Alternative to Agendus?

M

Mr Doesright

New member
Hi,

Looking into getting some PIM software (Personal Information Manager).

Reading the recent posts I can see alot about Agendus - pros and cons.

Can anyone recommend anything similar that is freeware or is it worth just paying for Agendus?

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks

Tiz
 
No. There isn't anything free or otherwise that matches Agendus. Sadly, they've got it cornered if you want highlited to-do's and icons and a great month view. Once you've played with it it's VERY hard to go with something else - I tried about 6 others.

I've talked to Natara, some other developers and of course (the angels sang . . .) TEALPOINT, but all are either too busy right now (Tealpoint prefers to keep THEIR APPS in top working order before releasing new stuff . . . . gosh, what a shocking and radical approach to software development!!) or don't want to "get in the middle of that mess right now," whatever that means.

I didn't mind "A5" but it's not Agendus. Nothing is, including (opinions might vary here) Datebk5. Not if you want to track contacts/meetings/what was said, and have a hip 30 days view and expandable month and quarter with colored in days.

I suppose you could almost "make your own" with KsDatebook, MakeSpot, A5 and others with about 6 different launching buttons and menus for everything and confusion . . . Agendus does seem to do it all.

If you were looking (as I think you are) RIGHT NOW, and you purchased 8.04 Agendus, you'd be getting pretty good bang for buck. This is my big beef - they're charging EXISTING customers almost as much to upgrade twice a week (slight exaggeration) as they're charging YOU as a new customer. If you lay out the $$$ and buy it "brand new," you're probably getting a VERY good deal, provided you don't mind taking up 1MB of room. It's on subsequent "upgrades" you'd more than likely be, errrr, "taken," to clean up the language a bit.
 
Thanks Paul (PTL). As always I find your posts very informative, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Do you believe it's worth the extra for the Pro version of Agendus?

Thanks

PS What TEAL apps do you recommend, I am fairly new and just discovering things as I come across them.
 
I just upgraded to Agendus 8.04 PRO because I liked the extended quarter view and a couple of other little "perks;" however I also asked them for a link to "standard" in case I want to revert to the "cheaper version." Yes, it's probably worth getting the pro but I'm not interested in Iambic mail (which is still having problems); Agendus Standard might be the way to go because when they CHARGE YOU $9.95 for upgrade you'll be int he same place as having paid for the Pro version! Go to their site and they'll have a comprehensive list of the differences - I can't remember them all to be honest but there aren't many.

As for Tealpoint, best thing is look at their site and decide what YOU like . . . VERY IMPORTANT, however, is if you order any of the products, BE SURE AND put "paulteal" somewhere on the order and reference it VISIBLY - I have asked their customer support (Amanda and others) to look for that on orders as an identifier for someone on THIS FORUM purchasing their stuff . . . it puts you at the "top list" for customer support should you need any.

I wouldn't be without TealScript and TealMover. If you need security TealLock is the best. If you want the "launcher from hell" without having Daisy Duck launch your memo pad - TealLaunch combined with TealMaster (required) is JUST AWESOME.
 
Don't rule out DateBk 5 by PimlicoSoftware. Good stable software with a fair upgrade policy. To the best of my knowledge this is the only program that has "floating" appointments that automatically advance at set time (say, Midnight) vs hard-dated appointments- useful for all the stuff I didn't get done and all the people I didn't get to see... Infinitely customizable. Web-site offers wealth of support for advanced users, and developer is very responsive. Excellent value in my opinion, and one of a number that I use heavily every day. Hope you get a chance to check it out...
 
Both Agendus and Datebk 5 have lots of similar features. The biggest difference is in the interface. The interface in Agendus allows straightforward access to the functions you need. Datebk has many advanced features. However, many of the functions are not obvious to find. You definitely need to read the manual to fully understand the capabilities.

For example, Datebk 5, like Agendus Pro, is capable of linking multiple contacts to an appointment or task. In fact, one undocumented option is to have the linked appointment or task automatically get logged into a note assigned to the linked contact. Later, when you meet with the contact, you can open up the contact's note to see a record of your correspondence.

It is also quite interesting that I don't see many threads or posts in this forum which complain about Datebk 5 or its developers. This ought to say something about the program.

I am not going to say that one of these programs is better than the other. I just don't think Datebk 5 should be written off quickly because its interface isn't as pretty and customizable. Both of these programs are great alternatives or add-ons for the built-in calendar app. I think it boils down to what your personal preference is. Some will choose the pretty interface and the ability to customize. Others will choose the complexity of Datebk 5. The choice is yours.
 
I want to echo dwinget's comments. I've been using DateBk since v.3 and have had few problems. I agree that some of its features are not obvious, and one definitely has to RTFM. More important, the software is great, at least for my needs. I've looked at Agendus, and it provided way more than I needed.

Pimilico has not yet charged for either of the 2 major upgrades since I first bought the software. The support is great. The few times I've had to use it, I received a prompt reply from the developer himself. An added bonus is that he devotes a portion of the revenue from the software to the development of a gorilla refuge he's constructing in Georgia.
 
There is really no comparison between Datebk5 and Agendus:

Datebk5 is a great calendaring program that has the limited ability to show tasks and contacts in their native programs. I am a registered user of Datebk5 and pop it in from time to time to see if I don't want to put up with Agendus's (Iambic's) tactics. It never stays more than a week because I can't get used to it.

Agendus is a contact manager program - period. It can show you all that Datebk5 can plus pictures of contacts, different contact views, different task views and wallpapers.

On the Treo - it's contact management features (Contact History) shows you every task, meeting and cellular call made to a contact and it does so without having to link such as in the manual process of Datebk5.


Ok, now here goes Moose getting on his proverbial soapbox:

Datebk5 hasn't really changed in 18 months. It has come out with updated versions to handle new hardware but even this has been slow. Items to fix the T3 conduits weren't released in final form until March. Don't get me wrong - it's still a good program and one reason no one is complaining is because if you bought Datebk5 18 months ago all of these updates have been free, great the program hasn't changed enough to charge for an interim update.

Agendus has changed drastically in those same 18 months. However, they are charging for these interim changes. That, I my personal opinion, is ok. However, they have released versions that have been unstable on certain platforms and have not fixed these versions before releasing the next.

I think that version 6 was pretty stable and for the most part so was 7.06 but it did not address the T3 correctly and they needed to come out with 8. Version 8 had enough features added to it that I thought that the upgrade price of 9.95 was worth it however it has not yet been proven stable (8.04 is pretty stable) nor has it delivered all features as promised. I'm still awaiting the alarm issue to be fixed so that I can select any alarm on my Treo. I can set alarms and they will respond but I can't set a ring tone alarm as promised.

With all of my complaints: Agendus is the best, no doubt, contact manager software out there that is strictly Palm based. It has more features and benefits that are just to numerous to list here.
Their marketing approach leaves a lot to be desired with charging for updates that aren't stable and basically cause many of us to beta test for them even though we aren't paid or renumerated for it.

Is there a replacement - Datebk5 is the next best thing but for me it just doesn't cut it. If Agendus didn't exist, I'm certain to be singing the praises of Datebk5.

You can get close with MonthPlanner, WeekPlanner and SuperContacts or Contacts5. Contacts5, from PDAPerformance.com is supposed to be coming out with a program called Life@hand that is supposed to be the best of Datebk5 and Agendus but the public beta won't be released until 4th Quarter of this year.

You can see some info here You can sign up for the beta here

You can see though that there hasn't been a lot of movement on this site.
 
I completely agree Moose. Agendus is more staight forward and IMHO more usable. I still don't like the upgrade charges but who would. Still worth the money! I just could never get used to Datebk5 or any of them for that matter.

-CH
 
MooseMan Said:

"I am a registered user of Datebk5 and pop it in from time to time to see if I don't want to put up with Agendus's (Iambic's) tactics. It never stays more than a week because I can't get used to it.

With all of my complaints: Agendus is the best, no doubt, contact manager software out there that is strictly Palm based. It has more features and benefits that are just to numerous to list here."
END OF QUOTE
-----------------------------------
That sums it up PRECISELY. I also loaded Datebk5 three times -- it didn't last 15 minutes -- and I'd read the manual. Twice. All of it.

I finally gave in and mailed the $19.95 upgrade Monday night - went from Redondo Beach Post Office Tuesday at 5:00AM. They got it Wednesday 8/11. They emailed me 8/11 with the codes. You can't get better than that for Customer Service - here's the cash, here's the code. Same day. I just got in from travelling, now 11:35PM Thursday night - and there was the response.

With its occasional problems (I don't use alarms except an alarm clock occasionally, and won't bother with the contact photo linking until something better comes up) it's still just OUTSTANDING not only as a Contact Manager (Mooseman's main use, I guess) - but a perfectly graphic layout in day, week, 14, 30 day view and month view, using colorized highlighting and MONTH DAY COLORING and Icons, what you've got "going."

The drag and drop is great, the expanded quarter view is great, and 8.04 hasn't crashed (and I've tried to make it crash!!). I'm upset at the constant "re-invoicing" and there I suppose Datebk5 has the nod as the more "fairly priced" -- but so what if there's nothing much new?

I have ranted about Agendus at length both here, their forum, and some "turbo charged" emails -- the bottom line is . . . it's the boldest & easiest to read (call it "pretty" if you want) from even 4 feet away at an ANGLE - say, on a CAR SEAT or under a table at a meeting . . . and sports a very straightforward appearance as well as ease of repeated task entry (Vivid Agendus, Templates). If you're like me and debated an upgrade cost, that's one thing . . . if you're looking for the first time for a calendar/planner app, I wouldn't hesitate to buy 8.04.
 
I can see by the Life@hand web site that some of you have signed up for the beta.....that's great and perhaps we can have enough influence to get a program that will "rock".

Don't forget to post in the features and request section of that web site.
 
I am one of the people you were talking about that registered for the beta. I think it would be great to see this program fully develop. It would actually give Agendus and Datebk 5 a little competition. This could be a good source of motivation and influence in a way which is similar to how Sony helped Palm expand the capabilities of the OS. We can all benefit from this.

On a side note, I am unable to pull up any product information about Contacts5 from the link provided at the pdaperformance web site. This is the link they have:

http://www.pdaperformance.com/action.php?products=contacts5

I just get a blank page. Is anyone else having the same problem or is it just me?
 
Has anyone tried Beyond Contacts? How good is it? I am thinking about purchasing a good contact management program. I don't use icons or pictures much. I like linking contacts with scheduled events and tasks.

I have heard that pictures and icons really eat up a lot of additional memory. Also, on Datebk 5, the icons create encrypted characters inside of the notes. Does Agendus have this problem? Which program has the most bang for the buck? Beyond Contacts is $29.99 and Agendus Pro is $39. Is the extra $10 worth it? Are there any free updates?

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Here is the link to Beyond Contacts information:

http://www.dataviz.com/products/beyondcontacts/index.html
 
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