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Top Developments in 2007
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Posted by Hugh Pile
Dec 27, 2007 at 08:55 PM
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>I am wondering what this group thinks of as the top developments in the PIM/outliner
>world during the past 12 months. For me, two things stand out:
>
>1. OneNote 2007 became
>commercially available in January.
>2. Zoot 4.5 (32-bit version) beta was released
>over the summer and continues to be refined.
>
>I’m sure others of you have your own top
>developments. What are they?
>
>Steve Z.
With that part of me that remains in the Windows world, I agree with Steve Z.‘s assessment, for the Windows platform.
However, I think those achievements are rivalled if not exceeded by developments on the Mac platform. I can’t point to specific PIM or outliner launches, but the growing utility of the platform, as exemplified by the launch of Leopard, must mean that it will start to challenge Windows, and not just amongst traditional Mac adopters. Although the Leopard launch wasn’t an unalloyed success, it was the first OS upgrade I’ve ever experienced (going back to DOS days) where the resulting system was significantly faster than its predecessor (as well as of course being significantly more useful). I understand the criticisms about backwards incompatibility, but for someone joining the platform afresh, it was a revelation.
Add to that the usefulness of programmes such as DevonThink (just made Spotlight-searchable), Curio (version 4 launched in 2007), Tinderbox (ditto), Things (alpha just launched), and of course, Scrivener (version 1.0 launched in 2007), and the platform appears to be enjoying a purple patch of potentially great benefit to people who think, structure and write for pleasure or for work.
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Dec 28, 2007 at 02:00 AM
Sniff Sniff…
I was hoping someone would mention SQLNotes (http://www.sqlnotes.net) as one of the top development in outlining software in 2007…
I’ll aim to be in the 2008 contest instead ;-)
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Dec 28, 2007 at 10:47 AM
Pierre Paul Landry wrote:
>I was hoping someone would mention SQLNotes (http://www.sqlnotes.net) as
>one of the top development in outlining software in 2007…
Actually, you have been rather too quick to disapoint yourself ;-) Or maybe I’ve been slow to post—as well as going out on the UR tangent.
I intended to write about SQL Notes as a sort of ‘hope for the future’. I think it will take a while before most of us appreciate it, as it’s a rather strange beast.
SQL Notes is a hybrid one-pane outliner (a writing tool) and database (an information repository). Just like Connected Text—a wiki which also provides visual navigation- it takes time to conceptualise it and find how it would fit in one’s workflow.
In any case, apart for the solid infrastructure which I have praised elsewhere, SQL Notes is blessed with the closest relationship I’ve personally witnessed between developer and (potential) public outside of the open-source world. This is a good thing but, as most of us know, you can have too much of a good thing.
So, all the best for SQL Notes in 2008
Cheers, alx
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Dec 28, 2007 at 11:00 AM
A 2007 development worth noting—though only time will tell whether it’s positive or negative- is Vista. It has influenced the landscape since some of our beloved programs can’t work with it. So it has been either upgrade or perish for their developers.
I have a feeling, for example, that Vista’s arrival (and especially its bullyish preinstallation on new PCs) might have speeded the release of the 32-bit Zoot, as well as its adoption by users while still in Beta.
Another Vista side-effect might have been some Windows users’ disenchantement and turn towards the Mac OS X—which, contrary to Vista, is faster than its previous releases. (I have personally recently made the decision to use Linux in parallel to Windows XP and see how it goes).
alx
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Dec 31, 2007 at 06:10 AM
Alexander Deliyannis wrote:
>SQL Notes is a hybrid one-pane outliner (a writing tool) and database (an information repository). Just like Connected Text—a wiki which also provides visual navigation- it takes time to conceptualise it and find how it would fit in one’s workflow.
>
>In any case, apart for the solid infrastructure which I have praised elsewhere, SQL Notes is blessed with the closest relationship I’ve personally witnessed between developer and (potential) public outside of the open-source world.
Thanks!
We’re changing server (hopefully better than the previous one). So please use http://98.130.34.115/default.aspx instead of http://www.sqlnotes.net for the next few days (during the DNS change delay).