Infohesive is yet another information organiser.

No, I'm not sure the world needs another one either, but this one is being put together by 2brightsparks, the people behind SyncbackSE, my backup software of choice. So Infohesive might be worth a look. It's in public beta at the moment:

From the web site:

InfoHesive Beta Launched
After significant development and in-house testing 2BrightSparks is excited to announce the beta release of InfoHesive, a program that provides an easy way to organize, retrieve, and share information.
http://2brightsparks.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4527

They have no information on their website about what this product is, and ironically that caused me to download it to check it out.
Verdict: it's pretty impressive. I've only tried it for a couple of minutes, but it has a very professional look and feel, and has a lot of advanced functionality like a choice to either link or embed files, a solid rich text editor, and even macros. Although the tutorial doesn't mention it, I tried drag-and-drop of both files and firefox urls, and both worked. A good new entry.

Not sure how innovative it is, but at least the interface is very well designed with decent professional-looking icons.

Derek

Yes it does seem like a good start, a standard 2-pane outliner with the ability to create HTML-like help files (not real ones). HelpMaker is a similar product but which can generate real help files.

As with most 2-pane outliners, no filtering of the tree-pane, so suitable for small quantities of items.

Apart from drag-drop, I/O is non-existant and drag-drop IE web content caused a GPF :-(

BTW, it uses the same editing component as SQLNotes (ksdhtmledit.ocx). So this one is not based on obsolete RTF, but on HTML.

I agree with those who say Infohesive has a nice, clean user interface. It looks like a well-thought out and developed application. It does beg the question, why bother? I don't really see anything new or innovative here.

Then there is a name... for a company that calls itself 2brightsparks, I would have expected a better name. Infohesive? Sounds like a household cleaning product. Actually, reminds me of Surfulator... another fine piece of software with a goofy name.

Steve Z.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Then there is a name... for a company that calls itself 2brightsparks, I would have expected a better name. Infohesive? Sounds like a household cleaning product. Actually, reminds me of Surfulator... another fine piece of software with a goofy name.

About names... any cool suggestions for better name for SQLNotes?

I already suggested a couple of names: "Grand Vista" and "EchoNotes"

Here are a couple of additional ideas:

"Freedom Notes" because you are not limited in the ways you can view your notes.

"VistaBase" again because of the many ways to view your data.

"SkyNotes" because the sky is the limit (plus it sounds a little like SQLNotes)

Steve Z.

Pierre Paul Landry wrote:

About names... any cool suggestions for better
name for SQLNotes?

I'm afraid that 'coolness' is in the eye of the beholder. I personally find both Infohesive (Information + Cohesive, I guess) and Surfulater (Surf U Later) very cool names. However, just the number of people (including Surfulater users) that call it Surfulator attests to its limited success. The simple change of E to O brings up images of Terminator, Predator etc

If SQLnotes was targetted to the programming community the name would be fine (though it could be confused with a database development helper). Assuming that it is targetting the broader community of power users, such as most of us in this forum, i.e. those looking beyond the programs that are usually bundled with a PC, I would state a simple marketing truism: customers are interested in the Benefits rather than the Features, and even less in the internal workings of a tool.

Whether we like Microsoft or not, they have followed a rather consistent and straightforward, as well as creative naming convention with their programs, that highlights well enough what they are useful for. Few would wonder what Onenote is supposed to do.

Other characteristics of a good name: simple, memorable (Surfulater apparently isn't), unique, accessible: putting My in front of a product or service makes it instantly personal. Think of Mybase and Myinfo (even better). Some have opted for something totally irrelevant but simply 'nice', like Oracle or Noah. Apparently Zoot was once called InfoSnatch; I am fortunate not to have known this earlier or I would have never tried it. One of the worst names that I can think for a database program is IDEA! (though I still like the actual application).

What are the benefits of SQLnote? It can handle structured numerical data as well as organise textual notes. It can be the basis for a personal accounting system as well as writing tool. It is actually very versatile, but it does take time to get used to. Even UltraRecall, which most have found complex, doesn't expose its 'inner workings', i.e. tables, the way that SQLnotes does. I would say that SQLnotes then is a power tool like a Black&Decker drill, whose mechanism one can actually feel.

So, closing this 'food for thought' session, here are some unfiltered naming ideas in order of creation; hopefully, more will follow: DataAid, DataMaid, DatAssist, UniData, OmniData, InfoGrid, DataGrid, InfoMaid, Personal Data Assistant, DataWord, InfraNote, DependAble, TotalBase, Oxy, AB3, DataBrain, DataLove, DataGlove, InfoGlove, InfoLove, InfoJoy, DataJoy, BeyondData, goData, goInfo, CheckThis, ClickMan, quickData, DataPower, OmniAccess, Manip, Greg, Lx, Clyde, InfoCruise, DataZen, DataDo, InfoDo, OmniDo, DataClay, DataRubik, DataSmith, InfoSmith, NoteSmith, InfoMike, InfoMickey, DataMaster, NoteLine, InfoDaddy, DaddyCool, DataCool...

Pierre, one last thing: as I said in another post I have installed SQLnotes and am quite impressed by what it can do. On the other hand, I find it minimally intuitive, perhaps because I've never been a regular Ecco user. I think one of the best 'promotions' you can do when you have reached a usable form would be to provide several integrated templates like the Inventory Solution. A lot of people have said that they didn't understand Zoot until they played with the sample databases.

Cheers
alx

Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>Then there is a name... for a company that calls itself
2brightsparks, I would have expected a better name. Infohesive? Sounds like a
household cleaning product. Actually, reminds me of Surfulator... another fine
piece of software with a goofy name.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

I'm afraid that 'coolness' is in the eye of the beholder. I personally
find both Infohesive (Information + Cohesive, I guess) and Surfulater (Surf U Later)
very cool names. However, just the number of people (including Surfulater users)
that call it Surfulator attests to its limited success. The simple change of E to O
brings up images of Terminator, Predator etc

I can see your point, Alexander, but I personally find these names too gimicky. It's not a matter of coolness... although that doesn't hurt. I agree with you about simple names like MyInfo and OneNote. Maybe a name like FirstNote would be good. Sounds even better than OneNote.

Surfulater (sorry I spelled it wrong in my other post) is a terrific program -- I don't use it because I've got other software doing the same duty, but I admire Neville's commitment. As much as I make fun of the name, I'm not sure that a better name would make a lot of difference in sales. But who knows? Maybe if he called it "HangTen" and had the slogan "Surf the Web on your terms" or something like that people would gather.

I guess it is why some people make big money naming products. As you can tell from my suggestions, I'm not one of them.

Steve Z.

Infohesive = Info(rmation) + (Ad)hesive

Dominik

Dominik Holenstein wrote:

Infohesive = Info(rmation) + (Ad)hesive

Dominik

I didn't have any trouble recognizing the meaning of the name, I just thought it was sort of silly. Could just as easily have been DataCement.

Names like this are just too reminiscent of twisted, made up names like "Advertorial" for when a publication takes money to write about your product, or "Infomercial" for what is nothing but a long-winded commercial masquerading as entertainment.

But this is just my opinion. Plenty of you seem to like the name and that's all that matters. The only wrong solution is the one rejected by the marketplace.

Steve Z.

Dominik Holenstein wrote:

Infohesive = Info(rmation) + (Ad)hesive

Dominik

Exactly, Dominik. And -

Surfulater = Surf +You + Later

...again, a rather odd message to be conveying. This is not to ridicule the products, which both come from excellent companies. Rather, it just shows how difficult it is to choose a name that is at the same time memorable and convincing. Remember "Miss Lonely Notes"?

Derek

Steohen Zeoli wrote:

"Could just as easily have been DataCement."

I think DataCement is a *great* name!

Francis Morrone wrote:

Steohen Zeoli wrote:
"Could just as easily have been DataCement."

I think
DataCement is a *great* name!

Troll alert :-)

Derek

DataCement: Great Joke!
Still laughing...

But even is sounds ridiculous: It is really a unique name.

Dominik

Well, as I said in the first post, I use and like 2brightsparks' SyncbackSE, so I was a bit disappointed by InfoHesive -- it didn't seem to offer anything new. I visited the beta forum and asked the developers to say why we should be interested in Infohesive.

The response is here: http://2brightsparks.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=18389

My very brief summary would be that they seem to be emphasising its ebook capabilities, and more specifically its ability to produce high quality help files (something I have not tested).

I also remain unconvinced. Their e-books and help files are in a proprietary format, so the free Infohesive reader is required to view them, which puts the software on a par with products such as Whizfolders. It doesn't produce "standard" help files that can be called by most programs, such as .chm files, and there are also free help file creators around, such as HelpMaker (www.vizacc.com). I've no doubt that it will be stylish and stable software (as is SyncSE), but they're entering a crowded market place!

Graham

JohnK wrote:

Well, as I said in the first post, I use and like 2brightsparks' SyncbackSE, so I was a
bit disappointed by InfoHesive -- it didn't seem to offer anything new. I visited the
beta forum and asked the developers to say why we should be interested in
Infohesive.

The response is here:
http://2brightsparks.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=18389

My very brief summary
would be that they seem to be emphasising its ebook capabilities, and more
specifically its ability to produce high quality help files (something I have not
tested).

John,

I saw your question at the forum and was hoping they'd respond. Thanks for pointing this out.

I agree that Infohesive does not break any new ground and is certainly much less powerful than UltraRecall and Zoot, for instance. It is more on a par with Jot+, Maple, ActionOutliner and other simple two-pane PIMs. In that realm, it does compete nicely, I think. I've enjoyed playing around with it. It feels stable and looks good -- certainly a subjective evaluation. And I like the editor. It feels like a good writing environment --mostly due to its extended selection ability.

I think they are making a mistake in requiring a separate viewer for e-books and help files. Instead they should provide the ability to create a run-time, executable of the e-book or help file. If I'm not mistaken, MyBase does this... or used to. Then all you need to do is distribute one file instead of two, one of which needs to be installed.

Thanks for the post!

Steve Z.