Support for an independant version of SideKick 14

[mickygriff]

I thought I would start a thread to show how much support there is for either an individual, group or company, to provide a reworked/updated version of Sidekick. Someone surely possesses the skills to do this? Please just reply to give this indication.

 

[jsc1]

I also briefly looked at PIMOne last night. It seemed more concerned over skins and looks than anything functional. I installed it, but even before I ran it, I looked in the subdirectories installed and saw nothing but fluff. This is not serious software. I uninstalled immediately.

THE MAIN REASON I got started with Sidekick 10+ years ago, was that I already had several hundred names and addresses in a format of my own design (good or bad, but there was nothing else at the time). Sidekick let me design my own Contacts fields, so that I could directly import it and keep my arrangement. Now that everything is so Outlook-centered, EVERYTHING out there seems to have only canned Outlook fields and a few "custom" fields as an add on.

I really WANT the Sidekick Contacts design flexibility and functionality and cannot find anything. I've been looking for over 5 years! (I gave up on the calendar functions of Sidekick pre-y2k, but even the Contacts module is getting a little flaky as time goes by. (SK98, with export through SK97, because SK97 is the only way I can export and preserve my Cardlog notes.)

 

[Frank10]

I agree very much with the last couple of posts here...

Twice over the last year I've installed PimONe, forgetting what I realized the first time, "this is not serious software", nowhere near the contact / address book facilities of Sidekick.

I've lurked on this forum off and on for years, while I've looked for a replacement for Sidekick, I used the early TSR (terminate / stay resident) dos version of Sidekick, then 95, 98, "Internet Sidekick", then Trusync, now back to 98 on XP (which works great), BUT, I look every few months to find SOME workable repacement program, keep making the rounds through Anytime Organizer (kiddie stuff really), Time and Chaos (not terrible, but I don't like the "set in stone" first contact fields then all the customizable ones are lumped into 1-20 on tab three...).

I think us Sidekick fans fall into two camps, those who badly need and are used to the great calendar features, the simplicity and good features of the calendar aspects, and next is the camp that really is devoted to / requires, an "equal to Sidekick" contact manager / database / address book functionality (some require both, and obviously some are big on the nice notes section).

Many programs out there do a decent job of being a calendar, I'd settle for a separate program for that. But the address book part, I'm spoiled by Sidekick's ability to let you custom define ALL fields, the ability to have the text be NOT limited to just 40 characters or whatever, and the nice tabs at the bottom.

I looked (for the 9th time probably) at "also drifting now" Lotus Organizer, it just doesn't have the flexibility, can't do many tabs, just not as serious of a program.

Looked at EssentialPIM (very popular download on CNET, due to a free version to drive the fish in), it's a very unstable program, the big claim to fame is being able to run off of a USB drive, and those who need portability try to love the program in spite of many bugs and it not being very stable.

I did find ONE program this past week that I think I will move over to, for the contacts part of things. It's "C-Organizer Pro", at csoftlab.com .

One thing about that program that Sidekick calendar people won't like, it's got a pretty darned good appointments / to do type thing going, but it does NOT have a "hours of the day like a day-runner" appearance, it's got the month view and events but not an hours of the day "column".

BUT, the contacts part is the first thing I've seen that I could switch to:

It lets you set up folders on the left, very much like MS Windows Explorer interface of folders on the left that you'd click on to show the files on the right, to the right is the contact list, you click on a contact and it brings up the contact box.

You can customize ALL of the field names, any length, and the text you fill in seems to be able to fit long lengths of text in any field, something I've not seen do well outside of Sidekick.

At first I didn't like the interface of having to bring up a new window to enter contact info (though 99% seem to require that), but, this program is nice, you can go full screen on that contact, and even without popping the window open the "info line" representing the contact is BROAD, and can include like 4 or 5 fields (not just the 3 fields of Sidekick for the "contacts index line), and it's got a very cool thing of being able to click on icons and reveal the phone #'s and e-mail address without clicking open the record's window.

Lots of slick features, and the program looks nice and is modern. The developer said he's starting work this month on another upgrade. I asked for an autodialer, he said he probably could do that.

One thing he acknowledged needed work when I brought it up is that you can't select a range of contacts and drag and drop then to a new folder, it's one at a time drag and drop for some reason, he said he's working on that feature.

BUT, you can set up folders, and have folders "under" folders, expanded or collapsed, and the search is GLOBAL, that's one thing we all know was missing from Sidekick, the ability to search once among all tabs.

One other MAJOR missing piece though on this C-Organizer Pro is that it prints reports well but does not currently do mailing labels. I ragged at the developer on that, said get the specs from Avery etc. and get that done, he said he'd work on that but currently it doesn't do labels (nether does the paid version of Epim, and users of Outlook claim it's about the worst feature of Outlook, trying to print mailing labels).

It wasn't simple in Sidekick either, but at least doable.

With C-Organizer Pro you can set up your field names etc. then save it as a template, you can save MANY templates, then name one as the default template, you can enter contacts chosing any of your templates, AND, you can add a custom field here or there for just individual contacts, it's very flexible, has a place for a little photo with contacts etc, and basically it's SIMPLE, it's not like Act / Goldmine / Maximizer etc.

Seems to have a very good import / export facility, similar in it's mapping look and feel to Sidekick. There is a Palm and MS Pocket PC side-program they have available, and it seems C-Organizer runs on a USB flash drive for those that need portability.

It's got a decent number of downloads for being only recently on CNET, but just one review a positive one, I think I'll throw one on there as well.

I've tried to accurately describe this one to save you the download if it's not your cup of tea, for me I think it's finally my "migration point" away from my old friend, Sidekick. Honestly in some ways, nothing will ever be as good.

But, it's "with a pulse" abandonware, and this day must come, at some day. It may be a few months before I bite the bullet and do the transition, but for me as an contact / database / address book heavy Sidekick fan, I think I'll be going with this C-Organizer Pro. I use a paper day scheduler anyway, so the appointment / to do thing is adequate for my needs, too bad it doesn't have a column - time of day thing, maybe they'll add that as the program is still supported and being developed, the Russian guy doing it does answer e-mail promptly and intelligently.

Here's the addresses, and this one is actually nicer than the feel you get just looking at screenshots, nice flexible features, well designed, seems stable as well:

http://www.csoftlab.com/C-OrganizerPro.html

http://www.csoftlab.com/ScreenshotsPro.html

http://www.download.com/C-Organizer-Pro/3000-2074_4-10464941.html?tag=tab_pub

Good luck everybody, and hey well done on getting that brief response from Phillip Kahn. That was hillarious the comment "one of those Frenchmen who only speaks to God". Good on getting a sentence out of him, though his answer was a cop-out. He could help if he gave a flip. He certainly knows the people to go to etc, could open doors etc if he gave a flip.

I think he knows he got paid a lot of money for something that died and didn't pan out for Motorola, and he's not all eager to show up or make contact, LOL. Or Crying out loud, as the scene has been for us Sidekick orphans, here's to good migrations for us all, or good use from our old friend for as many days as we can make the old motor run.

Frank H. in Oregon

 

[barkis]

Hi...

Just stumbled upon this forum while trying to find a replacement for Sidekick 98

I started using Sidekick when it was Prima's Yourway 3.0.

Like all of you I would pay for a viable replacement.

Did a search on Yourway and Sidekick and came up with with a resume for Brian Ferrin who appears to have been a QA Engineer for both Programs.

http://btferrin.home.netcom.com/

I emailed him and asked if he had any advice or knew of anyone who could help with the problem. I'll post if I get any response.

Rob

 

[Gyula]

I think that "Yourway" was/is the father of Borldand's "Sidekick" is something of a computing urban myth.

Take a look at:

http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue60/186_1_REVIEWS_

Sidekick_For_PC_And_PCjr.php

This is a (VERY positive) review of the early DOS version of SK from the May 1985 issue of "Compute" magazine. There are also several reviews of "Yourway" from the late '90's. So to say that Borland bought "Yourway" and turned it into SK just doesn't make sense. Plus when you read the "Yourway" reviews at this "Compute" magazine site, YW doesn't really sound very much like SK.

 

[jimalex]

Just a footnote I did not post before- maybe you have it elsewhere. Motorola sold the name 'Sidekick' to T-Mobile (only the name). So any new Sidekick as wanted here would definitely need a new name.

 

[mickygriff]

Hi Jimalex,

I made some suggestions last October -

Maybe time to start asking for 'new name suggestions'?!
How about Sidewise / Sidetrack / Sidetack / Sideways for a kick-off?

Wouldn't it be nice to be in need of a name?!

I wonder how kWkW is getting on with attempts at repair, and Frank10 and liaison with the Softlab guy?

I found some residual stuff on an old hard drive - another version of a PIM which may be worth looking at called EasyNoter 3.7 by Art Plus - tracked it down to the following site - check out

http://www.artplus.hr/adapps/eng/easynote.htm

to see if it is suitable (Lite version free, up to the Pro version is $34.95)

Keep on 'Sidekicking'!

Regards, Mick

 

[ct412]

I don't care WHAT it's called - I just want to be sure it will also roll over into Vista.

BTW: just in case this hasn't been posted:

http://siderealb0x.250free.com/index.html

All versions of SK seem to be available. I haven't needed to use it, but others here might.

I, too, would be willing to add some $$ to the pot for anybody to do some reverse engineering.

 

[Zoltan627]

Has anyone had time to play with the C-Organizer Pro that was mentioned a couple of posts ago? I did a little exploring; I exported one of my SK98 address books to a *.csv file and imported it into C-Organizer Pro. It went ok, although I had to go into each address entry and specify what fields would appear in the index of addresses.

It seems to be the best alternative to SK (nothing will ever be as good as SK98 though), anyone else have an opinion?

Thanks

Z

 

[barkis]

I received a interesting reply from Brian Ferrin:
[purple]
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi Robert,

I haven't read through that entire thread yet, but unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to help. I've lost contact with the core people on the R&D team, (a few have moved back to China last I heard), and the developers I'm still in contact with who worked on it at one point wouldn't be able to help much as they mostly just did minor bug fixes or UI issues.

I was laid off from Starfish before Motorola sold it to Intellisync, so I don't know who retained the rights to the source code to Sidekick.

Intellisync was purchased by Nokia last year. The last time I saw a product called Intellisync desktop was when I was still at Starfish, so that version definately had no relation to Sidekick.

The post by James33 is correct, there is a lot of legacy code dating back to YourWay 4.0 in Sidekick98. In my opinion, especially for the calendar,starting fresh and copying the UI would be best.

Best of luck. I may keep an eye on the thread, but don't really have the time to help. I'm still of the opinion Sidekick/YourWay is the best PIM for windows, although I no longer use it myself since I've kept my personal contacts in my e-mail client, and keep my personal calendar at work in private appointments. (In Outlook unfortunately, since I don't have a choice in the matter.) I'd love to know how it comes out, though I'm probably going to be abandoning Windows all together on my personal machines after I get my taxes done.

Regards,

Brian
------------------------------------------------------------
[/purple]

This seems, at least, to settle the question of wether or not Sidekick evolved from yourway

Rob

 

[Frank10]

Hi, re: "The post by James33 is correct, there is a lot of legacy code dating back to YourWay 4.0 in Sidekick98", it looks like the confusion re: which came first etc. is refined in that reply, "Sidekick 98" containing legacy code, not the earlier versions etc.

MS Outlook has so taken the oxygen out of the room for the "broad marketplace PIM" market it seems, not many want to put in all the development time for "table scraps" sales though one would think there should a pretty huge market.

Re: the question "do I have anything new to report in dialog with the C-Organizer Pro developer", I started another thread on C-Organizer Pro and most of the info (and some other good users feedback) is there, I did send a number of suggestions to the developer and he as nice and honest expressing what suggestions he could go with and what ones he won't tackle, but the main thing is it seems he IS doing a fairly major update right now. So I'm kind of "continuing limping" with my old friend Sidekick until that next C-Organizer Pro is out, he said it would probably be a couple of months.

Many things I do like about that program, nothing "is" Sidekick though unfortunately. There are many cool features in C-Organizer yet it still manages to be remarkably simple, very easy learning curve, and stong on field name / layout customization, savable as templates. I tried to cover the flaws as I saw them in that other thread, thanks to all who are trying it as well, send the developer your observations on flaws or "oh if you'd fix this it would be great", I've seen nothing better in 4 years of looking.

I'm looking forward to not looking for a Sidekick replacement! I wish I had a nickle for every disappointing trial download, including disappointments with Time and Chaos, Everyday Organizer, looking for the remnant dust of Lotus Organizer (then remembering how limited it was anyway), I must have tried 30 or so PIMs, most are like high school projects compared to Sidekick. Sigh.

For notes I've been very much enjoying TreeDBNotes Pro, the free version is "good" but the paid version ($28) has Sidekick like tabs which each has it's own "full tree" (like Treepad, TreeNotes etc), you can strip away most of the toolbars etc and have lots of open space (as Sidekick allowed) and can run the "topic / tree" tabs at the top or bottom of the screen, very nice. I'm splitting up the duties that Sidekick used to serve all in one place, my main need is for the contacts part now, C-Organizer so far shows good promise but I know the next upgrade will be improved on a few key points.

Frank H.

 

[gordone]

Just wanted to add my name to those who have used Sidekick since the beginning. I currently am using SK99, and have no problems with it, other than wondering how to port it over to something equally as useful, and easy to use, when Microsoft makes it unusable.

 

[Frank10]

Zoltan627 wrote:

"Has anyone had time to play with the C-Organizer Pro that was mentioned a couple of posts ago? I did a little exploring; I exported one of my SK98 address books to a *.csv file and imported it into C-Organizer Pro. It went ok, although I had to go into each address entry and specify what fields would appear in the index of addresses."

Zoltan, I've had trouble a few times exporting from Sidekick 98 to other programs, at times it seemed something wasn't "standard" about my titles / field headings in the exported file, I remember having to edit and tweek to get the file to be imported correctly, and actually that's what the C-Organizer developer guessed as well re: the issue you described.

Though you wrote your post several days ago, I just now wrote the developer with a different question and while at it I told him exactly what you expressed, this was his reply (and he replied rapidly, as he has every time I've written, what a nice change that is), this is what he said:

"I think that he did not map the "Title" field and all records were imported without title. In the next version we'll add an option to create the new titles automatically. Will be possible to select the fields to use as a title and then build new titles for entire Address Book database."

I think he was referring more to the status of the import file than any aspect of "what you did". I like the responsiveness of this developer, the C-Organizer Pro guy, CSoftlabs (refered to in above posts). C-Orgainizer Pro is about the only "create any fields you want, locate them in any sequence you want, save it as a template" thing that I've seen out there, rivaling Sidekick 98 in field flexibility.

It has a database record "tab" called description (notes) for each record, I wrote him to see if that description area was mappable when importing a database, since my use of Sidekick 98 includes a field where I've got lengthy text, he said yes the notes "box" was mappable to be a field on import.

It's not a "perfect" program, but it's very good. It's modern, has some nice bells and whistles, has companion programs for Palm and Pocket PC, can run on a USB stick, and it remains pretty darned simple with low learning curve, so far it's the best but I'm looking to see what his next update will contain, should be roughly 3 months away.

I've made my little suggestions to him, make yours if you have some! He won't change the entire program to look like Sidekick 98 of course (and in some ways he's got some improvements already), but he's open to actual valid suggestions as long as it isn't towards huge bloatware etc.

The developers "presence" and responsiveness is refreshing, I wrote to the "Do-Organizer" PIM company 6 times and never got the slightest response, same thing posting to their googlegroup site, very dead customer service (as I've found with several). I'm impressed with CSoftlabs, GREAT responsiveness, finally it looks like I'll have a place to move my contacts over to.

My main requests to the developer are to be able to drag and drop more than one contact at a time (he's got a bit of a database "issue" to resolve to allow that he said), and to be able to create database groups (folders in tree to the left) that don't auto-sort, that don't sort alphabetically so I can choose their order (though I can put in a 1, 2 prefix etc). Labels can be done by exporting to Word and printing labels through Word.

It has global search and some nice features re: being able to select many fields to "show" in the list view (where with Sidekick you were limited to 3, like first name / last name / and a phone # or call-back-date, and that was it).

Individual e-mails launch easily but it doesn't currently do "by group" e-mails, I'll probably just export to Group Mail Pro by Infacta for those needs. It does export by group folder or the entire database, overall a very good program. It's got a neat feature of being able to pop-up a contact and have that contact "ride" like a sticky-note while you are in the calendar, while you open another database etc.

Though I wish the dream wasn't dead for someone to modernize Sidekick while retaining the full look and features of Sidekick 98, looks like that dream is a dead horse. Thanks to all who tried and who got the info as has been expressed in the thread (or, novel), above!

Frank H.

 

[Gyula]

Frank 10, thank you for the great thought and effort that went into your March 24th posting. Very impressive indeed!!

I would like to share my thoughts on your posting--and, in fact on the trend of most recent postings. Your posting and many of the other recent ones look at SK as a PIM which at its core is a highly personalizeable datatebase program.

I have always viewed--and accordingly used--SK as a PIM which at its core was a calendar/appointment program. With database--and, of course, several others--functions thrown in. (I also valued SK's ability to d/l information into my Palm PDA.) Yes, I loaded my contacts--which I kept/keep on "Lotus Approach"--into SK, but it was primarily as a conduit to loading them into my Palm.

Frank, for the heavy duty database functions you are talking about, I really believe you should look at PIMs which are really heavy duty contact managers, with some calendaring and word processing functions thrown in. The one that comes to mind is "ACT!". In fact, some of the popular pure database programs, with some tweaking, might satisfy your needs.

Again, just some thoughts from a long, long time SK user who comes to the program from a very different direction than you do.

 

[Frank10]

Hi Gyula, I agree with you! In fact, quoting my own post up above from February 18th,

"I think us Sidekick fans fall into two camps, those who badly need and are used to the great calendar features, the simplicity and good features of the calendar aspects, and next is the camp that really is devoted to / requires, an "equal to Sidekick" contact manager / database / address book functionality (some require both, and obviously some are big on the nice notes section).

Many programs out there do a decent job of being a calendar, I'd settle for a separate program for that. But the address book part, I'm spoiled by Sidekick's ability to let you custom define ALL fields, the ability to have the text be NOT limited to just 40 characters or whatever, and the nice tabs at the bottom."

So yes, I recognize Sidekick was great with the calendar and scheduling functions (though honestly those weren't the main features I needed), and I know those features fall short in many of the PIMS's out there! Sidekick was great in so many ways.

Re: "Big" database programs, it seems every 6 months or so I do another rotation of checking out ACT!, Goldmine and Maximizer etc, believe me every one of those camps has at least as much headache as we do, even with current supported programs! ACT! has had absolute h*ll with a very slow running database chassis and their new owner Sage Software being very iffy in support, Goldmine, wow their forums are like a walk through an ER department, Maximizer, horendous complaints on their lack of customer service etc. on CNET reviews, the Amazon reviews on the current version of ACT! is about the lowest percentage and most thumbs down I've ever seen, "wow".

It's not easy to find a great contact manager, and Sidekick served me well with running like 27 different lists, thousands of contacts, never a problem. As I check out other options a small voice often speaks, "Frank you are a fool to try and move off of Sidekick..."

And another voice crabs about will it work on Vista, can I forget the "cobbling" that gets it to work on XP, can I just accept that it seems to be stable for now, and get on with life, relying on Sidekick. It's the relying on part that makes me want to look out for the future steps ahead, but honestly, Sidekick still gets the job done for me.

For those that were more heavily using the calendar section, I realize the end of the diving board is more a pressing thing, and I've seen nothing out there that does all of the fuctions Sidekick did as well as Sidekick did it.

Whether for calendar, notes or contact management, I bet a lot of us will use more than one program to do what Sidekick did, as most "all in one's" are weak on at least one of those areas.

But you've guessed me correctly, contact management is the camp I'm most "in". And frankly if ACT! etc were great and stable and even had a decent looking future, I'd go through their price tags and learning curves etc. But they don't look good, shocking, but they don't. The reviews etc. make my hair turn white (from grey LOL). So, I'm limping on Sidekick, in touch with the C-Organizer developer, while using TreeDBNotes Pro for notes, while 99% of the world seems content to curse MS Outlook but using MS Outlook. I've read enough cursing there, newsgroups etc, to find some comfort that at least I'm not stuck with Outlook.

To good productivity for all of us,

Frank H.

 

[tilltek]

I think these guys just might have something here. And it's still being developed AT USERS SUGGESTION!!!

http://www.essentialpim.com

Ken F

 

[Frank10]

Hi Ken F., I checked out Essential Pim (several times), aspects of it do look nice, BUT, especially going through the month after month topics in their forum archives, it is not a stable program, it is downright buggy.

It's true that to some degree the developer (Max) listens to input, the MAIN thing he is trying to do with Epim is have something that stays small enough to go on a USB "keychain drive", that is the overriding constraint.

Any suggestion that would require a bit more "to" the program, if it endangers that mandate of being a tiny portable device functional program, the idea is scratched off the table.

Like, for instance, the ability to print labels. "no". And, "never", are the answers.

The main thing that threw me was the constant "whoops, discovered this explosion", release after release. Good that there are new releases, but, I never developed confidence in putting my data into the program and moving forward.

Many things are initially attractive to the program, including Mobile Windows and Palm facility etc, but, at the end of the day, it to me has stayed an "almost" program.

That C-Organizer program mentioned earlier in this thread (and mentioned in a new thread), they did come out with their anticipated updated version, lots of very nice feature enhancements. I haven't had time to put it all through the paces, but that developer took lots of input and DID the suggestions (without constraints on if it would bring the size of the program beyond "tiny").

There are so many "almost" programs out there, since Outlook took most of the oxygen out of the room for PIM's like Sidekick or Ecco or whatever...

Frank H.

 

[tilltek]

I downloaded the "portable" version of EssentialPIM and find it hard to believe that there is concern about its size. It easily fits into 2 meg which these days, is nothing. My smallest usp drive is 16 Meg. Even my Nokia 6260 has a 256 meg memory chip.
Further, there is a dektop version and a portable version so size really should not be a problem.

It's still the closest thing to the look and feel of Sidekick 98 and even if it's buggy, the bugs eventually get fixed.
I was using a combination of MS OneNote and Sidekick 98, now I use just EssentialPIM.
Ken F

 

[Frank10]

I agree that it should't be a concert re: size, but that's what the developer said to me personally when I asked him and it was re: the "full desktop" version, if I remember correctly people wanted to use the full version on portable USB drives, and features came 2nd to making sure it was small enough, but yeah memory is cheap, make the program good should be the motto!

Like a lot of the Russian developers, Max is very hard working and stays at things, many ongoing improvements, I have no doubt it will improve to be a great program at some point. After looking for 5 years for a good place to move house to from Sidekick (my main needs being contacts related), I guess my patience is short to see what a current program evolves into. One thing Epim very much DOES have going for it is that their lighter free version is very popular at the free download sites (and on CNET), so there is a very large feeder pool for their paid version, thus, I think the company and product will stay in existance and be supported.

That's an important aspect, beyond if the program is perfect, as some pretty good PIM's even in recent years have gone the way of Sidekick, abandoned or dropped etc, so yes, those are positive aspects of Epim. And it's darned near impossible to find something exactly as intuitive, as configurable etc. as Sidekick was once we're used to "it", so, making a move no matter what is probably the point we all come to. With your ongoing suggestions given to Max, no doubt Epim will shine more and more brightly.

Frank H.

 

[Frank10]

(Whoops, meant to type "shouldn't be a concern..." re: my typo in post just above).

Tilltek, I just went to the Epim site, and see that 5 days ago they release a major upgrade to the Pro version (which is available as desktop or USB drive version, pretty much the same program, and both can run on USB drives though portable has specific features for it), nice updates with the recent 1.8 release!

One of the problems I'd run into with Epim seems to be fixed (per the history notes for this recent update), that is that custom fields that should have been able to run up to 200 characters of content (like doing a semi-notes field, "recent history notes" or whatever which I would do with Sidekick fields), Epim would allow that (and per Max should have been ok), but it would crash in actual use on long fields, looks like that is fixed. Several wish-list items look fixed.

C-Organizer Pro's recent new version update also improved that program greatly, I think Epim's notes component is much better than C-Organizer's though. Aspects of C-Organizer's contacts component such as the ability to save and use distinct templates are really helpful for me, that program has many neat features (that aren't revealed just looking at the screenshots), but I'll have to compare them both newly now that Epim has a major recent update. Thanks for the tip! Sounds like Max had collected up every recent bug and suggestion and took a machine gun to it, very impressive history upgrade list of fixes and improvements.

Frank H.

 

[Vuudoo]

Haven't been in for quite awhile, but like Frank I surface every now and then to see if something could take the place of Sidekick.
I would take Franks analysis further and say that the two kinds of users are those that want the program to impose order on them and those that want the program as an expression of their order (loosely: impose order on the program). Frank is obviously an ordered mind. His posts are concise. I think he would want to use the program as an extension of his order, and thus looks for something that can be customized to reflect his order.
I am the opposite. I am chaos trying to exist in an ordered world.
Sidekick was good and could be used for either and has a continued following because it could do both. It helped impose organization as well as had the depth and customization to allow order to be imposed on it.
I've downloaded 3 of the suggested programs as possible replacements, and am playing with them.
I noticed that there was little mention of pocket informant. Has anyone played with it much?

20 minute overall quick impressions (note chaotic mind):

Epim takes less memory. Epim runs around 16,000K. I've run through a number of items and they seem intuitive. Haven’t had to run through help yet. The boundaries ‘feel’ stronger in Epim and I think it lends itself to imposing organization. It has on the surface (haven’t gone deep yet) obvious structure to assemble information and interact with it. Many of the items look like they have customization ability, but they are more of a choice if you want or need to utilize them.

C-org takes more memory. Well I thought it did, but it appears to vary quite a bit. As low as 8,000K when no windows are open but the program is active in the quick launch and as high as 21,620K. The sticky note option is interesting. C-org acts more like an accessory on your desktop, opening things in their own windows and allowing them to be always on top or transparent etc. Some of the preloaded reminders come up and have something to do with the address book but I don’t understand what the reminder is reminding me of. C-org has more of an excel’ish feel to it.

Overall Epim seems oriented to imposing it’s order, and may have the depth to allow order to be imposed. C-org seems oriented to having order imposed on it and has an ‘open’ feel to it rather than the normal ‘contained’ feel of most programs. Both seem to have customization and most of the standard functions. I am not synching to a PDA or such so none of that is explored here. And that’s my 20 minutes worth.

V