Testimonials of SQLNotes users (unretouched HTML export of items in SQLNotes)

  • Al D. (...)

No Title
Recently participated in the SQL Notes beta01 program and wanted to share my experiences. I'm not going to go through all of the features of SQL Notes you can review them for yourself at the SQL Notes site www.sqlnotes.net. SQL Notes provides the same core customization abilty as Ecco, add folders as you please. Some of the highlights:
  1. Extremely powerful control over how you look at items. Can determine whether parent items are shown, show parents if needed for reference, use parent to sort, show all items and sub items that meet criteria and sort as though in same level. The point here is SQL Notes can produce views that Ecco can't. These data view options give you a tremendous ability to view items and its sub-items in very productive ways.
  2. Has a very nice, clean, modern design, pick XP, Office 2003 or Office 2007.
  3. Loved the incremental search, select the column you want to search and starting typing, SQL Notes will incrementally go the closest match.
  4. Internal Pivot Tables, ala Excel, are powerful and easy to use, just pick the notepad and click Pivot Tables. It is my understanding internal charting will also be added.
  5. Field and column math is far superior to Ecco even with the Catalyst Tools add-on.
SQL Notes captures the core functionality of Ecco, then significantly improves on it. SQL Notes is a winner!!

  • Alan E. (...)

SQLNotes is progressing very nicely.  The missing piece, for me, is the calendar.  Once it is implemented I will move from ECCO.
I've been very impressed by the developmental progress being made.  It is becoming a wonderful - very functional - application.

  • Andrew B. (...)

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This looks like a really fascinating project, doing something deeply worthwhile. I'm really glad I found it:

  • Aram C. (...)

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I think this is going to be a very revolutionary program.  I was never an Ecco user, so maybe that's why it feels so new and fresh to me, but even so, this program is going to be very powerful.  As a notetaker, it's not really what you expect (at least I didn't), but once I understood how the program works, it really can function perfectly well as a notetaker.  Furthermore, it could do tons of other things, but not in a Ultra Recall or Info Select sort of way where they just bundle a whole bunch of different features into one program.  In SQLNotes, everything is essentially one database, and the user controls how the information is displayed.  In other words, it allows you to create your own notetaking program just the way you want it.  It's very powerful, very flexible, and unique (based on Ecco).

Also, SQL is so flexible, I can make a grid and call it "Evernote-replacement", and just dump notes in it without organizing them (all top level).  Then I can use your filter as you type to find anything in there.  So that one grid will essentially act like Evernote.  Will the filter-as-you-type be able to search the html pane?
 
(...) This program is awesome.  (...) I think I'm pretty much sold on your program.  I think SQLNotes is pretty revolutionary.  I don't know if you're aware, but a while back, I wrote the big notetaking review here: http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/NoteTakers1/index.php

SQLNotes definitely belongs on top of that list.  It offers features and flexibility that are truly unique as far as I can tell.  I will say one thing; it's not for everyone.  I'm not saying it's difficult to use, but it's not what you expect from a notetaker.  I don't even think I would call it a notetaker.  It's more of an outliner than a notetaker, but it does notetaking as well as any notetaker.  Furthermore, it's Access for normal people.
 
(...) That is unbelievably awesome!  This program is getting to be more and more exciting.  That search box is really nice
 
(...) Initially, I felt like SQLNotes was a weird, quirky program (I was not familiar with ECCO).  But to answer that simple question, SQLNotes is the greatest PIM on the market right now.  Or more broadly:  SQLNotes is anything you want it to be.
 
(...) You started a very ambitious project, and what's more remarkable is that you've actually been able to accomplish those intended goals.

  • Bob T. (...)

No Title
I'm an old Ecco user and just found this-it looks great

  • Chris T. (...)

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I really appreciate your work on SQLnotes.  You’ve done a fantastic job already, and I look forward to where it’s going.


  • Clark H. (...)

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I'm really excited by what I see in SQLNotes.  I think (know) you've got something huge. 

  • Dave D. (...)

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I love what I see so far.  I look forward to continuing to test and learn about the great potential of this tool

  • Don P. (...)

 Hi everybody. Finally removed Ecco from my computer to go exclusively with SN. What a fantastic program! (...)
 
I have been following and using SQLNotes for some time now. As far as I'm concerned, there is nothing out there that comes close to it...you can do ANYTHING with your program. I use it almost exclusively for all my needs.

  • Ed W. (...)

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SQLNotes is amazing!

  • Erwin P. (...)

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First of all congrats on what seems to be like a really great looking would be Ecco replacement!!

  • Jan R. (...)

No Title I do think SQLnotes has great potential. For someone like me who needs a place to drop notes, collect data, keep myself organized etc, It looks like it will have all the tools that I could possibly want or need. I think there is a special group of people -- honestly don't know size in terms of your ROI but having floated around in the PIM community for a # of yrs (I started w Lotus Agenda & migrated to EccoPro when it first appeared) I've seen a lot of requests & you seem to have most of them covered one way or another. Congratulations on your work. As soon as I can populate my Paypal account I will donate to the cause.

  • Jeff S. (...)

No Title
I'm really, really excited about SQLN or SN or whatever it's called, and I'm chomping at the bit to get it to a point where I can replace my beloved Ecco.
(...) what you've accomplished so far is nothing short of wonderful (sincerely)
(...) One thing about SQLN that's got me really psyched is the ability to show items without parents.
(...) I have tremendous hope for SQLN, and want nothing more that for it to be the Ecco replacement we've all been waiting for.
(...) I don't know if you're looking for support, but you've got it from me. Add hierarchical field views and off-line operation, and you've got a total winner. I've been with Ecco since version 1 (as I understand you have), and rely on it for my livelihood (and to avoid malpractice). The fact that I'm in line for switching says a lot.

  • John C. (...)

No Title
Wow. SQL-Notes sure does have potential. Looking good!

  • John W. (...)

I just wanted to write to tell you what an awesome thing you are building.  I have been dreaming about something like this for years, and have been hoping one day to start my own business to write something like this.  The list on your home page nails it: outliner/easy to use database/collaborative tool...in sum a general-purpose information management system. (...)
 
Even something as simple as a tool for sharing a flat table of information, if it was robust, scalable, *Fast* and simple, accessible via some API (web service or SQL connection), and deployable behind a corporate firewall, would be a big hit.

SQLNotes is the closest thing I've seen yet to being usable for these common tasks for which we are now using Wikis.  It has advantages over things like DabbleDB, Force.com, and Zoho, in that the data is local, and therefore can be manipulated faster and run on corporate systems.

  • Mark H. (...)

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This is a new, cool and trendy product in a category of it’s own that you must have

  • Menez C. (...)

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Yes, SQLNotes really follows in the footsteps of ECCO and and it should also be noted that it’s actually not *that* far from other PIMS like Outlook, Achieve Planner (very "grid oriented"), etc : they all use grids.

What makes SQLNotes special, is its great flexibility (in comparison Achieve Planner is stiff) : almost anything can be organized with it. Of course, if your need more structure, this flexibility can also be a problem. (One way to easily resolve this problem would be to install (through download) templates for different projects, something that *already* seems pretty easy to do.)

The fact that data is NOT prisoner of a proprietary format cannot be emphasized enough...  thumbs up

(...) SQLNotes could basically answer all of the current problems I have with Outlook. So there's no doubt I'll be testing/using SQLNotes more soon...


  • Mike Hill (...)

No Title

What I like about SQLNotes and ECCO is that you can have a lot of control over the interface.  What I like about SQLNotes, in particular, is the approach to try and make it useful and appealing to Ecco users, but also to keep an eye on modern technology. You can get data out easily because of ODBC compliance. The decision to use an HTML editor instead of RTF will really pay off.

(...) I have a lot of my data moved into the new version.  I'm really impressed. For me, it's gone past beta because I can do serious work with it.  It's slick and stable!

I think if you spend some time with SQLNotes, you’ll be pretty impressed.

(...) I don't know if SQLNotes is the Holy Grail of software, but it's a pretty decent candidate, in my opinion.


  • Perry M. (...)

No Title
For me, the greatest advantage of SN is the data based items, so that calculations and aggregate functions can be performed on a set of records. That hooked up to the flexability of setting Field properties makes a great product.

The PIM market is pretty crowded, as is the Notes market. I have a very good Notes programme that I'm not about to change for my general notes/web clippings/etc. I use online PIM tools, and use a Java based Addressbook.

But when the notes are data related (ie not just a web page), I think SN has great potential, and as far as I've seen, is pretty unique. So for example, I'd consider using SN instead of writing my own database (generally in Access) to keep my software records.


  • Petter J. (...)

No Title

I just found SQLNotes, and believe it has great potential. it is exactly the kind of program I have wished for, so I would like to help make it better.


  • Phil H. (...)

Very excited about the upcoming features you’ve shown. All of the features you’ve mentioned will be very useful for me. FYI, I am already using SN every day, and getting solid benefit from your work. I’m nowhere near as good as coding as you obviously are, so wish I could come over & keep you supported with coffee, tea, whatever to keep these features coming asap.

  • Ray G. (...)

No Title
I have been slowly working with SQLNotes and I have found it to be a relatively pleasant transition, a very friendly program, and a program that will be incredibly useful in coordinating my life and work.   I wish I could contribute more, but my talents do not lie in that direction.

(.....) Great work, kudos, nice design, you've extended Ecco nicely, and the ability to transfer Ecco material over removes my anticipation of going through 9 years worth of material and duplicating it.


  • Rolf B. (...)

No Title
I use Ecco daily, and have long searched for a replacement program that is currently being developed and supported. Even though Slang's extension is great and has given new life to Ecco, the source code is still not available, and what can be done for the future is thus limited. Yoursowelcomethanks has contributed to the understanding of Ecco memory limits, but even so, it is a serious limitation and has resulted in data loss for me personally. The closest Ecco replacement that I have found so far is SQL Notes. At this stage, the program is in development as evidenced from the postings in their forum (http://www.sqlnotes.net/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx).
 
(...) I think that all you efforts in developing SQLNotes may very well result in a product far superior to Ecco. I also believe that most of us here have great hope for SQLNotes as an Ecco replacement and more!

  • Tom S. (...)

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I have to say that after calling for a true Ecco replacement for a very long time, this program looks like its well on the way.  I won’t say it the most powerful program of its kind yet but It looks and acts more like Ecco than anything else I’ve played with.  It’s very impressive in that respect.