Submitted by gregory on 2010/08/26 00:02
Here's a very basic question to which I can't find an answer.
 
Clearly the philosophy behind IQ is that IQ does what it is good at, but recognises that managing information always involves a range of tools. Thus IQ can be viewed as a very good way to manage "small" information things (items) and their inter-relationships. But it doesn't for example attempt to replace the filing system. Instead, you can "drop" file references into IQ and link back to them. And that's great, as far as it goes. It means that you have a link to information which is entirely managed by another application.
 
Sometimes it would be nice if IQ interworked more hand-in-hand with other apps. Thus for example I would love to see two-way mapping between outlines in IQ and outlines in Microsoft Project, Word and PowerPoint. It would vastly help towards Jan's dream of true IQ support for writers, for example. I know that this is somewhere in the roadmap, but I'm not holding my breath because it's a major development.
 
But often what I want is something in-between. In other words, I want to associate some information managed in another product with an information item in IQ.
 
Here's an example. The picture is of part of a concept map. The concept map is - in this case - maintained by a program called MOT+ or MotPlus, which implements an extended form of concept map devised by a Montreal based researcher called Gilbert Paquette and his LICEF research centre at UQAM. (Attention there, all of you Montréal people!). The image is of only a part of the overall concept map - and therefore linking at the filename level is too crude. Here's the image:
 
 
And here's the question or suggestion. The technology for maintaining a link between information items in separate programs in Windows is called OLE linking and embedding. Does IQ currently support OLE linking? Will it? (I can't find it in Mantis.) If not: my suggestion for implementation would be that information in an OLE server application (such as Mot+) would be copied to the clipboard. IQ would maintain a link to that information as an IQ field. A bitmap image of the linked information would appear in the HTML pane (or a similar image-only pane). In my chosen example, it would look exactly like the above image.
 
Have I missed existing functionality? Is this already in the roadmap? Or is this a new suggestion that other IQ users want? Is it an "expensive" development, or could it in fact be relatively straightforward given the ready availability of OCX controls? And what about IQ acting as an OLE server to other programs - so that a writer or researcher could keep information in IQ and then reuse it as, say, a Word outline?
 
Mark
 

Comments

IQ being an OLE server is possible, but I don't have the time to look at this...
 
IQ being an OLE client is definitely possible and one more reason to switch to using an RTF based editor as OLE embedding is natively supported by RTF editors (even Wordpad supports it).
 
So the embedded content would be not be shown in the grid (as can do Ecco for example) but in the HTML pane (renamed to RichText pane)
 

gregory

2010/08/26 04:47

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

Thanks for prompt reply. I accept that making IQ an OLE server is hardly a priority, and I won't even put it into Mantis.
 
Conversely, I will put OLE client into Mantis after others have commented. RTF editing is not, as far as I can make out, yet in Mantis. I agree that a Rich Text pane is the right place to put embedded content. As you say, Ecco can keep content in the grid, but then, it has to because there's no second pane. And the Ecco implementation is both heavy, and also visually obtrusive, disrupting the neat outline "grid" badly.
 
When you do this development: does the content have to be embedded or can it simply be linked? It would be great if all the user needed to do was to copy the required content and then paste it into an item's HTML / rich-text pane. Embedding implies that a new copy of the information would be created if the user double-clicks on it. That's not ideal - I would prefer that the link be maintained to the original data so that double-clicking would take you back to that source.
 
Can I also make a plea that the standard Add Item dialogue and the links from Firefox and Thunderbird be enhanced in the same way, so that the HTML pane becomes a rich text pane there too?
 
Mark Gregory, Rennes, France - GMT +1/+2; EST +6

jdonlan

2010/08/26 08:57

In reply to by gregory

 Can I get some clarification on what is implied here?
 Would a Rich-Text pane replace the HTML pane or would it be an either/or?
I can certainly see benefits to both OLE functionality and Rich Text editing but I also use the HTML capabilities so yes, I want it both ways :)
 
Thanks,
John

Tom

2010/08/26 10:26

In reply to by jdonlan

[quote=jdonlan]
 Can I get some clarification on what is implied here?
 Would a Rich-Text pane replace the HTML pane or would it be an either/or?
I can certainly see benefits to both OLE functionality and Rich Text editing but I also use the HTML capabilities so yes, I want it both ways :)
[/quote]
 
sounds like you might be in luck  :-)
see this and following posts:
 
[quote=Pierre_Admin]
I'm currently using an IE based editing component, and it is buggy and I do things to work around the bugs. What's seen here is consequence of these workarounds...
 
I'm seriously considering purchasing a more robust and complete editing component and add support for both RTF and HTML formats
[/quote]
(my emphasis)

jdonlan

2010/08/26 10:43

In reply to by Tom

 Thanks Tom. Good to see that your memory is waaay better than mine!

jan_rifkinson

2010/08/26 11:38

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

Personally, I'd like to see NOTHING change in this regard.... only made better.
 
I have worked w outline programs for years & years, some with no window, some with RTF & some with HTML. I think IQ is on the right track to becoming a tool that can help a broad range of people. My hope is that it will be perfected first; then expanded / changed to include any other major tool that might be contemplated for use by a smaller slice of the potential users.
 
For me, even the time spent on that cute little notification pane was a waste of time & energy in the broader picture of IQ's utility
 
No offense meant to anyone.

gregory

2010/08/27 00:10

In reply to by jan_rifkinson

In all my contributions to this forum I have sought to think about whether what I'm suggesting is a private hobby-horse or will contribute to IQ's usability, usefulness and use by a wider community. I too want Pierre to have a solid, reliable and widely-applicable product which earns him revenue.
 
Elsewhere people have suggested that we should consider InfoQube use-cases - that's the awful systems analysis jargon which means, the use by a group of users (acting in a particular role) of a process within a system or service. Jan has often put forward the needs of writers. Another group of IQ users acts as researcher-writers - that's one of my roles, and the one which I'm highlighting in this thread. In that role, I want to collect together information things as chunks of related information, and then write about them - and then write again, reusing the developing information base.
 
My text editor of choice is currently Microsoft Word. What first attracted me to Word - at a time when there was still plenty of competition about - was its outlining facility. This was in the early 90's, when Symantec GrandView had just died. I chose Ecco to replace it for information management and Word (and PowerPoint) for presenting that information in written and presentable format. No one tool could replace GrandView.
 
The reason I am very enthusiastic about Pierre's suggestion of the new edit component is that it will then be possible to manage my research and writing in a single tool - InfoQube. InfoQube is an infinitely more powerful tool than GrandView or Ecco.
 
I hope that I'm not just banging a personal drum when I suggest that the needs of researcher-writers are an important use case. Let's find out, shall we? The TextDynamic component highlighted earlier by Pierre will cost about a thousand euros (which is, more or less, a thousand US dollars). Pierre thinks he needs it to replace the buggy IE-derived component he's currently using. I want to see it because, with it, it will be possible to write - once - well-presented chunks of text in IQ, and then reuse them in many contexts. (TextDynamic even has its own internal outlining facility, by the way.)
 
Now here's the challenge. Many of us increasingly depend on IQ. For most of us, it has been either very cheap or totally free. I will pay one-fifth of the cost of TextDynamic, up to a maximum of 250€, if others will also contribute towards a total of around 1000€. Anyone else prepared to put their money where their mouth is? How much? Or am I on my own?!
 
To comment on Jan's concern about diverted effort. Yes, it is essential that IQ reach the market in a packaged and saleable form as soon as possible.  However, it must be attractive to real marketing segments - who are not necessarily us, the enthusiasts and early-adopters and people looking to get away from UltraRecall. I've mentioned two use-cases - writers who largely originate their own work, and researcher-writers who chunk and re-present their own work and that of others. What are the other use-cases for which IQ is currently being used? In other words, what do you actually use IQ for? and who else is like you in that use?
 
Mark Gregory, Rennes, France - GMT +1/+2; EST +6

Armando

2010/08/27 01:19

In reply to by gregory

I use/want to use IQ for many different things. I think I described these uses several times.
 
 
If I describe some of the grids I use, you'll get the idea . (I copied that from elsewhere...)


(Almost all grids use/show fields involved in autoassign rules, functions etc.)

General grids : 
 
- Inbox (for anything that hasn't thoroughly reviewed, pure GTD style,
- References (for articles, book references, etc. with bibliographical fields etc.)
- Notes (divers) (for anything that I don't want in my references : notes, little snippets, etc.)


"Time/projects/tasks Management" grids (if you will):
 

- Task and project management (mainly GTD but some Stephen Covey thrown into the mix + many other priotization techniques and project management theories thrown into the mix). Much more sophisticated than the project and task grids.

(+ specialized task/project sub grids like :

   - Weekly Review )
 
- Project management (much more sophisticated than the provided one)

(+ specialized project sub-grids like :

    - Travels management
    - Scenic and Theatre composition
    - Musique_Création
    - Project Gantt and prioritization grids )
 
"Life related" grids:
 
- Personal Journal
- Values
- Goals, strategies and tactics
- Needs
- Wishes
- Areas of focus
- Personal Development map
- Career Orientation
 

Other Area of focus grids and/or "meta grids":
 
- Finances (...)
- AdrsBook (not the same as the provided one...)

+ Many others of course which are a bit less sophisticated, like :
 
- Entertainment
- IQ Requests and suggestions grid...
- CallLog (where I'm importing all phone calls data in/out)
- etc.

- Calendar... More and more.


So you see... I do lots of activities in there. And I do even more...
 
That's the beauty of IQ. If IQ was going to specialize, like becoming a writer's tool mainly (even if I do write a lot as a theatre director, etc.), I'd be much less interested into using it and I'd probably start looking elsewhere. There are other writing tools. IMO IQ is an interesting writing tool because it's flexible and because it isn't just that... It's much "more".
 
What got me into IQ was the fact that I could structure text data in more complete and complex ways, characterize it (with fields), interrelate these characteristics (with functions and other equations), and display everything  in ways I couldn't achieve in other software (using conditional formatting, trees, gantt, pivot, etc.). I tried ultraRecall, MyBase, EverNote, Mindmanager, Zoot, etc. etc. etc. But... I felt constrained in all of them in one way or another. And I saw that it wouldn't change. On the contrary, I saw that Pierre was passionate about flexibility and he was (is) listening... A lot.
 
So, from the start I wanted to use it to (in that order):
 
1- gather and organize info, references
2- Keep track of important aspects of my life (wishes, values, etc.)
3- manage tasks and all kinds of project related stuff.
4- create, structure plays/shows.
5- ... And then slowly do almost all my Data management in it...! (Calendar, etc.)
 
My aim was eventually abandon Outlook, leave EverNote and other information organizers, and move away from MS Word as an Outliner (Yes... I too was an avid MS Word Outliner user... It was actually my favorite feature).
 
I'm almost there. The only things that truly remains incomplete to fulfill this is :
 
1- A fully featured calendar,
2- Syncing,
3- better HTML pane

Yup... But that's the truth. The only reason why I insist about filtering, UI , and other esoteric stuff, etc. is exactly because I have the feeling most users won't have the patience you and I had to learn the way IQ works (as it is now).
 
Other esoteric bugs (like the inheritance, hierarchical, column/row equations ones, etc.) are also very important as they do really turn off users who don't have the patience to understand what the heck could be going wrong... And some of these probably came to IQ especially because of those pretty unique features they couldn't find elsewhere (I did).
 
I don't know if there's anything interesting in that long post... Sorry if I bored you.
 

Tom

2010/08/27 04:43

In reply to by gregory

 
I think most people here have 'donated' or purchased the basic license at least. I cant speak for Jan - but he has said elsewhere here: "I will help w donations for the new HTML.module if you decide to go in that direction"
I will myself too if I can, but it will have to wait a couple of months as my (self-employed) position is fairly unsecure at the moment.
Pierre has said he needs to go ahead with the new module so I think it's just a case of *which* version of it - it would naturally be nice to see the best version of it in IQ!
 
I was wondering would it be helpful to raise the issue (raising dosh) in Donationcoder forums (Pierre ?)
 
BTW It's good to hear more about different uses of IQ Mark and Armando
 

jan_rifkinson

2010/08/27 11:43

In reply to by gregory

Mark, In reply to your question about what I use IQ for, the short answer is everything. Therefore I am one of those few who is depending on IQ.
 
collecting data that interests me from any source
collecting research & categorizing them by project
writing, i.e. articles, correspondence linked to address book, reports, whatever
Tasking, i.e. ToDo's, etc
scheduling, i.e. calendar
project management
daily journaling, i.e. diary
address lists & all contact histories
printing reports for people who DON'T use IQ
moving data from one program to another
 
For gen'l use I think what is now the HTML: pane should be as much of a "Magic" pane as possible meaning that I think user should be able to use this pane to:
write in it 
view linked material in it, i.e. click on a link in the grid, data pops into html pane
see web clippings in it
view images & videos in it
read RTF, HTML, TXT docs in it
 
Please remember in any of my posts, none of them are personal nor meant as criticism(s).  Communicating as we do here is a cold medium & besides language subtleties are important, as in a dry sense of humor. 
 
For those of you who are more technically oriented, you have a much wider imagination of possibilities & more complex uses for IQ whereas I don't. A lot of what you all think is so important is simply over my head. I am only an old guy who has been playing around with "computers" since before Mr. Wozniack produced anything out of his garage.   No doubt many advances have escaped me. However, I believe it may be worth something for me to offer an opinion of an "everyman" because we will probably be the wider audience for a program like IQ and besides it's the only kind of opinion I can offer because that's all I know.
 
Let me give you a recent example.
 
In another thread, I wrote about the ease of copy / paste & drag & drop & I tried to explain it as best as I could. The point being that I had problems doing both of these very simple functions. I tried to describe my difficulties.
 
Armando (again this is NOT a criticism) made a long reply that we could do this or that, or we could have this option or that option & that's all ok as it may well add something special to IQ that I can't even imagine.
But for me, that's not the point. For me as everyman it's pretty simple:
 
I should be able to grab an item wherever I happen to point & drag it where I want it & drop it w/o thinking about anything
I should be able to focus on an item anywhere, copy & place it (paste it) wherever I want it w/o thinking about it.
And when my cursor knocks against the end of the window, it should scroll up or down w/o my trying to hit a sweet spot.
Period, end of story.

Tom

2010/08/27 16:29

In reply to by jan_rifkinson

[quote=jan_rifkinson]Please remember in any of my posts, none of them are personal nor meant as criticism(s). [/quote]
 
Jan, they may not be meant as such - but occasionally they come across as such. I admire that you say what you think - and sometimes you say what I think but dont trust myself to say!  I tend (mostly) in the other direction i.e. to hold things in, which I certainly dont recommend!  But, I think, like in 'real' life, the way we say things can be very important . . .

david1904

2010/08/27 17:45

In reply to by jan_rifkinson

What do I use IQ for - or what do I want to use IQ for? Everything.
I constantly use Word and Excel and Outlook (now using NEO for email control).
Frequently I use OneNote - I just love the auto sync with my laptop which means I can work on the desktop, then pick up the laptop and go to a meeting with the agenda, notes etc all there ready to go.
I had Tornado Notes which then became Info Select. I had Evernote until they made it web based.
I have My Life Organised (the program NOT a description of reality), Mindsystems Amode - too slow to enter stuff, Axon (concept map type software including simulators) VUE (freeware concept mapping and more).
Some of these have functionality which I cannot get in the others so I have several many programs. By that, I mean dozens and dozens and dozens.
IQ holds out the promise of combining many functions - calendar, project management, addressbook, repository for odd snippets of information etc. That is what particularly attracts me to IQ.
For me at present, the greatest single improvement for IQ would be for it to act as a hub which quickly, easily and simply synchronises with as many of my other programs as possible. Eg be able to set it up to sync with Outlook or MLO with a one button click (after configuring it to do so the way I want). Or to be able to to dial a phone number and have IQ record the number dialed and the length of the conversation (and the same for incoming calls) ie CRM functions and as automated as possible.
 
There are probably a number of reasonably distinct user groups within the IQ community - and maybe identifying them is helpful. Each will have particular wants that may or may not coincide with other groups.
Even Pierre will be unable to provide everything for everyone (though he seems to be doing remarkably well!)
Hence my plea for the hub/interoperability aspect of IQ - and perhaps with the option of a standard and advanced UI to allow newcomers to accomplish the basic tasks simply and quickly - yet preserve all the power, flexibility and wonder of IQ for those who can understand and use it to the full.
 
My two cents worth,
David

jan_rifkinson

2010/08/27 19:29

In reply to by david1904

[quote=david1904]
What do I use IQ for - or what do I want to use IQ for? Everything.
I constantly use Word and Excel and Outlook (now using NEO for email control).
Frequently I use OneNote - I just love the auto sync with my laptop which means I can work on the desktop, then pick up the laptop and go to a meeting with the agenda, notes etc all there ready to go.[/quote]
I agree it's wonderful to walk in w all your data on your laptop. David this is very possible & easy with IQ.I do it now by employing drop box. There are several threads on this but if you need help setting it up or finding threads let us know.
 
[quote] I had Tornado Notes which then became Info Select. I had Evernote until they made it web based.
I have My Life Organised (the program NOT a description of reality), Mindsystems Amode - too slow to enter stuff, Axon (concept map type software including simulators) VUE (freeware concept mapping and more).
Some of these have functionality which I cannot get in the others so I have several many programs. By that, I mean dozens and dozens and dozens.
IQ holds out the promise of combining many functions - calendar, project management, addressbook, repository for odd snippets of information etc. That is what particularly attracts me to IQ.
For me at present, the greatest single improvement for IQ would be for it to act as a hub which quickly, easily and simply synchronises with as many of my other programs as possible. Eg be able to set it up to sync with Outlook or MLO with a one button click (after configuring it to do so the way I want). Or to be able to to dial a phone number and have IQ record the number dialed and the length of the conversation (and the same for incoming calls) ie CRM functions and as automated as possible.[/quote]
Except for complicated spread sheets, may I ask why you use all those other programs? The holy grail of crimping is that you can do it ALL in one place. So far IQ is the closest I've found after trying most of them over the years.
 
As for the hub idea, I used to play with a now-defunct very forward thinking program called ADM & it had a command to "register" a folder of files or selected files. So, for example, a user could point to my documents & select register & the program would automatically & quickly create links to each file in the folder. Then if you clicked on any link the file would appear in its program type. I don't know whether Pierre has ever considered such a thing but we can ask.

Armando

2010/08/27 20:36

In reply to by jan_rifkinson

First part of thew answer : I agree with Jan. Drop box, very easy.
 
Second part : I agree too.
 
- Apart for calendaring and syncing, and fancy spreadsheet or formatting, I don't really need any other software to manage my data...
 
- I once suggested to Pierre to partly use IQ as a kind of desktop search software. What that means : user could choose to Index parts of the hard drive, and IQ would be used to manage these items. I thought it would be amazing and I still do. However, it could/would mean much bigger and harder to manage DB.
 
There might be a thread here somewhere where I suggested that (I think I also spoke about X1)

Pierre_Admin

2010/08/27 21:02

In reply to by Armando

[quote=Armando]
- I once suggested to Pierre to partly use IQ as a kind of desktop search software. What that means : user could choose to Index parts of the hard drive, and IQ would be used to manage these items. I thought it would be amazing and I still do. However, it could/would mean much bigger and harder to manage DB.
 
There might be a thread here somewhere where I suggested that (I think I also spoke about X1)
[/quote]
 
Not that I have any plans to implement this before v1, but how about if IQ could interface with Google Desktop Search, as it has an API:
 
 
Then, an option in the search dialog could merge search results from an IQBase and from GDS.
 
FFT
(no this is not the acronym for Fast Fourier Transform, but for Food For Thought )
 

Armando

2010/08/27 22:03

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

This is an excellent idea. It might be possible to interface with Windows Desktop Search too as Farr is able to. Even something like Everything but this would only be for titles, not content.

david1904

2010/08/28 07:43

In reply to by jan_rifkinson

Thanks for the suggestions/comments.
Drop box is not really an option - partly paranoia, partly that I lose my internet connection sporadically and for greater or lesser amounts of time.
That was why I ditched Evernote once they went to a web service. I'm just not interested in web based solutions.
What I want is local syncing on my own network - by all means with occasional connection to a cloud somewhere - but only as an extra feature, not the base operation.
 
As for the multitude of programs - guess I overstated it a bit. Still, I bought Imatch because I wanted a good image management program which could find like photographs etc. Axon is just the right concept mapping program for me in terms of mind mapping ideas, then converting them into an outline (which I break into 3 chunks and print out on landscape A4) and use for 20-30 minute verbal presentations - don't want powerpoint etc.
VUE, however, holds out the promise of producing very nice non linear connections for making presentations using a data projector where you can "on the spot" switch between a number of pathways through the "slides" - haven't played enough to know yet.
MLO gives a variety of views on tasks etc to help out with reminders, planning, todo lists in various contexts etc. I'm guessing IQ can be set up to do this but haven't the time or expertise yet to handle that.
Word is because 1. I'm very used to it, 2. the other people I work with have it and don't want to mess with other programs - and we can edit draft documents with track changes (and no, they won't want to do that online either).
NEO allowed me to be more productive with email than I was with Outlook 2003 (2010 may alter that somewhat).
My accountancy program has a lot of historical proprietary information in it - plus I know it and does what I want
The Master Genealogist is a great program with a huge range of features for genealogy work - but I also have GenoPro because it gives a visual presentation which has allowed me to pick up patterns and links that just weren't obvious in some large distantly related family lines.
yEd graph allows some nice graphs to be drawn - and then re presented in a different configuration, in a way I cannot match in for eg Edraw Max.
SnagIt is great - but there are times when Screen Captor is better for grabbing a quick series of screens.
 
I admit it - I'm a software collection junkie!
 
The thing is, there is html, xml, opml, rdf, ontologies, datasets and a bunch of other terms and acronyms that I don't really understand out there.
Some of the programs I have can import or export some of them, but not others.
When I used the term hub, I was thinking along the lines of a "universal translator". Somewhere I could get info from one visualisation program and process it and send it to another visualisation program (which does a somewhat different thing to the first one) and have all this tied together with my mega database of odds and ends.
 
sorry - its late and I'm rambling.
I agree that IQ is the closest to "one does all" that I know of. I was just trying to sketch out the sort of thing that would make it even better for me.
It could be that more time learning what can be done with what is there is actually the best path forward.
 
Thanks,
 
David

Pierre_Admin

2010/08/28 19:06

In reply to by david1904

[quote=david1904]
Drop box is not really an option - partly paranoia, partly that I lose my internet connection sporadically and for greater or lesser amounts of time.
That was why I ditched Evernote once they went to a web service. I'm just not interested in web based solutions.
What I want is local syncing on my own network - by all means with occasional connection to a cloud somewhere - but only as an extra feature, not the base operation.
[/quote]
 
Thanks for the feedback Dave. FYI, Dropbox has a LAN sync feature which means that even without an Internet connection, your computers would sync
 
 
[edit]
Humm... maybe not...
[quote]
  • To take advantage of LAN sync, all computers need to be connected to a LAN and the Internet at the same time.
[/quote]

Armando

2010/08/28 22:20

In reply to by Pierre_Admin

There are other solutions for real time syncing. One of them, looks very promising : Bvckup
Free while in Beta (I might actually try it when I have more time), 20$ for a personal license (don't know when it'll be 20$...).
 
 
Actually, this is more for backup purpose... So probably not a good solution.
 
 
 
Not free and rather expensive for simple use there's also the pretty amazing MirrorFolder
 
 

gregory

2010/08/29 00:10

In reply to by Armando

Thank you very much to all who are contributing descriptions of what they use IQ for.
 
My reasons for asking include these observations, which I think are crucial to the usefulness, usability and ongoing use-in-practical-reality of any program or system:
  1. It must meet the various needs of various types of user functioning in various roles
  2. The program or system or "app" must evolve as the needs of its users - current and future - change and develop
  3. Almost a first step is to find out what "use cases" there are for the app.
People are notoriously bad at knowing and setting out their requirements and justifications for almost anything - but especially for software. By contrast, almost anyone can evaluate the usefulness of something that exists to their needs and desires. For example, you see a vast black 4X4 / SUV parked outside your home, and you get to wonder whether:
  1. You love it and its tall blond(e) driver and just have to have one for yourself
  2. You feel a desperate urge to campaign against their continued existence
  3. You are smugly self-satisfied with your existing Smart car
  4. You need something between what you've got and what you've just seen and you'll either identify something that will already do the job or, failing that, conceive and build your dream vehicle - one that meets your needs and those of other people with similar requirements and constraints
So, you establish:
  1. WHAT it is that you need to achieve
  2. WHAT requirements that implies
  3. WHAT the constraints are (including HOW MUCH you can afford and justify and WHEN you need an answer)
The fancy name for this process is "use case analysis". Then you go on to:
  1. find out WHERE possible "answers" exist or WHO can provide an answer
  2. evaluate alternatives and choose one (or a combination)
 
Most responses here set out:
  1. A history and a list of useful apps - there isn't one complete and perfect answer, so we have to stick together a list of useful components
  2. Reasons we have chosen to evaluate and to use IQ - because we already know that IQ can be a hub, an integration point, of various apps that together meet our specific needs and those of others
Most of us are:
  1. Astonished that integrative information management solutions like IQ are so rarely used by the masses of people who need them
  2. To a greater or lesser extent, junkies who are trying IQ now because we are already addicted to computerised "solutions" (unlike the masses of people whose addictions lie elsewhere!)
I have never been able to understand how people survive without copying file folders / directory structures between computers, notably between "home" and "work". I started off using XTree and diskettes to do this. Now I too use Directory Opus (a great program although annoyingly expensive) to manage my files on each computer. To keep files in sync between computers, I use SugarSync rather than Dropbox because it offers stunning advantages:
  1. It replicates folder structures between computers. That means that if I move and reorganise folders on one computer, the changes are replicated on other linked computers. For the first time, I can reclassify files on one computer and on all the other computers I use. That's a long-cherished dream come true.
  2. It keeps a web-accessible copy of the files and their folder structure, so that I can always get to any of my stored data wherever I can connect to the Web.
  3. It keeps versioned backups of my files.
  4. It does all this without me ever having to think, to remember to do a backup, to have lug around lots of hardware or media...
SugarSync is expensive but invaluable to me, and even my partner has bought into it! Caveat: it doesn't get away from the need for a Web connection - BUT that is only necessary from time to time, since changes between computers are synchronised asynchronously (sorry!).
 
Please keep adding your experiences. A bit later we can make a list of the types of users we are, the apps / services that we use, and what we use IQ for. The last point should help Pierre to know who his existing users are, how they use IQ, and in conjunction with what other apps. It won't help to establish the needs, constraints and desiderata of the people who don't yet use IQ - but it's at least a start. And it isn't a list of features we would like, but instead can be analysed to show requirements that we have.
 
Just to get back to the startpoint of this thread. OLE linking and embedding as a client (at least) is crucial if we are to be able to manage information in IQ and then reuse it in other apps. That's why I originally asked if it was possible and on the roadmap. It is possible, and it is not yet planned. I don't want to force my pet obsessions for IQ onto anyone's agenda, which is why I still haven't put anything on Mantis for this.
 
Bonne dimanche.
 
Mark
 
 
 
Mark Gregory, Rennes, France - GMT +1/+2; EST +6

Armando

2010/08/27 18:09

In reply to by jan_rifkinson

[quote=jan_rifkinson]
Armando (again this is NOT a criticism) made a long reply that we could do this or that, or we could have this option or that option & that's all ok as it may well add something special to IQ that I can't even imagine.
But for me, that's not the point. For me as everyman it's pretty simple:
 [/quote]
 
 
[quote=jan_rifkinson]
I should be able to grab an item wherever I happen to point & drag it where I want it & drop it w/o thinking about anything
I should be able to focus on an item anywhere, copy & place it (paste it) wherever I want it w/o thinking about it.
And when my cursor knocks against the end of the window, it should scroll up or down w/o my trying to hit a sweet spot.
Period, end of story.
[/quote]
 
Really? In an ideal world maybe.
If you're serious about you say (and for the sake of comparison and curiosity) I'd like to be shown another application as flexible and complex as IQ  (note that I didn't say complicated) in which I can do all these same actions without having to think and make any choices.