts to meet a user need.
Later,
KenA
Posted by Ken
Jun 30, 2007 at 05:23 AM
Well, I decided to “test’ out some programs with a GTD-inspired task management structure that I would like to create. Starting with a trusty sheet of blank white paper, I laid out much of what I wanted to manage and track, and how I wanted to do so. I must confess, it took almost no time to set up in Ecco exactly as I had envisioned it would look. Easy data entry, and very easy “views”, with output exactly as I desired. I wanted to adapt this layout to EverNote, but with my limited experience, I could not find a way to “fit” my paper model to the program. I will try MyInfo later this weekend, but I spent the evening trying to get a better understanding of UR 3.1.1. I can see why Ecco users might feel a bit at home in UR. For this specific task management project I am using for a test, UR is the same as Ecco, but different! UR’s search functions remind me a bit of views in Ecco’s notepads. At present, its certainly easier for me to set this up in Ecco, and Ecco’s calendar is, in my opinion, vastly superior to UR’s. But, I can see that with a bit of training, UR could offer me a good alternative to Ecco. I think MyInfo lies somewhere in the middle. I like user defined columns, and I like having categories and/or flags because they are quick and easy to use. I might consider do-Organizer, but I still do not think that there is a more well balanced program than Ecco. If I could only take one piece of software with me in life, it would probably be Ecco. But, I am an old dog that likes to learn new tricks.
Posted by Jan Rifkinson
Jun 30, 2007 at 12:16 PM
Ken Ashworth wrote:
>[snip] I found it
>interesting that both Ken and Jan mentioned iMatch (http://www.photools.com), as I am
>registered with this program - unfortunately I haven’t had the time to devote to it
>that I would like, but I see many similarities between it and UR as a file manager. I
>would mention that Jan is correct in pointing out that much of iMatch’s power lies in
>scripting, but there is a wealth of script solutions available through the Forum, and
>I found the script-mavens very responsive in creating new scripts to meet a user
>need.
KenA, You might want to compare iMatch to IDImager. http://www.idimager.com The current beta for v4 is stable & an improvement over v3. IMO, the latter program has several advantages working for it. Both developers are European (German & Dutch respectively). Both are responsive & both programs are very talented if you have to deal w image libraries. Once set up, either is a godsend. At this point I’d have to say my preference is for IDImager.
—
Jan Rifkinson
Ridgefield, CT USA
Posted by Tom S.
Jun 30, 2007 at 01:47 PM
Jan Rifkinson wrote:
>Kinook Software has posted a roadmap for the next version of UltraRecall & future
>priorities. There is no date certain, nor even one suggested but it’s an interesting &
>ambitious list IMO.
I have to coness that I was a bit disappointed that the calendar pane is so far down the list. Not that you can’t keep your schedule in Outlook or something similar but its nice to have it all in one application. Most of the things on the “For the next release” list look easier to do but I wouldn’t rank most of them nearly as high.
Tom S.
Posted by Tom S.
Jun 30, 2007 at 01:54 PM
Ken wrote:
>Well, I decided to “test’ out some programs with a GTD-inspired task management
>structure that I would like to create. Starting with a trusty sheet of blank white
>paper, I laid out much of what I wanted to manage and track, and how I wanted to do so.
Care to share the list? I’d love to know what you think on this and I might even add to it.
>I
>must confess, it took almost no time to set up in Ecco exactly as I had envisioned it
>would look.
I’m not surprised. Best PIM I ever used. Not optimized for the kind of large scale data storage I currently believe I need, though.
Though I’m a big fan of OneNote I’ve been playing a lot with Access to see what can be done in this regard. Its actually quite a lot if you are willing to do some scripting. You can actually design and cutomize a pretty decent PIM. I still haven’t managed to get a tree widget to work, though, so I haven’t been able to do much with “outlining” per se.
Tom S.