Author Archive
by Russell Shaw
February 4, 2008 at 10:49 pm · Filed under
Collaboration, Reviews
OroTimesheet 5.37
From OroLogic; free 45-day trial, $99.00 to purchase
Summary: A timesheet with budgetary capabilities
Requirements: All Windows Versions
Think of OroTimesheet as a combination timesheet and project manager.
I say that because the main role of this program is to allow you to track the time each of your employees spends on every project they are involved with.
Highly flexible and configurable modules are the meal ticket here. You can set up modules in numerous fields, such as by individual employee, groups, activities, and customers.
Additional functionality in OroTimesheet lets you set up costs and billing rules. With that information now under the hood, you ‘re on the way to payroll, expenses, costs and billing report capability.
by Russell Shaw
January 30, 2008 at 7:04 am · Filed under
Collaboration, Distributed Work, Product Management, Reviews
Mindjet MindManager Pro 7
From Mindjet, Inc.; free for 21 days, $349.00 to purchase
Summary: A step-by-step project manager for any size business
Requirements: Windows XP/2003 Server/Vista
Whether you are manager of a corporate department or a small and growing private professional practice, your decision-making workflow probably doesn’t flow all that differently.
I’m anticipating that you identify goals, research and obtain information that will facilitate these goals, organize this information into actionable items, and then communicate these items to your colleagues, staff and business partners.
Mindjet MindManager Pro is a tool that will help you track, and actually map, this data.
With interfaces that don’t look all that different than the multi-function office suite software you probably already are using, Mindjet MindManager Pro is more than just a project manager or scheduler. It comes with map templates, multi-map view options, filtering tools and product alerts that do more than just chart project-related thinking and planning. It helps you along with the actual processes that product management entails.
In that vein, the real utility of this product is its ability to guide you through project management creation slides in a step by step manner. No more whiteboards!
Topics and sub-topic tree structure and navigation is a given, as well as integration with PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel and Word.
MindManager Pro 7 is the newest version of this software. It offers a free, 21-day trial period but costs a one-time $349 fee after that. I predict you will be so hooked, you won’t want to go back to your whiteboard, and will easily find a way to justify the modest expenditure.
by Russell Shaw
January 1, 2008 at 12:43 pm · Filed under
Reviews
Noto Personal Organizer
From Windows Gadgets, Inc.; free for 30 days, $39.95 to purchase
Summary: A stylish mini-personal organizer inside a loose-leaf notebook user interface
Requirements: Windows 2000/XP, Vista
When I first started playing with Noto Personal Organizer, the first mind-association I had was, mini-Outlook.
While that overarching description isn’t entirely off the mark, it is too overgeneralized to do this small but useful productivity tool complete justice. That’s because with the exception of email, Noto Personal Organizer handles many Outlook functions in a significantly different presentation mode than Outlook does.
Noto Personal Organizer’s key distinction is a folder-based organization that rather than depend on standard folders accessed via file menus, are reached by section tabs. All applications appear inside a loose-leaf notebook user interface.
These tabbed sections offer access to an extensive persnal organizer, with appointments configureable and viewable by day, week, month, and type of project. These are easily flippable by means of the selcction bars. And each appointment can be programmed with an audible alarm that you can set to go off at specified intervals before that appointment (such as a phone call you have previously scheduled) needs to happen.
Noto also offers capabilities more often associated with PDAs than with desktop productivity tools.
There’s a calculator, a built-in MP3 player with several skins of your choosing, as well as a mind-twisting game you can fiddle with while you are experiencing those altogether too-rare idle moments.
by Russell Shaw
January 1, 2008 at 12:02 am · Filed under
Reviews
Foxit PDF Reader Version 2.2
Free, from Foxit Software)
****1/2 (of five stars)
Summary: A quicker and easier PDF reader.
I know what you may be thinking. “Sure, I need a PDF document reader, but Adobe Reader works just fine for me. Why would I need a free, shareware reader for those important business PDF docs as well?
To that, I can cite at least two reasons why you might want Foxit PDF Reader. Maybe not in place of Adobe Reader, but as a quick and easy substitute.
My reasons: with a 1.6 MB file size, Foxit Reader is less than 1/10 the file size of Adobe Reader, and unlike Adobe Reader, it opens instantly.
Part of Foxit’s “opens instantly” is accomplished not only because of the application’s rather small file size, but because it skips Adobe Reader’s rather annoying splash window.
Once you are there and Foxit is open, you’ll be able to perform most of the basic functions and tasks you are used to running in your Adobe Reader. You can highlight text, annotate text with graphics, and then save the revised document.
Fillable forms are supported, as well as the ability to convert an existing PDF file into a text file.
Tip: PDF-to-text is a vital way to cut and paste sections from a multiple-page PDF document into Word. And with Foxit, you can defeat the arbitrary cut-and-paste bans that some PDF document creators install.
So why the 4 1/2 stars rather than 5?
The only issue I had with Foxit is that the hyperlinks in some PDF documents it is otherwise fully capable of rendering are unclickable. For now, activating such links from within Foxit PDF Reader is a cut-and-paste operation. Yet given that new revs have come out every three weeks or so since its November 15, 2007 debut (my own debut date, but many years prior), I’d expect that shortcoming to be addressed in a near-future revision.
Hopefully, a future update will also include a Mac-compatible version. I should point out, though, that there is a separate version of Foxit PDF Reader for Windows Mobile-powered devices and for Linux desktops. You’ll find the Windows Mobile version availabe for free download here, and the Foxit for Linux download here.
