Some good points. Inline.
On 12-11-18 10:23 AM, landis.a wrote:
Very Thoughtful series of posts here. Nice to hear the level of
interest from everyone. I have been struggling with the question of
whether I want to "go down this road".
*Plus Points:*
* MLO is very capable
* MLO will synch between Windows and Android
BUT - this is not the same sync as, for example, between Android / web
google calendar / contacts. It is for ONE .mlo file (= Android mlo
profile) to proprietary standalone cloud sync or must always be running
local Windows PC sitting in the same file. Although both are sync's,
they are sync beasties of quite different natures.
So, although you could have multiple .mlo instances on the desktop in
different files, Android mlo has no file picker, it is a profile change.
Not quite what one would intuitively expect by the word 'sync'.
Unless, and I haven't tested this yet, you have multiple instances of
mlo desktop up, listening on different ports, which I assume would mean
purchasing multiple licenses of the desktop version. Or use the
proprietary (fee) cloud sync. Both would still require switching
profiles on the Android side. (Not simply going in and out of different
files / kept in sync via dropbox.)
* MLO is an Outliner with multiple levels AND GTD thought boiled into one
Or, MLO is an outliner with some date and filter smarts not frequently
seen elsewhere. (Sadly.)
* MLO's interface is generally nice to deal with (not always)
Fast / easy (keystrokes), desktop version, vs. typical 'inelegance' of
web user interface.
*
Minus Points:*
* MLO is a Closed architecture and does not want to talk with other
systems.
BIG POINT: AS IS MOST EVERYTHING ELSE OUT THERE.
So this is less a negative than an observation of the status quo.
* MLO has no WebClient/Interface
Say, rather, MLO is not multi-platform. I think, generally, people would
not prefer a web interface, but would live with it if there's nothing
else. [You could say the same about java, for example, but there are
some very nice renditions of apps in java out there. Just like there are
far more with very poor renditions - where the elegant / expeditious
interface of a desktop app got lost in the transition. (Be it to web or
java or anything else cross-platform.)]
- which is all to say, the world has expanded, be it Android or google,
and multi-platform is becoming more important than ever as a consideration.
* MLO seems to have a slow development cycle (been waiting for 4.0 to
buy the PC software for a while now)
But is not atypical.
- I could argue slow / not being big is a good thing. Many webified
things produced by organizations able to bring mass resources to an
effort have killed the app in the process.
(Quest for almighty dollar in an app environment where people are not
willing to put out such dollars. Therefore, apps aren't produced as
there is no funding for it or massive profits to be made.)
[If there were such dollars, MS would have done it (poorly) long ago. In
the mean time, a poor / different approximation of it was done -
OneNote. And, in the absence of better, people are making do with it.
Taking part of MLO's potential market with it.]
{Let alone, higher barrier / cost to entry now - if you can't come out
of the gate with Windows / Linux / Android / iPhone, you may not start.
If you're an Android developer, you may not start knowing that to be
real you also have to do the other, which you may have no expertise in.}
* MLO is not a true "Hot Sync" in the modern sense. There seem to be
opportunities for corrupted syncs even with DropBox
Not true - (a) there is no sync via Dropbox, except perhaps between
desktop clients - this is surmountable (ssh). Sync of any type is only
viable when you're always working from the same, single, source of data.
(b) MLO sync is ongoing, continuous, and exact (as I understand it),
using the provided sync mechanisms. [Taking DropBox out of the equation,
see (a).]
* MLO Android does not seem to have the same format as the Windows
Machine, thus cannot be shared directly with DropBox
Problem: No form of DropBox sync is ever really a sync - it is whomever
touched the file last, which is not quite the same as 'sync'. See above.
Until and unless DropBox does record locking, sync and DropBox are
oxymorons. (I have seen nothing that leads me to ever believe they will
- witness the Android DropBox is not the same as desktop dropbox.
Android dropbox is on an as pulled basis, only.)
* MLO is not OpenSource so there is no opportunity for community
involvement in development
Again, as is true for everyone else. And, let's not forget that
OpenSource is not mutually exclusive with behaving in a community
development / involved manner. There have been instances of well done
organizations that don't provide their source.
From what I can tell, MLO is better than many / most - although
Andrey's silence in the group, sometimes, is a little 'distressing'.
On MLO's side, they seem to be doing what they do well. They should
have a Web version, and I feel they should also have a Linux and Mac
Versions. Current iterations of "any version" are often written in
Python or Java. Lots of folks are converging on the same battleground
but no one has really taken the high ground yet by covering all the flanks.
Actually, that's the issue, there aren't lots of folks converging on the
same battleground. And, for example, Toodledo, where their basic design
is flawed (no real sub-tasks), can / will never be on the same playing
field. And there aren't a lot of real players out there. Most, today,
seem to be siloed in one way or platform or another. [Google docs /
drive / calendar / contacts / tasks (?) have provided a storage /
interpretation back end, enabling such data to be universal. Until
Google gets real with tasks, the same will be true for tasks, outlines,
etc.]
Two observations that may help:
- apparently MLO works with Wine. And, per last release notes, changes
were made to accommodate wine - so there is a sensitivity / awareness /
desire to running on Linux. I know of nothing else that runs on Wine,
let alone Linux. And I see nothing on Linux / OpenSource, with
functionality anywhere close to MLO, doing better, let alone going the
other way - moving to Windows compatibility. (Beyond general efforts
making entire ecosystems - such as the KDE on Windows effort.)
- my sense is that MLO on Android is evolving, and more actively so than
the desktop. e.g. It feels like a common complaint is the loss of the
rich filtering ability of the desktop hasn't percolated down to Android.
And is / will be worked on.
So, if Andrey is listening and it makes sense to him, for all we know
MLO 5.0 will be java based. We just don't know. Let alone, we don't
know, given limited manpower, if/when it might arrive even if it is
determined to be the next step to take.
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