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Chaos Software’s Intellect - Why I Like it
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Posted by 22111
Mar 6, 2014 at 06:58 PM
“Next up; AskSam for client research.”
Steve, I join the “thank you” ‘s. And I viewed the video you refer to: Well, it’s quite daunting (I have “mouse arm”, as said, even without jumping into such mouse excesses as displayed there).
As I see it from what I read, you did not integrate AS with ChI, and I understand there is no real need to do so. But from another pov, AS would allow for extensive automatization, by macros, whilst ChI presumably isn’t as good as that: Some commands are underlined = accessible by Alt-xyz, but not all; similar for menus, but a good macro editor (like AHK) could access those menus notwithstanding.
So it seems to me that for the time being, you do a lot of manual work in ChI, since there is no time to do all the necessary macroing work, for a full week long? ;-) This will probably give you “mouse arm” some day in the future! ;-((( (I hope, not, but chances are for this to happen!)
One thing’s for sure, “out of the box”, it’s quite neat as a program, it offers some tweaking (as I had said, and as you confirm, from an immediate utility pov from real-life use, there are some 20 or so record fields that can be individualized), and it’s functional for the use you make of it - and with proper macroing, even strain on your hands could be avoided (and it’s a pleasure to look at).
So I fully understand that you’re happy with it (well, except for the abusive mouse thing ;-) ), and I acknowledge that there might be lots of other uses where it’s as good as it is in yours.
This being said, consider b2b. There, it’s many “contacts” with a given “contact”, often over many months, if not over years, for a FUTURE project (whilst in your case, it’ll be then, with existing customers, for NEW projects), and here, multiple “contact” record fields would be necessary, and to mix those (“done”) “contacts” up with “tasks”, is not a real solution, all the less so since in the same scenario, you also would need real “tasks”, i.e. things to BE done, vs. things that HAVE been done, on that particular project.
Now for price: The most elaborate version is 60 bucks, which indeed is “nothing” for crm sw, and whenever the functionality is sufficient for the tasks at hand, this offering might indeed be one of the best there is (except for the name “asking” for all sorts of ridicule, as we have seen lately, here), all the more so with that price asked: If some other crm sw does SOME thing better, in your workflow, but is 600 bucks, I fully understand ChI is the sw of choice.
Of course, the non-integration of the work you do in AS, into ChI, “speaks for itself”: ChI simply is a quite simple, not elaborate prog: Whenever there is “more” to do, you’ll have to combine it with some other tool. (I very much hope you’re in a two-screen set, with ChI and AS each running in its own screen?! ;-) If not yet, that would be the best 30 bucks (and then 30 bucks each year for energy) investment you’d done in your life.)
Seen to it from “reverse” pov: AS (in which so much else would be possible) has got such a substandard email functionality, and would demand so much external scripting, in order to become fully functional, that for professional use, users need additional applics, here ChI, in order to have their work done, whilst in AS, it would be possible, but a real pita from every possible pov, except when you first go into extensive macroing…
and to begin with, every AS user, in order to bear AS, will need a macro that closes down the “Want you save this changed item?” dialog whenever it pops up, after you just perhaps changed one little iota there, i.e. AS has the particularity of NOT offering a default saving function whenever you did some work on some item - compare this with your usual outliner: It’s one of the elements that make AS almost unusable for anybody. (And then, I asked them for such a default about 10 or 12 or 15 years ago, to no avail, and OF COURSE, it would have been possible (and sensible) to introduce another, menu, command for “Leave this item WITHOUT saving the edited version”, just in case. But you’ll need such a command once in 200 instances, whilst AS forces you in 199 instances to enter “Yes” to the pop-up dialog - and yes, if they are almost bankrupt today, yes, there are valid reasons to this state of their affairs.)
Whilst in my imagination, ChI better cost 600 $ instead of just 60, but should integrate any functionality you currently realize with AS, as additional tool.
This being said, I fully acknowledge that ChI is a brilliant example for the need to judge applics in relation to their respective price, and for many uses, it might be a brilliant solution.
And again, the prob with AS is the same as (and worse than) with Ultra Recall, e.g. - all those progs miss two facts:
- today, email is a core function of your workflow, and thus has to be fully integrated
- “normal” users don’t want to spend months with scripting, before their respective PIM is half-way functional (except for the email-function that no scripting could ever really fully integrate), and that’s ironic, since from their respective potential, both AS and UR would (except for email) be so much more powerful… but only AFTER heavy scripting, in both cases.
Posted by Terry
Mar 6, 2014 at 11:54 PM
I bought Intellect but now only use Time & Chaos (fortunately the Intellect license allows this). I was very drawn to Intellect’s ability to link emails to contacts but have decided against using it because (in POP3 mode) it automatically deletes emails on the server after a number of days not exceeding 180.
A key part of my email strategy is to pass all my emails through (more than one) gmail POP3 accounts in order to:
1) Clean spam (their filter is the most reliable and trouble free I have found)
2) Keep backups which I can’t lose!
3) Use as WebMail from any browser
In correspondence with Intellect support I was told the only way to keep emails on the server forever using Intellect is to use IMAP. Unfortunately I have tried IMAP and do not get on with it.
So I shall continue to use Opera Mail, now stand alone as well as free. It stores emails in a database giving lightning fast searches and allowing the setting up of “contacts”. This is their way of keeping an email address book and has the associated advantage that clicking on a contact immediately returns all related emails. In contrast to Intellect, Opera Mail has no difficulty leaving all messages on the gmail server forever in POP3 mode.
Intellect does what it does nicely, but you may want to know what you are getting into if you need to keep all emails on the server.
Posted by Steve
Mar 7, 2014 at 03:04 PM
Terry, you address an issue with all PIM’s in my opinion - they are “personal” in nature and you can’t really determine how usable or not that PIM is until you delve into it for an extended period. There are some parts of Intellect that I don’t use much - Projects is one. If I have time I’ll share why I don’t sometime.
For me, online storage of Email is not a viable option for many business security issues. POP3 mail therefore has been just fine for me. I did move to IMAP last month due to my new Blackberry Q10 - it’s a much happier device with IMAP. I do not store mail (I’m with Zoho.com as my mail host) via IMAP. Backups are done via Mozy Pro.
Steve
Terry wrote:
I bought Intellect but now only use Time & Chaos (fortunately the
>Intellect license allows this). I was very drawn to Intellect’s ability
>to link emails to contacts but have decided against using it because (in
>POP3 mode) it automatically deletes emails on the server after a number
>of days not exceeding 180.
>
>A key part of my email strategy is to pass all my emails through (more
>than one) gmail POP3 accounts in order to:
>1) Clean spam (their filter is the most reliable and trouble free I have
>found)
>2) Keep backups which I can’t lose!
>3) Use as WebMail from any browser
>
>In correspondence with Intellect support I was told the only way to keep
>emails on the server forever using Intellect is to use IMAP.
>Unfortunately I have tried IMAP and do not get on with it.
>
>So I shall continue to use Opera Mail, now stand alone as well as free.
>It stores emails in a database giving lightning fast searches and
>allowing the setting up of “contacts”. This is their way of keeping an
>email address book and has the associated advantage that clicking on a
>contact immediately returns all related emails. In contrast to
>Intellect, Opera Mail has no difficulty leaving all messages on the
>gmail server forever in POP3 mode.
>
>Intellect does what it does nicely, but you may want to know what you
>are getting into if you need to keep all emails on the server.
Posted by Steve
Mar 7, 2014 at 03:17 PM
I hope to get to my AskSam review this weekend.
You do point out a usability issue with Intellect that just bugs the .... bugs me a lot! But it’s not unique to Intellect - the constant mouse need. A real waste of time and function - my fingers are on the keyboard typing information, then I HAVE to move my hand again to the mouse to navigate…. way, way too much “clicky, clicky and not enough worky, worky.” But, my industry (travel) has moved BACKWARDS over the years from form pages that were designed for data entry to ones that are designed to entertain. Shoot, there I am at an entry form page and there is NO way to find the cursor with that stupid mouse - cursor positioned in the first data entry field? Oh no, can’t have that…... Sorry, ranting .....
Now, to hopefully address this I purchased a license at Bitsdujour for Quick Macros recently. I have only installed it so it will be a while before I can really see if it works.
Lastly, my quick comment about AskSam as a CRM; I came very close to doing so somewhere around 2007. There was a guy on the dead AskSam forums that talked about how he did it. Made a lot of sense and I was moving towards that. What stopped me was a time issue learning how to really use AskSam AND the discovery that I could not do a search and replace in a field. I use field search and replace frequently in my marketing to flag which contact I last sent what marketing piece to and when.
Steve
22111 wrote:
“Next up; AskSam for client research.”
>
>Steve, I join the “thank you” ‘s. And I viewed the video you refer to:
>Well, it’s quite daunting (I have “mouse arm”, as said, even without
>jumping into such mouse excesses as displayed there).
>
>As I see it from what I read, you did not integrate AS with ChI, and I
>understand there is no real need to do so. But from another pov, AS
>would allow for extensive automatization, by macros, whilst ChI
>presumably isn’t as good as that: Some commands are underlined =
>accessible by Alt-xyz, but not all; similar for menus, but a good macro
>editor (like AHK) could access those menus notwithstanding.
>
>So it seems to me that for the time being, you do a lot of manual work
>in ChI, since there is no time to do all the necessary macroing work,
>for a full week long? ;-) This will probably give you “mouse arm” some
>day in the future! ;-((( (I hope, not, but chances are for this to
>happen!)
>
>One thing’s for sure, “out of the box”, it’s quite neat as a program, it
>offers some tweaking (as I had said, and as you confirm, from an
>immediate utility pov from real-life use, there are some 20 or so record
>fields that can be individualized), and it’s functional for the use you
>make of it - and with proper macroing, even strain on your hands could
>be avoided (and it’s a pleasure to look at).
>
>So I fully understand that you’re happy with it (well, except for the
>abusive mouse thing ;-) ), and I acknowledge that there might be lots of
>other uses where it’s as good as it is in yours.
>
>This being said, consider b2b. There, it’s many “contacts” with a given
>“contact”, often over many months, if not over years, for a FUTURE
>project (whilst in your case, it’ll be then, with existing customers,
>for NEW projects), and here, multiple “contact” record fields would be
>necessary, and to mix those (“done”) “contacts” up with “tasks”, is not
>a real solution, all the less so since in the same scenario, you also
>would need real “tasks”, i.e. things to BE done, vs. things that HAVE
>been done, on that particular project.
>
>Now for price: The most elaborate version is 60 bucks, which indeed is
>“nothing” for crm sw, and whenever the functionality is sufficient for
>the tasks at hand, this offering might indeed be one of the best there
>is (except for the name “asking” for all sorts of ridicule, as we have
>seen lately, here), all the more so with that price asked: If some other
>crm sw does SOME thing better, in your workflow, but is 600 bucks, I
>fully understand ChI is the sw of choice.
>
>Of course, the non-integration of the work you do in AS, into ChI,
>“speaks for itself”: ChI simply is a quite simple, not elaborate prog:
>Whenever there is “more” to do, you’ll have to combine it with some
>other tool. (I very much hope you’re in a two-screen set, with ChI and
>AS each running in its own screen?! ;-) If not yet, that would be the
>best 30 bucks (and then 30 bucks each year for energy) investment you’d
>done in your life.)
>
>Seen to it from “reverse” pov: AS (in which so much else would be
>possible) has got such a substandard email functionality, and would
>demand so much external scripting, in order to become fully functional,
>that for professional use, users need additional applics, here ChI, in
>order to have their work done, whilst in AS, it would be possible, but a
>real pita from every possible pov, except when you first go into
>extensive macroing…
>
>and to begin with, every AS user, in order to bear AS, will need a macro
>that closes down the “Want you save this changed item?” dialog whenever
>it pops up, after you just perhaps changed one little iota there, i.e.
>AS has the particularity of NOT offering a default saving function
>whenever you did some work on some item - compare this with your usual
>outliner: It’s one of the elements that make AS almost unusable for
>anybody. (And then, I asked them for such a default about 10 or 12 or 15
>years ago, to no avail, and OF COURSE, it would have been possible (and
>sensible) to introduce another, menu, command for “Leave this item
>WITHOUT saving the edited version”, just in case. But you’ll need such a
>command once in 200 instances, whilst AS forces you in 199 instances to
>enter “Yes” to the pop-up dialog - and yes, if they are almost bankrupt
>today, yes, there are valid reasons to this state of their affairs.)
>
>Whilst in my imagination, ChI better cost 600 $ instead of just 60, but
>should integrate any functionality you currently realize with AS, as
>additional tool.
>
>This being said, I fully acknowledge that ChI is a brilliant example for
>the need to judge applics in relation to their respective price, and for
>many uses, it might be a brilliant solution.
>
>And again, the prob with AS is the same as (and worse than) with Ultra
>Recall, e.g. - all those progs miss two facts:
>
>- today, email is a core function of your workflow, and thus has to be
>fully integrated
>
>- “normal” users don’t want to spend months with scripting, before their
>respective PIM is half-way functional (except for the email-function
>that no scripting could ever really fully integrate), and that’s ironic,
>since from their respective potential, both AS and UR would (except for
>email) be so much more powerful… but only AFTER heavy scripting, in
>both cases.
>
Posted by Steve
Mar 7, 2014 at 03:24 PM
BTW, I have not shared the tools I primarily use for my work flow. Without much description, here’s what I have fired up here at the start of my work day:
Intellect
Roboform
MailWasherPro
Firefox (browsing without flash and java enabled)
IE 11; work
Atlantis Word Processor
Notetab Pro (minor text manipulation and to remove all crappy html formatting)
AskSam
MyInfo (more about why later)
FinePrint (well, that’s always running in the background - print manager extraordinaire)
There’s other items I use during the day but those are not essentials.
Steve