I've been complaining about how I can't use my preferred software at work.  So I use Word for Outlining.  Better than nothing but it can't compare to IQ - no fields/columns for one thing.  I've also been experimenting with OneNote, because it's the only "notes" software I think I can use there.  I see all these good reviews for OneNote and think, what the hell?

One of the great things about IQ is how great it is for tabular data.  The same "items" and all their fields can be part of many different tables (grids), and I can define my items, fields, and grids on the fly - it doesn't all have to be defined at the beginning, and it's a constant process of refinement.  There may be some other program that can do this sort of thing, but I'm not aware of it.  Programs like OneNote are next to useless when compared to IQ.

IQ is a great outliner, but it's so much more than an outliner.  Still, I had an idea the other day, Microsoft should hire Pierre to fix their Word outliner.  Using Word "outlining" really makes me appreciate how IQ does outlining.  It's key that you know how to do it with hardly thinking about it, with as little mental friction as possible.  With Word, I constantly have to be thinking about exactly how and how not to move items, so that I don't lose the hierarchy.  In Word, before you move a subtree, you have to make sure it's collapsed, otherwise, you'll be moving just the item and not its subitems.  If it's collapsed, and then you use Alt+Shift+arrow keys to move it, the hierarchy will be preserved.  BUT as I just discovered the other day, even if the "items" are collapsed, if you use the "Level" dropdown box to set the Level, the item and its hidden subitems will all be set to the same level, destroying the hierarchy.  Completely illogical if you ask me, and inconsistent with the behavior of the Alt+Shift+arrow keys.

Even better yet, I wish my employer would buy IQ on a mass basis and deploy it throughout the enterprise!