I'm not yet ready to speak about these with authority, but as the topics have come up...

MyBase is a 2-pane PIM with the right pane having 2 tabs, one for a quite capable RTF word processor, the other for showing html and some other file types. The WebCollect add-on allows one to save Web pages. A few Web pages that will save in Surfulator or WebResearch do not save properly in MyBase, but MyBase has many other capabilities that the others may not have:

MyBase indexes just about anything in its entries and attachments, including PDF files...at least according to the Users' Manual: Open "Help/Users Manual" and then use advanced search (binoculars) . Check only the "Item Caption" and search on the terms "index" and "attachments." [I haven't tried indexing PDF,s yet yet.]

The keyboard can be customized by editing the keyboard_shortcuts.ini file which resides in myBase install folder.

It has links between items and other files, etc. According to its authors:
"There's two ways of creating item links. Basically, you can select 'Organize -> Item Link with...' menu item, then choose a target info item to link. Drag-and-drop an info items with 'Shift' key hold down also creates the item-link between source item and destination item."

It has clones, which it implements with "Symbolic Links": "You can think this kind of link 'Virtual Item', which is just a shortcut virtually linking to another info item. Clicking on a symbolic link item displays the linked target item's content instead. This feature allows an info item to appear under any other info items, without having to maintain duplicates of the same item's content; Any changes to the original info item will be reflected in all places where the item is referenced."

It also has key words which it calls "custom labels."

I'm sure there are many more features that we are familiar with but under different names.

At my age and retirement, I'm just too lazy and don't need much, so I don't really try to ferret out interesting features. As Groucho Marks said,
"A child of 5 could understand this. Fetch me a child of 5."

He also said,
"The secret to life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made."
"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them ... well, I have others." (Think of politicians.)

"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."

-c

I have been a registered user of MyBase 4 but didn't upgrade to 5 as my needs became rather more specialised. Nevertheless, I've been positively impressed by the product's consistent development.

Perhaps the single most important feature setting MyBase apart from most other similar outliners is the existence of a multi-user client-server network version. This used to be a version of MyBase itself, but has now been turned into a separate program, InnoKB, to which MyBase files can be converted:
http://www.wjjsoft.com/innokb.html

As far as I know, the only other contenders mentioned in this forum and offering a multi-user version are IDEA! and Treepad. However, MyBase / InnoKB has gone one step further: to access a database in the company server running the software, one only requires a Javascript capable bowser. I recall Sycon discussing that a web-capable version of IDEA! was under development more than a year ago, but I have never seen it surface.

Other programs discussed here, such as UltraRecall, can have multiple users access a common file over the network but this is often slow and inefficient as the software is in fact desktop, i.e. single-user oriented.

I am currently on the lookout for such a product to use in my own company. With a 5- user base I cannot justify investing on an expensive enterprise-oriented solution. The majority of cost-effective / open-source solutions are simply too complex to set up and maintain for my comprehension and time. And, most simple turn-key all-in-one solutions are actually quite expensive.

I will be testing InnoKB for my needs and posting my findings here. I would welcome suggestions for alternative software anyone here might have experience with.

TIA
alx

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Other programs
discussed here, such as UltraRecall, can have multiple users access a common file
over the network but this is often slow and inefficient as the software is in fact
desktop, i.e. single-user oriented.

Alex,

Have you seen that Kinook updated their Road Map yesterday (2008-02-20):

http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3204

Ken, many thanks; I had not seen this, though I do check Kinnok's roadmap once in a while. Very interesting; I assumed that I wouldn't be the only one hoping for a multi-user version!

alx

Have you seen that Kinook updated their Road Map yesterday (2008-02-20):

http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3204

And yet still no mention of upgrading their support for recurring tasks that even UR-lovers are requesting. Maddening.

Graham

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

Ken, many thanks; I had not seen this, though I do check Kinnok's roadmap once in a
while. Very interesting; I assumed that I wouldn't be the only one hoping for a
multi-user version!

UR uses SQLite so I would not count on robust multi-user access. See this doc on the SQLite web site:
http://www.sqlite.org/faq.html#q5
People who have a lot of experience with Windows tell me that file locking of network files is very buggy and is not dependable. If what they say is true, sharing an SQLite database between two or more Windows machines might cause unexpected problems.

I'm sure if they go multi-user, they'll do it right. No reason to suspect that they're any less competent a developer than you are.

BTW, I've noticed that in several of your recent posts you've criticized other developers' products. It might just be me, but I feel this is a little unseemly... it's probably a better reflection on your product if you stick to emphasizing the positives of your own product.

-- Chris


Pierre Paul Landry wrote:

UR uses SQLite so I would not count on
robust multi-user access. See this doc on the SQLite web
site:
http://www.sqlite.org/faq.html#q5
People who have a lot of experience
with Windows tell me that file locking of network files is very buggy and is not
dependable. If what they say is true, sharing an SQLite database between two or more
Windows machines might cause unexpected problems.

I have to say that I have always found Pierre's posts a model of balance - more so than mine - considering his position as a developer of outliner software. I think his point is important and relevant, and I don't have any reason to believe that Kinook is any different when it comes to making mistakes when developing and releasing software than other developers.

Perhaps Kinook will change database engine, but multi-user data access is a problem for most database engines.

Graham

Chris Thompson wrote:

BTW, I've noticed that in several of
your recent posts you've criticized other developers' products. It might just be me,
but I feel this is a little unseemly... it's probably a better reflection on your
product if you stick to emphasizing the positives of your own product.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

I have been a registered user of MyBase 4 but didn't upgrade to 5 as my needs became rather more specialised. Nevertheless, I've been positively impressed by the product's consistent development.

-------------
* I think that I forgot to mention that user support is excellent. The producer, wjjsoft, is located in central China, so there's a substantial time difference. Nevertheless, I've always received a reply within 2-3 days at most.
------------------

Perhaps the single most important feature setting MyBase apart from most other similar outliners is the existence of a multi-user client-server network version. This used to be a version of MyBase itself, but has now been turned into a separate program, InnoKB, to which MyBase files can be converted: http://www.wjjsoft.com/innokb.html ...
alx

------------------
* I, too, used MyBase Version 4-- version 5 is a substantial improvement. I have no use for InnoKB, but if it is similar to Ver 5, I think you (Alx) will like it.

-c

@Chris

I'm deeply sorry if my last post (and/or previous ones) have come across as being negative w.r.t. other products. I have great respect for other's people work. Especially when these people have released products, something I don't have as of yet.

I was simply quoting information on the SQLite official web site. This link also states when to use and when not to use SQLite:
http://www.sqlite.org/whentouse.html
Quote:
"A good rule of thumb is that you should avoid using SQLite in situations where the same database will be accessed simultaneously from many computers over a network filesystem."

In the above quote "many" is of course quite vague and it may turn out that what Kinook is planning for multi-user is not "many" in which case SQLite will be just fine. Graham is also correct that to achieve true multi-user, Kinook may decide to change back-end database since there are numerous others available.

Regarding comments by Pierre and any other developers who post here. I agree with you, Chris, that it sometimes seems that Pierre takes pleasure in pointing out the shortcomings of other software, but I think as long as he (and any other developers) provides full disclosure about who he is (which he has done), we can decide for ourselves about how to take his comments. And I would hate to think he and any other developers commenting here would feel a need to censor themselves.

Just my 2 cents.

Steve Z.