From: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer)
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.apps
Subject: PIM evaluation  (was: PIMs & Packrat & Ascend)
Date: 3 Sep 92 20:18:55 GMT
Reply-To: moriarty@tc.fluke.COM (Jeff Meyer)
Distribution: usa
Organization: The John Fluke Mfg. Co.  /a.k.a. The Gizmonics Institute/

In <28AUG199208342255@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov> lwwald@lims01.lerc.nasa.gov (LARRY WALD) writes:

>I'd like to get some feedback about the subject personal info. managers 
>from anyone that has used (and is using) them.  I'm mainly interested in 
>tracking events and the personal calendar features.  Thanks--  Larry

I've been doing some personal evaluation of PIM packages of late; I had
custom-built my own PIM in SuperCard when I was using a Macintosh, and did
not want to put in an equivalent amount of time with Visual Basic or
Asymetrix Toolbox (Toolbook?) when I switched to Windows.  

I was looking for an application that could do three things:

    1)  Address Book w/notes, and simple lists 

    2)  To-Do lists with good prioritization

    3)  Very simple scheduling (no meeting or appt breakdown for a day;
        basically just needed reminders about birthdays, Dr. appointments,
        etc.) 

In other words, nothing too difficult -- mostly for home use and general,
non-work scheduling and organization
----
I looked at Almanac, Packrat 4.0 and Desktop Set 3.0 from Okna.  (I noticed
that PC Week this week reviewed a new, simple PIM from Lotus, Organizer 1.0,
that looked very good from the interface side; I would have examined that if
I'd known about it beforehand.)

PackRat looked as if it would do just about anything I wanted it to; I
played with it for an afternoon, and was turned off for two major reasons:
the user interface was rather crude at points, e.g., no dialog boxes for
selecting PackRat files, you had to type the pathname in yourself (maybe
this has been fixed in the new 4.1 version that was just released.)  The
other reason was the price -- $260 from the mail order stores; I decided to
examine Almanac (shareware) and DeskTop Set 3.0 ($70 usually from mail
order, but PC Connection had it (and maybe still has it) for $50) first
before going any farther.

Almanac seemed excellent for my level of scheduling and To-Do lists; my only
objection was that there (as I remember) three or four priority levels to
set a task at the ToDo list level.  (DeskTop Set has 10 (really, 12.))  The
other reason was not a deficiency in the product, but simply that it didn't
have address book features

Then I played with DeskTop Set 3.0; after working with it for a day, I
decided to buy it.  The up side is that, feature-wise, it has everything I
need (and far more) for scheduling and keeping track of personal
information.  Even if I was having to keep business information in it, I
think it would be up to the task.  And the general structure of the user
interface is excellent -- very easy to bop around and find things out.

The major down side of DeskTop Set 3.0 -- and it is major -- is that the
documenation sucks.  First, while the interface sticks to the Windows GUI in
most things, it totally lacks *any* on-line help... and it needs it badly.
The manual is layed out haphazardly, neither a reference manual nor a user
introduction/tutorial.  The information is usually there, but you have to
dig for it.  Thus, I spent a good deal of time trying to figure out how DS
3.0 works.  It's really a pity, because it's an excellent program
(particularly for the price), but it's very frustrating to learn.  (This is
also one of the few manuals I think I would best describe as "smug.")

In the minor faults category, the data import section is often a bit too
smart for it's own good (trying to divide first name and last name, it would
take middle initials as the last name and discard the last name.)  You had
to understand how it worked completely before getting the info in with no
problems. Also, there are some places (particularly printer setup) where the
process one goes through to get things working is not very intuitive.

-----

If you don't need the phonebook features, I'd give Almanac a serious look,
particularly because it's shareware, and you can try first.  I'd be curious
to hear if PackRat 4.1 improves the interface some.  (And I'd be curious to
hear about Organizer.)  I'm pretty satisfied with the Desktop Set 3.0
program itself (with the exception of the lack of on-line help), and have no
major complaints with it; I just wish the documentation wasn't so wretched.
It's a major flaw in the product. Outside of that, it's an excellent value.

                        TO THE CLASS OF 1987:
                           "Unfortunately, a full 16% of you will be
                            functionally illiterate.  I'm afraid you'll have a
                            hard row to hoe in the job market; after all,
                            there are only so many staff positions at USA
                            Today."
                                           -- A. Whitney Brown
---
                                        Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
INTERNET:     moriarty@tc.fluke.COM
Manual UUCP:  {uunet, uw-beaver, sun, microsoft}!fluke!moriarty
CREDO:        You gotta be Cruel to be Kind...
                 **>> Keep circulating the tapes <<**