Other Programs Technology Passed By

Posted by Daly de Gagne
Dec 15, 2006 at 04:18 PM

Steve, honestly, I do not know enough about the plain text issue to take a position, although some of the points make sense.

I am referring to lack of features—in essence, what I see in some of the programs named are the same features, perhaps with a few minor enhancements, that were there when I first looked at them some years ago.

Whether it is slow development, or simply an unwillingness or inability to move into a world of cloning (as generally understood by end users and not by programmers, who, I am told, have a different definition for it), full use of links (even UltraRecall, ahead of the pack in many ways, has failed to embrace this basic technology), metadata, etc.

In other words, the products I mentioned are essentially the same two-pane outliners they were a few years ago.

Meanwhile, products such as MyInfo have moved ahead.

And new products such as UltraRecall have made a big impact in the info market. Others such as Knowledge Workshop, which was forced to drop is initial prices significantly seem to be less successful, but nonetheless reflected a new approach to info managmenet.

Zoot and MDE InfoHandler always were way ahead of the field; ADM struggles to come out with its version 4 which, one hopes, will be state of the art; Surfulater offers interesting possibilities as both a two-pane type outliner PLUS web capture tool, etc. Ariadne, if Mike can continue developing it, has promise as a very straight-forward, easy to use alternative that in many ways seems to have squared off against the T-rex of info programs, InfoSelect, which has yet to learn the wisdom of not promising more than it can deliver.

Zoot 32 is, of course, being eagerly anticipated.

On this list, a different kind of program that combines various aspects of some existing programs is being impatiently waited for—IdeaMason 3! Is it going to be the holy grail for academic and other serious writers?

I guess what I am observing is that the development of new design concepts and technology is seperating the leaders from the pack. When I got into PC a few years ago, it seems there was much greater similarity among the two-pane outliners. Since then we have seen some interesting differentiation in product types.

Daly

Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>Daly,
> >I’m not disputing your statement, but I’m curious as to what criteria you use
>to make it. Are you refering to generally slow development, or to some key features
>these programs lack?
> >In an earlier thread, some of us were extolling the virtues of
>plain text—retro indeed. For instance, I find the free version of Treepad to be a
>great little program, much handier than the pro version. The editor is more nimble,
>and it comes in a self-contained exe file that you can carry easily on a USB drive.
>Sometimes less is more, as they say.
> >Steve Z.
> >Daly de Gagne wrote:
>>Jot Note and
>Maple would seem to be two more programs technology passed by, in addition
>>to My
>Notes Centre. I think the Gemx’s note program and Treepad’s offerings are trying
>>to
>resist the same fate.
>>
>>Daly