Re: Microsoft OneNote [ignore if you have no interest in philosophizing about how humans organize data]

From: Joi (thedqsgeek_at_comcast.net)
Date: 07/26/04 

Date: 26 Jul 2004 16:26:14 -0700

> Besides, I swore off overly elaborate lists and systems years ago. Those of
> use who like organizing can spend more time setting up the perfect system to
> track "to dos" than it would take to get them all done, which gets
> counterproductive.
>
> Sheila

As usual, this is a "your mileage may vary" issue.

In the 2 short weeks that I've been using my 60-day free trial of
OneNote, I have generated over 300 pages of outlines, text, net
research, etc., for over a dozen separate projects I am involved in.
ON has a lot of different forms and stationary sets available that
help one organize one's thoughts -- think of the specialty pages in a
DayTimers system, for a comparison many will be familiar with.

1 neat thing I like to do is set up a page as a to do list -- lines
for tasks accompanied by colored-border box; the box can be checked
when the task is accomplished. I can enter the tasks in any order
because at any time I can rearrange them, just dragging the box for
each line into the position I want it in. I find it so much easier to
manage the reality of changing priorities on a To Do List this way
than scribbling out and rewriting tasks on a paper list.

Best of all, with ON, my info is all in 1 place -- I am no longer
hunting for individual notebooks or papers to be filed. What I like
best, though, is the idea that once having typed words into OneNote, I
need never type them again. I can rearrange them, reorganize them,
and use them in any of the other products in the Microsoft Office
Suite. Did I mention it has AutoCorrect built in as a text expander?

I used to think Microsoft was the antiChrist and did everything I
could to use software from competing companies. Now I keep a more
open mind: when a company produces a piece of software that works
perfectly with the way I think and work, I'm going to use it, no
matter who produces it. If the $49 academic price is too steep, check
out eBay.

Everyone understands, right, that I'm describing here how I've been
using a certain program to perform some standard tasks and how well it
is working for me, right? No one thinks I'm telling them to run out
and buy this program, do they?

Now . . .
Why do you assume you know how things are for everyone, Sheila?

Above you say, "Those of use who like organizing can spend more time
setting up the perfect system to track "to dos" than it would take to
get them all done, which gets counterproductive."

I'm a person who likes organizing. For me the small amount of time it
took to learn about and set up OneNote has been repaid 100 times
already.

So quit speaking for everyone. Lots of people like to organize. Some
people get too involved in organizing and don't get the job itself
done. Others organize too little and waste time finding info instead
of getting the job done. People think and behave in so many different
ways and value so many different things that it's exceptionally
arrogant for you to assume that you can speak for them all.

Joi

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