Forum Posts Feed
Evernote and "The Wall Street Journal"
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by Graham Rhind
Dec 1, 2014 at 03:39 PM
Bear a thought also for those of us without the easy availability of a broadband connection to utilise cloud services.
I used to scoff at the thought that there were areas without proper broadband connectivity ... until I moved here. If I ever have to leave this office, which has a very ropey DSL connection, and return to working from home, where I have to use a very expensive and very limited satellite internet service, then any cloud services I may have will have to be switched off to preserve bandwidth.
“Here”, by the way, is a pretty decently-sized city (16000 people) in Germany, which is, in many respects, technologically still 40 years behind its neighbours. Many’s the day I wish I could run a cable from the Dutch border 7 km away ....
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Dec 2, 2014 at 11:48 AM
I’ve run into this same problem… being unable to access my Evernote data on my iPad when not able to connect to the Internet. I too am a Premium user. This doesn’t happen all the time, so it is both frustrating and makes me question the reliability of EN.
Franz Grieser wrote:
Paul.
>
>That’s exactly why I have been using Evernote. And exactly why I think
>about dropping Evernote: Last week, I went to a seminar in the mountains
>- no internet there. So I took along my iPad with a huge Evernote
>database - I had synced before leaving, and I have a Premium account.
>When I was in the mountains, EN wouldn’t open any of my notes. Always
>the same error message: Switch offline operation on, or else you cannot
>access this note. But this message also appeared after I switched
>offline operation on (and off and on). And it appeared also when trying
>to open notes I had been able to open on the iPad without internet
>connection before.
>
>So, my trust in EN dramatically dropped.
>
>:-(
>
>
>Paul Korm wrote:
>>I don’t have particular concerns about what Evernote is (“lifestyle” or
>>whatever)—that’s a timewaster.
>>
>>IMO, what’s always important to mull over and discuss here and
>elsewhere
>>is “what happens next”. By this I mean I believe it is important to
>>always have an exit plan from any cloud. I tolerate Evernote because
>>the desktop client is still pretty good (despite v6 glitches) and its
>>easy to unplug it from the Evernote cloud and have my data safe and
>>triple-backed-up here in my local network and my private offsite. I
>>don’t get this from Workflowy and its peers and would thus never use
>it.
>>
>>
>>My rule of thumb is: if I can unplug from a cloud service and still
>have
>>my data, then I’ll tolerate the cloud service otherwise I won’t touch
>it
>>for anything more than curiosity. I can unplug Dropbox, OneDrive and
>>the like so I’m good with that. I can’t unplug Trello, and its peers,
>>so they’re dead to me.
>>
>>(Products mentioned here just for illustration.)
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Dec 2, 2014 at 12:04 PM
I love how Cassius’ innocent notification about the partnership between Evernote and the Wall Street Journal turned into this fascinating thread about cloud apps! This is why I treasure this forum and its members!
If the cloud is going to be useful for storing/transferring/accessing one’s personal information, it has to be invisible to the process. I want to write a note on my laptop, iPad, desktop and know that I’ll be able to access it from any of those devices whenever I need it, even if there is temporarily no Internet. I don’t want to think about syncing the data. Does anyone feel they have this kind of experience now? If so, what app(s) are you using?
Steve Z.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Dec 2, 2014 at 12:13 PM
I think Paul’s hit it on the head here. I have independently taken precisely the same approach, which is why I ceased using a number of otherwise pleasant and enjoyable task management apps that required more or less permanent online access.
All of my apps are now offline-capable, which also means it’s easy to make further backups of data on my own in-house systems.
As for Evernote: I have to say I’ve never really trusted the service, and after reading this particular thread (and the various references on EN’s own forums), and evaluating my use of EN (negligible), I’ve just deleted the client from my machine.
Sad? No, not really. There are plenty of alternatives if one is willing to look at OneNote, Outline+, Notebook, Wiznotes etc. as providers of essentially the same service (easily searchable, cross-platform rich-text notes with images if required that can - if desired - be shared with other people).
What’s more, there are some seriously interesting online alternatives emerging from the woodwork, such as Slack (just to pick one example), or indeed Quip. Both excellent online services supporting offline work. And both designed for sharing from the get-go.
——
Paul Korm wrote:
>IMO, what’s always important to mull over and discuss here and elsewhere
>is “what happens next”.
>
>My rule of thumb is: if I can unplug from a cloud service and still have
>my data, then I’ll tolerate the cloud service otherwise I won’t touch it
>for anything more than curiosity. I can unplug Dropbox, OneDrive and
>the like so I’m good with that. I can’t unplug Trello, and its peers,
>so they’re dead to me.
Posted by Dr Andus
Dec 2, 2014 at 01:31 PM
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>If the cloud is going to be useful for storing/transferring/accessing
>one’s personal information, it has to be invisible to the process. (...) I don’t want to think about syncing
>the data.
Actually I’m starting to lean in the opposite direction, after having lost data in automatic cloud syncs a couple of times now. I want an in-your-face confirmation that the sync was successful, and even more obvious alert if the sync was unsuccessful (getting louder, the more time passes). I’d even prefer it to prevent me from putting the device to sleep or shut it off before doing a manual backup.
E.g. just this week I needed to restore a damaged file on my PC, from my MozyHome online backup service, which I set to automatically back up my PC twice a day when the PC is idle, just to find out that due to whatever quirk Mozy failed to back up for the last 7 days and properly alert me about it, which means that my changes to that file in the last 7 days were also lost… Ouch!