TheBrain version 10 (current released version is 9.1) is available for alpha testing

https://www.thebrain.com/products/thebrain/thebrain10

Many UI tweaks. Dark mode. Presentation mode.

Doesn't look as if they've added the one feature I'm looking for: the ability to drag an email from Outlook into the Plex to create a thought. Version 8 could do this. I find the inability to do so has significantly reduced the amount of work I want to do in TheBrain.

Steve Z

Even if they plan to do it, I don't expect that this will be in an Alpha version. This kind of integrations usually require a pretty solid foundation, else some nasty things can happen.

As written elsewhere, I upgraded to Brain 9 and am very pleased with it. I like how it is mostly target-agnostic; I can add files, as attachments or shortcuts, URLs including specific Google contacts, though not Google mails--the latter seems to be related to the way that Google handles its own mail URLs, rather than a limitation of TheBrain.

I tried with Outlook and indeed it is not possible to drag-n-drop mails directly to the plex. However, one may drag-n-drop a mail to the Windows desktop, thus creating an independent .msg file; this can then be dragged to the plex creating a thought. As it's stored as an attachment, the original .msg can then be deleted.

I wonder whether drag-n-drop not working directly has to do with TheBrain or with Outlook itself, as in the case of Google mail. I understand that it used to work with TheBrain 8, but this have been with a previous version of Outlook too? As I don't regularly use Outlook, I am not aware of the evolution of its features--and quirks.


Stephen Zeoli wrote:

Doesn't look as if they've added the one feature I'm looking for: the
ability to drag an email from Outlook into the Plex to create a thought.
Version 8 could do this. I find the inability to do so has significantly
reduced the amount of work I want to do in TheBrain.

Sorry, that should have been:

I understand that it used to work with TheBrain 8, but _could_ this have been with a previous version of Outlook too?

They are rising the major version numbers way to fast on a very expensive piece of software to make me interested in it.
Does this little feature update really justify a new version?

TheBrain's CTO post below may explain the appearance of version 10 very soon after v.9.
https://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/8077/5

That said, this is an alpha version we are talking about; it can be a long time before it is becomes a final product.

Not that it matters -- and developer's choice of version numbers is entirely idiosyncratic -- but the beta process for v9 was very long -- staring 10/2016 and ending about 18 months later. TheBrain company made noise about of the "new start" that v9 was, and how it would enable significant new features "in the future". Well, v10 is a bundle of cosmetic but hardly significant features, in my opinion. So it's more of a lipstick-on-the-pig release.

FWIW, they just released an upgrade for their iOS version that appears to have been untested -- the marquee feature in that upgrade failed completely on iPad Pro.

Lothar Scholz wrote:

They are rising the major version numbers way to fast on a very
expensive piece of software to make me interested in it.
Does this little feature update really justify a new version?

Lothar Scholz wrote:

They are rising the major version numbers way to fast on a very
expensive piece of software to make me interested in it.
Does this little feature update really justify a new version?

They are just trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of the existing customer base.

I won't be upgrading.

Or are trying to convince their subscribers they are getting value for money.

Paul J. Miller wrote:

Lothar Scholz wrote:
They are rising the major version numbers way to fast on a very
>expensive piece of software to make me interested in it.
>Does this little feature update really justify a new version?

They are just trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of the
existing customer base.

I won't be upgrading.

FWIW, they don't charge for upgrades if you're a subscriber, which I'd guess most of their users are. So they don't get more money just because they issue a new version. Issuing new versions, however, does give the appearance of added value for a subscription.

Paul J. Miller wrote:

Lothar Scholz wrote:
They are rising the major version numbers way to fast on a very
>expensive piece of software to make me interested in it.
>Does this little feature update really justify a new version?

They are just trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of the
existing customer base.

I won't be upgrading.

I am not a subscriber.

I don't believe in rental software - or 'Software As A Sentence'.

To be fair TheBrain Technologies model of 'Software As A Sentence' where you get left with a working copy of the last vesion you were using if you stop paying the rent isn't as pernicious as the Microsoft model (Office 365) where they hold your documents and files as a hostage against future payments!

Paul J. Miller wrote:

... isn't as pernicious as the Microsoft model
(Office 365) where they hold your documents and files as a hostage
against future payments!

Ahem. I am an Office 365 subscriber and have all my documents on my hard disk - how could they hold me or my files hostage? And even the files on OneDrive would still be accessible if I stopped prolonging my subscription.

When you stop paying the rent the program stops working !

Franz Grieser wrote:

Paul J. Miller wrote:
>... isn't as pernicious as the Microsoft model
>(Office 365) where they hold your documents and files as a hostage
>against future payments!

Ahem. I am an Office 365 subscriber and have all my documents on my hard
disk - how could they hold me or my files hostage? And even the files on
OneDrive would still be accessible if I stopped prolonging my
subscription.

Paul J. Miller wrote:

When you stop paying the rent the program stops working !

Yes. That's the way a subscription and renting works. When I stop paying the rent for my apartment, I cannot live there any longer (ok, I don't get thrown out the very next day but am supposed to move out).
And in the case of Office 365: There are thousands of programs I can use to open the documents and continue working.

When I buy a program it keeps on working (or at least it's supposed to keep on working) indefinately. Yes I agree there are many programs you can use to open Microsoft Office files so why not use Libre Office, it's free !

Franz Grieser wrote:

Yes. That's the way a subscription and renting works. When I stop paying
the rent for my apartment, I cannot live there any longer (ok, I don't
get thrown out the very next day but am supposed to move out).
And in the case of Office 365: There are thousands of programs I can use
to open the documents and continue working.

Paul J. Miller wrote:

When I buy a program it keeps on working (or at least it's supposed to
keep on working) indefinately.

Yes. And you have both options with Microsoft Office: Either go the subscription road or the software license road.

Yes I agree there are many programs you
can use to open Microsoft Office files so why not use Libre Office, it's
free !

I use both, plus Textmaker (because of the Duden Korrektor, the best German spellchecker and grammar checker).
I use Word a) because it has a superior outliner (the Navigator in LibreOffice and in Textmaker is merely a joke) and b) because I occasionally exchange files with colleagues/editors/proof-readers and have to see the changes they made (in the past, LibreOffice didn't show all changes so I went back to Word).

Not true !

Microsoft are not issuing any new licenses for Microsoft Office, the ones on sale now are the ones which were previously issued by Microsoft. Furthermore they are deleting existing licenses, if you have a license which you bought and installed on a computer then it will continue to work, however if you have to re-install Office for any reason (even on the same computer it was originally installed on) the license will not re-activate. Also the telephone service to get an activation number has been discontinued.

If you buy a license for a previous version of Microsoft Office now and it has not been activated before it will activate precisely once and thats your lot.

All new instances of Microsoft Office are the subscription version.

I do agree however that Libre Office does need a usable outliner. As an outliner Navigator is abysmal.

Franz Grieser wrote:

Yes. And you have both options with Microsoft Office: Either go the
subscription road or the software license road.

Paul J. Miller wrote:

Microsoft are not issuing any new licenses for Microsoft Office, the
ones on sale now are the ones which were previously issued by Microsoft.
Furthermore they are deleting existing licenses, if you have a license
which you bought and installed on a computer then it will continue to
work, however if you have to re-install Office for any reason (even on
the same computer it was originally installed on) the license will not
re-activate. Also the telephone service to get an activation number has
been discontinued.

Is this official?

I thought it was but upon further investigation it seems Office 2016 is still being sold.

See https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?tab=1

The version I was using was Office 2010 and all support for versions earlier than 2016 has been dropped. I bought this software in 2015 and had it installed for 18 months before having to re-install it on the same computer due to an unrelated problem with the computer.

The license key would not re-activate and the telephone support for re-activation had been discontinued. So I got 18 months for over £150 !

I made the choice to buy 2010 because the user interface for both 2013 and even more so for 2016 are much worse and no new useful functionality has been added.

So it seems that Franz Grieser is correct the licensed version of Microsoft Office 2016 is still available, I stand corrected.

How silly and shrill. Microsoft doesn't "hold your documents and files as a hostage against future payments." If you stop paying for the software, or for the storage space, then they'll quite properly take back the software and the storage space, but the files are *yours* and ought to exist on your local computer as well as wherever you put them in the cloud. Rants against Microsoft (or Apple) add nothing to the conversation. Don't like it? Don't use it.

Paul J. Miller wrote:

I am not a subscriber.

I don't believe in rental software - or 'Software As A Sentence'.

To be fair TheBrain Technologies model of 'Software As A Sentence' where
you get left with a working copy of the last vesion you were using if
you stop paying the rent isn't as pernicious as the Microsoft model
(Office 365) where they hold your documents and files as a hostage
against future payments!

Microsoft Office 365 Home costs $100 per year. For that fee, up to six people (as of October 2) can install Microsoft Office, and each person gets 1TB of storage space (6TB total). If you have six people in your family or group or whatever, the per-monthly cost is $1.39 apiece. And if you're in it just for yourself, the per-monthly cost is $8.33. Unless you have some philosophical rationale for not using Microsoft products, I can't see how anyone would classify that as a bad deal.

And yes, you can still buy the boxed version of Microsoft Office, irresponsible rumors to the contrary notwithstanding. I imagine at some point Microsoft will stop offering the boxed version, as likely it's become a hassle for them.

tightbeam wrote:

irresponsible rumors to the contrary notwithstanding (...)

Bob, that's a bit harsh, no ? Paul acknowledged it is in fact possible to buy (at least some) versions of Office, though as it is evident from MS web site, they strongly favor the rent approach.

So much so that I could not find a purchase option of a MS Office version that included Access (the old Office Pro). Perhaps it is possible, but hardly advertised...

Just my 2 cents

Pierre

tightbeam wrote:

How silly and shrill. Microsoft doesn’t “hold your documents and files as
a hostage against future payments.”

You try opening an Access database in another program. Go on. I really would like to find an alternative program which can open an Access database and interpret all the calculations, queries and forms correctly.

The reason for this is that I had a particularly important database on Access. I am a diabetic and managed my condition with the aid of an Access database. I built a 'bolus dose advisor' in Access which would give me advice on a sensible dose for the current conditions.

When Microsoft refused to re-activate my license for Office 2010 (on the same computer it was first installed on) then I had to come up with a replacement pretty quickly.

The easy but expensive option would be to pay Microsoft for another license (either buying a license or paying Danegeld to Microsoft).

The stopgap solution was to re-create the calculations in a spreadsheet, and that is what I did. The spreadsheet was not very sophisticated, the calculations didn't use previous data to calculate the ratios, the ratios were entered manually.

The better and more permanent solution was to re-create the Access database in Libre Office Base. This proved to be more difficult than it should have been, Base is a totally different animal to Access. Access is much better. I had to learn SQL and a whole lot more to be able to do something this sophisticated in Base.

I now have an adequate solution working, although it is not as good as the Access database, I am working on it.

The reason SaaS is being pushed so heavily by the software companies is that customers do end up paying more over the long term and SaaS gives the companies a steady and predictable revenue stream. But the bottom line is that the customer does end up paying more for the software over the long term and has no security that the company will not suddenly change either their payments or make changes to the software itself (an upgrade) which will require them to change the way they do things.

SaaS gives companies more power over their customers and more money from their customers. The danger is that it will come to be seen as the 'norm'.

As a matter of fact, it appears that purchasing --as opposed to renting-- is available only for home/student editions, whereas professionals and businesses only get the rental options:
https://products.office.com/en-us/compare-all-microsoft-office-products?tab=2

While this discussion is quite off-topic, I have to say that I am grateful for bringing this issue to my attention.

Pierre Paul Landry wrote:

tightbeam wrote:
>irresponsible rumors to the contrary notwithstanding (...)
Bob, that's a bit harsh, no ? Paul acknowledged it is in fact possible
to buy (at least some) versions of Office, though as it is evident from
MS web site, they strongly favor the rent approach.

So much so that I could not find a purchase option of a MS Office
version that included Access (the old Office Pro). Perhaps it is
possible, but hardly advertised...

I can accept the SaaS delivery and pay model where there is indeed a continuous service involved; the Google G Suite, for example, is a full office suite (and much more), continuously hosted on Google's servers, which provide malware protection, backup on several locations across the globe, real-time collaboration, etc. The Total Cost of Ownership for a small business is extremely competitive compared to any 'permanent' local solution.

For a boxed (or downloadable), locally installed, desktop software, I don't see the reason to pay year in, year out. If I don't want or use Microsoft's online storage and mail, there is no yearly cost to them in order to provide me with a continuous service. Security updates are a matter of after sales service. My wife owns a Toyota since five years; there is no yearly charge and it has been recalled once for a security issue at no cost.

Coming back to the thread topic of TheBrain, this indeed provides the customer with three options https://thebrain.com/store : one can [1] purchase a truly permanent license for v.9 desktop (and upgrade to v.10 will be free), [2] subscribe and have access to the software, sync service, and TheBrain online as long as they pay, or [3] get a bundle of both [1] and [2] at a reduced price (the actual order on the website is [1], [3], [2]).


Paul J. Miller wrote:

SaaS gives companies more power over their customers and more money from
their customers. The danger is that it will come to be seen as the
'norm'.