1. If you visit the Jot Plus Web site ( www.kingstairs.com ) you may see a link that, if opened, says the Web site is about to disappear. [One time I saw the link, the second time I didn't.]

2. The download link for Jot Plus 3.7.0 RC1 and for Jot Plus 3.7 Beta yield the same Beta file.

3. If you're a Jot Plus User and want to have the latest stable version, 3.6, better get it now.

4. You can export Jot Plus files to a number of different formats, such as .rtf, using
"File/Save Copy As." (It can take a while to process.)
Unfortunately, in the .rtf conversion at least, one gets a flat file with no indentations. The
tree topics are bolded, but that's about it as far as organization goes.

It looks like I'll be doing a lot of pasting into Inspiration for the files I update most.

-cassius

Oops! The link to the warning site is "truth be told" on the right side of kingstairs.com, below the release listings.

As far as I understand, the Godaddy expiration notice refers to the domain http://truthbetold2011.org/ not kingstairs.com

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

As far as I understand, the Godaddy expiration notice refers to the domain
http://truthbetold2011.org/ not kingstairs.com

=======
Alexander, I think you're correct. However, I still believe Jot Plus is moribund. Over a year ago, i contacted the developer, Michael Marshall, about the suspension of Jot Plus development. He told me that he was doing work for other firms and didn't know when, if ever, he'd get back to Jot Plus. Also the beta and RC1 versions (which are identical) are at least a couple of years old.

He may just be keeping the kingstairs.com site open for current users and to sell a few more copies. The site hasn't changed in a loooong time.

Moribund should be the name of the next "it" PIM. It will be developed. We will be excited by it. We'll be the only ones who buy it and in six years the developer will realize that he can't make money off of CRIMPers alone and he'll let the thing fossilize until one day one of us will check in on the web site only to find that moribund.com is the new home page for Kim Kardashian. At least that's been the pattern (except for the last part) for too many of the applications we've discussed here over the years.

Steve Z.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Moribund should be the name of the next "it" PIM. It will be developed. We will be
excited by it. We'll be the only ones who buy it and in six years the developer will
realize that he can't make money off of CRIMPers alone and he'll let the thing
fossilize until one day one of us will check in on the web site only to find that
moribund.com is the new home page for Kim Kardashian. At least that's been the pattern
(except for the last part) for too many of the applications we've discussed here over
the years.

Steve Z.

==========================================
RIP.
AMEN

P.S. What Steve Z describes is precisely the reason I introduced the topic "Using a PIM to catalog files and folders." If we save our information in files with reasonably standard formats (e.g. doc, rtf, htm) and only use a PIM to catalog them (via drag & drop links), then the death of a PIM will not cause the loss of the information, but only the cataloging. Of course, to keep any loss to a minimum, we sould be wise about how we catalog. I'll post some ideas in the topic "Using a PIM to catalog files and folders" after I've given this some thought.

-cassius

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Moribund should be the name of the next "it" PIM. It will be developed. We will be
excited by it. We'll be the only ones who buy it and in six years the developer will
realize that he can't make money off of CRIMPers alone and he'll let the thing
fossilize

It doesn't have to be like this. But the problem is that technical genius rarely goes hand-in-hand with commercial savvy. E.g. I'm amazed that this day and age there are still developers who don't realise that having a user forum where they can involve the users in innovation is a critical aspect of the software's long-term survival. Probably they think they don't have time to operate a forum if they're a one-man band, but in fact the users most of the time take care of each other, so the developer doesn't have to intervene every single day and it can even save time as the forum serves as an FAQ.

There is e.g. Mindsystems Amode. They launched in 2009, now it's 2012, imagine all the feedback they missed by not having a forum. A customer support email form on the website is no replacement for a forum where collective innovation can take place. The ConnectedText forum is a positive example where experienced users help out new users and where they share additional scripts they wrote and discuss the merits of various suggestions for improvement.

A forum is also where would-be customers see all the problems with your software and decide to go elsewhere ... ;-)

Mark wrote:

A forum is also where would-be customers see all the problems with your software and
decide to go elsewhere ... ;-)

Or you could actively censor your forum to remove all negative comments, like The Brain does ...

Mark

A forum is also where would-be customers see all the problems with your software and
decide to go elsewhere ... ;-)

That's what I used to think, too. Meanwhile, I check forums to see whether and how fast developers react. I know that software cannot be bug-free. What counts is, whether and how fast these bugs are removed.

Franz

Mark wrote:

A forum is also where would-be customers see all the problems with your software and
decide to go elsewhere ... ;-)

I think the benefits of having a forum far outweigh this risk. Your software will never be perfect for everyone, so let them go elsewhere. The forum is for 1) providing better service to your existing customers; 2) helping new customers learn to use the software; 3) harness the collective wisdom of the user-base to fix bugs and to innovate.

If you're a one-man band, you can always password-protect your forum, and you can deter those who're not so interested and narrow the interaction to die-hard fans and new users with questions.

I've been evaluating DOpus, and it fills me with confidence that their forum has 7000 members and and there have been 82,000 posts...
http://resource.dopus.com/

I have to think that only bad software needs to worry about too many negative comments on the forum. If you're not confident enough in your product, then probably you should be thinking about another line of work.

Re TheBrain censoring their forum... I can't say that they do not, but I have read criticism on the forum.

Steve Z.

Moribund.com made me laugh.

But in all seriousness, doesn't a developer have to have a very distinctive offering to make any headway in achieving sales beyond us crimpers today? And isn't it likely that most if not all possible "niches" - to relapse into marketing speak - have been occupied? A new PIM with a little extra functionality, or even an upgraded old one, isn't enough.

My guess is that the frontiers and opportunities are likely to lie in cloud collaboration - perhaps not so easy for small developers - or tablets - though even there the markets are already crowded* - or in some other more complicated use of technology that even now isn't so obvious.

*Perhaps the MS Surface Pro with Windows 8 and pen functionality, a relative step forward for an iPad rival, is the exception that will prove the rule.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Re TheBrain censoring their forum... I
can't say that they do not, but I have read criticism on the forum.

Steve Z.

They go through phases of so doing. They released the newest version trumpeting improved SiteBain exporting, but all tests (and all posts) pointed to a complete emasculation of the export. They removed all those posts, including mine.

Graham

Referring to what Cassius suggests, using a PIM to catalog file and folders, this is precisely what I do with Ultra Recall (among many other things). You can have individual files or folders either as nodes or links, and folders then can be "opened" inside UR to browse files. Files can be opened within or outside of UR. Of course you need to sync any new content with Ctrl-F5 to keep all files current. I do this by having a saved search of all relevant nodes and then Ctrl-F5 on the search. It's brilliantly executed, actually!

Just to mention, in UR the default behavior when dragging and dropping is link to item (which is what you want), and you can right click and drag to choose linking or embedding in the database.

Best, /Pavi

P.S. What Steve Z
describes is precisely the reason I introduced the topic "Using a PIM to catalog files
and folders." If we save our information in files with reasonably standard formats
(e.g. doc, rtf, htm) and only use a PIM to catalog them (via drag & drop links), then the
death of a PIM will not cause the loss of the information, but only the cataloging. Of
course, to keep any loss to a minimum, we sould be wise about how we catalog. I'll post
some ideas in the topic "Using a PIM to catalog files and folders" after I've given this
some thought.

-cassius

Graham,

I am very sorry to hear this about a company I generally respect. It's one thing to censor out obvious trolls, but genuine and sincere criticism should be embraced and valued by a quality organization. A definite black on on Brain Technologies.

Graham Rhind wrote:

Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>
>Re TheBrain censoring their forum... I
>can't say that
they do not, but I have read criticism on the forum.
>
>Steve Z.

They go through
phases of so doing. They released the newest version trumpeting improved SiteBain
exporting, but all tests (and all posts) pointed to a complete emasculation of the
export. They removed all those posts, including mine.

Graham

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Graham,

I am very sorry to hear this about a company I generally respect. It's one
thing to censor out obvious trolls, but genuine and sincere criticism should be
embraced and valued by a quality organization. A definite black on on Brain
Technologies.

Err... that's supposed to be a definite BLACK EYE on Brain Technologies...

Hugh wrote:

Moribund.com made me laugh.

But in all seriousness, doesn't a developer have to
have a very distinctive offering to make any headway in achieving sales beyond us
crimpers today? And isn't it likely that most if not all possible "niches" - to relapse
into marketing speak - have been occupied? A new PIM with a little extra
functionality, or even an upgraded old one, isn't enough.

My guess is that the
frontiers and opportunities are likely to lie in cloud collaboration - perhaps not so
easy for small developers - or tablets - though even there the markets are already
crowded* - or in some other more complicated use of technology that even now isn't so
obvious.

*Perhaps the MS Surface Pro with Windows 8 and pen functionality, a
relative step forward for an iPad rival, is the exception that will prove the rule.

Hugh, you are undoubtedly right about most niches being filled... and yet... if someone were to reproduce GrandView for Windows and/or MORE for OSx I think they'd both find welcome markets.

Then look at Keith Blount. His Scrivener did not really break new ground as far as functionality for writing, except that he put it all together in one program. (And did so very thoughtfully and elegantly.)

Perhaps I'm whistling past the graveyard, but I'd hate to think we'd seen the end of smart, small developers breaking new ground and challenging the behemoths with innovative new applications.

Steve Z.

Graham Rhind wrote:

They released the newest version trumpeting improved SiteBain
exporting, but all tests (and all posts) pointed to a complete emasculation of the
export.

Thanks for the heads up. Improved sitebrain export was for me one of the main reasons to upgrade my Brain license, but didn't have the time to test it. I found a thread in the forum discussing this issue http://forums.thebrain.com/post/Sitebrain-Downgrade-5755447

Most importantly, though the Brain representative acknowledges the issues as associated with the beta, in the Release Notes http://assets.thebrain.com/documents/TheBrain%207%20Release%20Notes.pdf there is practically no note on sitebrain improvements since the beta.