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January 06, 2005
in the beginning was the command line redux
Interesting conversation about designing the perfect organizing app over at 43 Folders, a website devoted to the "Getting Things Done" methodology. Make sure you read the comments, this discussion has been running through my head for 3 years (and was one of the original foci, albeit failed, behind this blog). Ontology recapitulates evolution: the comments track the central ideas for the dream app from command line wizardry through the document object model and into user space. So what does it mean to you? What is proposed could be accomplished on the fly by a Un*x wizard or Perl guru, manually linking all the data with scripts, without the need for an user application (other then shell and scripting language). For we of lesser metal, a user application is needed. A lot of good ideas here, in addition to usual reinvention of the wheel, and it makes some of the UI paradigm shifts more accessible--like the description of smart folders versus filters (any Eudora or Mail.app user reading the article will immediately have a light bulb moment). As a "one big long list" person recently converted to cataloging and categorizing everything from my address book to my photos, and a perennial hoper for extendability, linking and syncing, i understand the basis for their blue skying...
Organization means cataloging, indexing, searching or labeling the data, not necessarily moving it or removing it from it's original location or application.
The app has to deal with all the data you want to organize, including the data generated from other applications.
The app's features/functions must be available easily from other apps.
Not every application makes it data available in a way that other apps can use.
Back up and synchronization is mandatory. Your laptop and your desktop need to have the same data
Cross platform is a must. A version of the app should run on all the platforms your likely to use, and use open standards.
Posted by parody at January 6, 2005 02:54 PM
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