Agendus v9 Beta

[xsugarxnspicex]

There has been discussions about the various advantages of Agendus versus Datebk5 and the upgrade policies of each.

I've attached a couple of screen shots for the pending v9 of Agendus.

The first is a matrix view of the todo list. You still have the ability to simply assign priorities to a "task" but now you have the ability to assign a format developed by Stephen Covey of the 4 Quandrant's of items.

[G*Star]

Here is a screen capture of the todo list in a hiearchy mode. Notice the top 3 items on my list. Item 2 has been subordinated to 1 and 3 has been subordinated to 2.

This feature is causing some issues because of this nesting feature. The issue is one more of "completed" todo's that are nested below or subordinated showing up all the time even though you've got preferences set to show "only completed" items.

But this is still in beta.

[Not tired]

Ok so that everyone is clear this is not directed at any individual but I do want to be clear on my feelings about the differences between the two main programs Agendus versus Datebk 5.

First Datebk5
1. I am a registered user.
2. It is a very powerful and useful calendaring program. It does show you the todo's and the contacts but in a cramped format, IMHO.
3. It hasn't been "upgraded" in over 2 years. It has been updated to handle the new devices that have been released but it has not undergone any major changes or enhancements in the last 2 years - and I think that if you look at that statement honestly everyone would agree.
4. The icon issue of assigning @ to aid in the encoding of assigned icons does cause conflicts with Agendus. I have also gotten other error codes to programs such as Super Names etc that I have traced back to this issue. Personally, I think it's a major flaw in a program......why? Because Agendus's method of assigning icon's does not conflict, to my knowledge, with any known program.

Agendus
1. I am a registered user
2. Features that Agendus has that Datebk5 doesn't have and doesn't appear to be considering within the current release:
- Makespot or the ability to color the days as once sees fit without assigning a category.
- contact history (datebk5 does have contact linking but this stores up in the note field which takes resources.
- mail tied in within the application
- todo list features as previously posted in this thread with screen shots.
- simpler interface that more closely resembles the original Palm applications
- the ability to enter a "new" item at anytime. Datebk5 forces the device to the day screen before you can add anything new.
- photo incorporation into all 3 major databases, contacts, tasks, calendar
- Agendus also added "memos" into it view ability which datebk5 has had for some time
-multiple icon set's
- I could go on but this next statement will be the real "tell".

I, like other's, was getting fed up with Agendus policy of asking for more money with "upgrades" every 6 months to the tune of $9.95.

Last week, while beta testing, I took all of the Agendus files off the T3 (except icons) and proceeded to kiss it good bye. I used Datebk5 exclusively for that week period. At the end of the week, Monday night, I went back to Agendus. I spent approximately 3 hours clearing out the @ out of the system.

Datebk5 will never be installed back on any of my devices as long as Agendus lives and for this one reason:

If you want to add a new "calendar" event in datebk5 the number of taps to get to "entering" the information is double that of Agendus. And if you aren't on the day that you want the item to "fall" on, then you've got to remember to manually change the date etc. You have to go to the "day" view in order to enter.

I can tap on a day in Agendus in almost any view and hold that tap and then option for a new meeting, call or todo that will automatically be set to that day when I've entered the text string.

OK, so to close this rant - if datebk5 would have progressed with "upgrades" to their program instead of updates to handle new equipment I may be singing a different tune. But Agendus has and is adding features and datebk5 hasn't. If your a datebk5 user and you recently purchased a T5 or Treo650 then you have nothing to worry about your getting your getting the updates for free, but you haven't really gotten a new program have you?

If your an Agendus user and you bought a T5 or a Treo650 then your going to have to fork over some bucks........there is nothing that states that you have to buy version 9 if your happy with 8 or 7 or 6 or 5 on your current platform.

If you want to lay blame with someone then lay it on PalmOne and Palmsource because their code changes are causing the software developers to modify their programs. We've all been "forced" into paying for software upgrades....just look at Win 3.1, 95, 98 2000, ME and XP but with each upgrade their were distinct enhancements and improvements.

The reason that Datebk5 doesn't require upgrades $ is because it hasn't been upgraded. It is still the same basic functionality as before and that's not the case with Agendus.

I'm never going through 3 hours of taking out @ again because I don't want to support Gorilla's in Georgia anyway.....they belong in Africa.

[ocarina of time]

That's not a rant.

It is the single most cohesive argument I've ever seen comparing these two products - and personally I HOPE it was directed toward me, because they're all the SAME EXACT differences I saw and there's the quandry I'm in. Right down to the gorillas. I was going to mail TODAY the payment for Datebk5, and after the weekend DELETE agendus, keeping the icons, and DO THE SAME EXACT THING!!

My personal debate within myself was whether to ABANDON Agendus and "put up" with DB5 in the hopes of stability and hopefully "similar" looks. I'm into "visual quickness," so I can get an idea of what I'm doing when the T3's on the car seat. CRAMPED is accurate -- and no good. I was thinking yesterday afternoon about posting screen shots to ask if ANYONE can do this with Datebk5 - and then yours popped up this morning!!

I tried Datebk5 THREE TIMES before and also went through the "@@@" purging -- and I didn't have the patience you did to give Datebk5 the grace period you did -- it's huge pain. Ended up with a corrupted calendar DB (due to remnants from SOMETHING) and remember you offering me advice on it.

I agree with EVERY SINGLE POINT YOU MADE above, and the comparison regarding "meeting creation" taps was illuminating to say the least. More like frightening. I remember during previous "trials" thinking "man, you've got to spend an AGE making sure everything's ticked off correctly;" I seldom have to pick an icon using Vivid Agenda or templates, for example.

I've read an awful lot on this forum and others about DB5 vs Agendus - you being a contributor among others -- but the one above should be framed in every PalmOS owner's office and made a sticky on this forum. It's brilliant, frankly.

A while back I tried, in simple blunt ANGER, several other calendar/datebook apps while frosted at Iambic's crappy 8.00/01/02/03/04/05 "Oh we got it sorta right in 8.06 but it'll cost ya" attitude, and the result of trying to switch was a NIGHTMARE. I paid the upgrade to V8 PRO and it's working fine for me. Now of course, 2 months later . . . it's the $9.95 thing and judging from their beta page nothing is remotely "final" yet. That's the only part where we "differ;" V9 is too close to V8 which was never really fixed, and the upgrade fee is a sticking point despite wanting some V9 features. If it comes down to it I guess we can all be bigshots for a $10 bill ONCE; it's the fact that it's "$39 + 10 +10 +10 never ending" that irritates people, me included. If they update and "improve" something, they should make sure it works. some of you might enjoy reading this link:

http://support.iambic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11765

But talk about getting to the meat of it . . . you certainly did and I appreciate it very much. It's helped me "decide," and spared me yet another "@@@" nightmare had I not been able to deal with Datebk5.

[growing2blikehim]

Pardon my ingorance, but what is the "@@@" problem with DB5?

[luv hurts]

So Moose, I might have lost you in the "rant" or explanation but is Agendus 9 out yet? Hrm. It's it less buggy than v8 was when it first came out?

-Seth

[Foxie3436]

Krosenstein:

Hope this gives you a laugh - it did me:

I at first read your post COMPLETELY the wrong way . . . sounded like you were a staunch defender of Datebk5 ("what is the @@@ problem . . . ! ! !"); then I figured out what you meant and laughed for 10 minutes!

Guess you mean "what is the problem pertaining to @@@?"

Ok , serious now. I've gotten control of myself. Temporarily.

The @@@'s are notations Datebk5 makes in the NOTES section of to do/caldendar entries to "track things," much as Agendus uses
"icon/an432" to track icon placement. These "@@@'s" get in the "@@@ way" of other applications and can really @@@ up your calendar/tasks databases or cause conflicts with other apps. They should be eliminated if you delete Datebk5 - but then you can never really FIND them all unless you use something like FindHack.

As Mooseman said, 3 hours "cleaning time." Went through same myself - other apps do even MORE intrusive stuff and things can get messy indeed.



CyclingHermes:

I wouldn't even LOAD Version 9 BETA right now, as builds 463, 465 and NOW 466 as of yesterday ALL had problems. A lot of them have been fixed (imagine that) in 466, but some people on the forum over there are complaining the reg code won't even hold - others are saying there's a fatal alert next morning upon turning the Palm on, giving a fatal alert/data chunk" or something. Apparently it had to do with rollover to-do's and has been addressed in #466 - but you're right -- it's like the early Version 8 (now 8.06 and very stable for me, but some have problems).

I'd wait til not only final release, but probably 9.03 at least because as you inferred, it's "just like V8 and will take a while."

[Britney = ]]

I have purchased both Agendus and Datebk5. I agree that the screen in Datebk5 is cramped and lacks some of the advanced features Agendus offers.

However, what Datebk5 lacks in features is made up for in compatability and stability, even on the T5 and the Treo 650. If the interface in Datebk5 was made more graphical and less cluttered like Agendus, while not changing any of the current database functions, which could make the program become unstable, then I think it would be a winning program.

In some ways, I think the reason why we have not seen very many major releases of Datebk5 is that Pimlico is taking the "If it's not broken, don't fix it" approach. Datebk5 has been very stable and Pimlico has been very cautious about making major changes to the program. If only Iambic were more cautious about making dramatic changes to Agendus.

If Agendus was more stable, I think more people would be willing to use it. I , like many others, prefer to use Agendus. However, if certain essential things such as having an alarm go off doesn't work, then it renders the program useless, regardless of how many bells and whistles there are. I hope that version 9 will be stable.

[The Tragic Mulatta]

Agendus 9 beta build 467 has been posted in the beta forum. I've downloaded the program and have just installed it. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Refinements / Fixes:

- Addressed crash on alarm notification, affecting mainly Treo 650 users
- Private records now not shown in contact history if security set
- Addressed crash when going to details dialog on a contact that had 7 or more lines of data in one phone field
- Addressed issue with To do template details not saved
- wallpaper was partially visible in month expanded view when wallpaper turned off
- choose template dialog now properly supports Sony SIP
- Treo 650 now photo taken from camera can be set as wallpaper
- Treo 650 now "Photos(treo)" not shown in photo picker if "Photos(palm)" support is available since it's unneeded
- Pressing FIND button in Power Search dialog when no search string has been entered now does not dismiss the dialog, so it's more obvious that no search can be done without a string.
- Hierarchy buttons now always visible in hierarchy view even when no to do is selected
- Empty rows below to dos with contacts in matrix view now corrected



PS. Make sure you uninstall the previous version and run HotSync before installing this version. If you don't, you will get registration code errors.


Yea!!! No registration nag screens in this release!

[Star!]

It's the little things that get me happy regarding this new version --

1. pressing and hiliting a button no longer brings it up in BLACK but rather the preferred color (drove me nuts)

2. The free time block/analyzer seems interesting & handy

3. I'm VERY INTERESTED in the use of Tinychart to show pie charts of time blocks - I bought TinySheet a long time ago and am wondering if that's required or if they got TinyChart to work with Agendus PRO

4. Photo management seems better, although I'll be wary - right now I don't use it at all (would if it worked and without tying up a ton of memory just to LINK photos).

Yep - think they've got another $9.95 from me although I'm going to "request" an upgrade via email - I downloaded the beta but in all honesty DIDN'T LOAD IT because:

1. I use Agendus often, daily, and don't need the "test hassles."

2. They're using an installer - what's THAT about? Why need an INSTALLER for the PC when it's a beta that won't last beyond the final version anyway? Just put the darn .prc in a zip and be done with it; besides anyone BETA testing should know what files should go on the handheld and I don't like being surprised by half a dozen other files being slammed on their "like Iambic Mail) without my consent. Maybe that's where "TinyChart" shows up. Lord knows there are enough extra "iambic" files created ANYWAY let alone another half dozen from an installer.

I suppose if you load it all and don't have the reg issues, and find something - you qualify for a free upgrade. Unfortunately I don't have the time nor desire -- but I now think V9 could well be rather "sleek and wonderful," I'm just curious how much more than the 950k vor Version 8 the final V9 will be. I also DO NOT want to uninstall V8 and all the "settings" . . . like EIGHT saved prefs listings including the one causing the licensing nags -- as well as templates, colors and other settings. There may be more with Version 9 since they've added stuff.

That's about an hour's work for me and I'd rather do it when it's at least a final version. If you load a new version of Agendus and absolutely go through ALL of the settings at first "sitdown," by the way, all the 8 saved prefs listings end up together in order. Otherwise they're spread out all over the place in Saved prefs. I know it doesn't matter . . . I'm just that anal.

Dwinget: According to your handheld or file manager, how big a footprint is Version 9? Would love to know, just for "edification."