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"Summerfest" Mac Software Sale
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Posted by Hugh
Jun 24, 2018 at 02:43 PM
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
Hugh,
>
>I bought a new computer six months ago and wasn’t able to install Bento,
>so I’ve been using TapForms. I exported the data from TF as a CSV file.
>Panorama X imports CSV files really nicely. You can either open a CSV
>file into Panorama, which results in a new database with fields for each
>column. Or you can create a database to import into—that’s what I
>did. And then you can match which columns in the CSV file go with which
>fields in your Panorama database… Did I explain that clearly?
>
>My file isn’t too sophisticated. It’s a membership list. Really the only
>field that isn’t a text string or a number is a date field and that
>crossed from the CSV into Panorama just fine. Honestly, I was just
>playing around with the import, not really expecting it to work the
>first time. But it did. There is a lot to learn with Panorama X, but I
>was able to get it to serve my purpose after watching a couple of the
>tutorial videos, and looking at a few of the help pages.
>
>Steve Z.
>
>
Crystal clear. Many thanks, Steve.
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Jun 24, 2018 at 08:48 PM
I’ve tried Ninox, but it had a failing that made it unusable for me… I think it was that it doesn’t print mailing labels.
DataMill wrote:
Ninox database might provide what you need. It works pretty well for
>things like membership lists and the like. https://ninoxdb.de/en/
Posted by apb123
Jun 25, 2018 at 07:20 PM
Tinderbox is still 500% overpriced even with the discount!
Posted by Paul Korm
Jun 25, 2018 at 08:48 PM
I’ll take the bait.
Tinderbox is overpriced if what you want to do less than what Tinderbox does. So, avoid it. I wouldn’t buy Mathematica if I needed a calculator. Same difference.
But if you really need to get a big, complex, vaguely defined but career-critical note-based task done (like a book, or a dissertation, or a research project) then it’s worth it.
In my view, Tinderbox is for professional heavy duty writers, academics, researchers, and consultants. It is extraordinarily complicated but once mastered it is extraordinarily different than any other Mac software. It’s not a replacement for anything else because it is not like anything else. Unfortunately, Eastgate decided to market it as “the tool for notes”. Bad choice of words, in opinion.
apb123 wrote:
Tinderbox is still 500% overpriced even with the discount!
Posted by Chris Thompson
Jun 25, 2018 at 09:18 PM
Exactly this. There’s nothing else out there with that kind of deep toolset for making sense of research whose structure you’re not quite sure how to tackle when you start. Fallows’ work trying to piece together a massive amount of research into the history of Afghanistan, teasing out little chunks of info with dates and names and trying to build a sense of the relationship between parties and their development over time is a good example.
It’s really closer to vertical-market software for certain types of researchers, with a bit of a grad student research project feel, rather than a general tool for notes. There are definitely more refined tools for doing less complicated work, but if you need what it does, it’s a bargain because there aren’t serious alternatives. Most researchers who use it end up buying DevonThink as well, but the total cost of that combo is still a lot less than most vertical-market software. And the price has kept the developer solvent for at least 15 years, while other tools have come and gone.
—Chris
Paul Korm wrote:
>
>Tinderbox is overpriced if what you want to do less than what Tinderbox
>does. So, avoid it. I wouldn’t buy Mathematica if I needed a
>calculator. Same difference.
>
>But if you really need to get a big, complex, vaguely defined but
>career-critical note-based task done (like a book, or a dissertation, or
>a research project) then it’s worth it.
>
>In my view, Tinderbox is for professional heavy duty writers, academics,
>researchers, and consultants. It is extraordinarily complicated but once
>mastered it is extraordinarily different than any other Mac software.
>It’s not a replacement for anything else because it is not like anything
>else. Unfortunately, Eastgate decided to market it as “the tool for
>notes”. Bad choice of words, in opinion.
>
>apb123 wrote:
>Tinderbox is still 500% overpriced even with the discount!