Hi, I can only second Tim's comments here. I'm also silently using planner-mode every day at work, and it became an indispensable tool to get my research organized. I have to admit that I never gave org-mode a try, so all I know is what I can see in the online manual and a tutorial. However, I originally chose planner-mode because it was implemented on top of a wiki. I've attempted to get organized (without scheduling and such) by using outlined todo lists previously but this approach never really worked out for me.
I've got a project file with a dozen or so top-level entries, some of them are scientific projects, others are pseudo-projects (like a list of what I need to pick up or order at the library). Thanks to planner-mode being a wiki these entries are links to other pages which in turn contain subprojects. The "leafs" are individual experiments which contain a description, a link to the evaluated data, and of course a backlink to the appropriate subproject. I can publish an individual experiment (which would correspond to a n-th level heading in an org file) as a HTML page, print it out and hand it over to a technician in the lab. I'll get it back with some comments scribbled on, e.g. what went wrong or had to be differently than envisaged. I can fix this in the planner file, print it again, and use it as the cover sheet of the evaluated data (I like to leave a paper trail, just in case). Due to the backlinks and the task dates I can always trace back what project or subproject this experiment belongs to. When a set of experiments is done, the subproject containing these experiments receives a summary. It is often crucial to me to cross-link subprojects or individual experiments (e.g. if a tissue specimen was used in two unrelated projects). I've been using planner-mode for approx. 4 years now. The planner folder currently contains 2402 planner files, making a total of 1.82MB of plain-text data. I can't imagine how I could reasonably handle this with half a dozen org-mode files or so. Another comment on how actively each mode is maintained: I think it is quite a bit arrogant to see missing features or an apparently slower development speed as a reason to discontinue a tool. When I first used planner-mode, it did most of what I needed, except providing backlinks (admittedly something that is not required in org-mode, but crucial for my needs as the system is based on a wiki). So instead of complaining I implemented that feature (it has since been replaced by a better and cleaner implementation by some kind soul). Same with citation support which I added to muse-mode (it is automatically available in planner-mode too). So if a feature is missing but can be implemented, I'd always suggest to improve on what you have instead of hopping to the next tool and start from scratch. just my 2cc Markus Quoting Tim Cross <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > I hope not! > > I've tried org mode and still *much* prefer planner mode. I don't know what > the maintenance problems you refer to are, but I've been a very satisfied > planner mode user for about 3 years now. I have had at least 4 attempts at > switching to org mode, but it just doesn't meet my needs when it comes to > planning.. I do use org mode in some projects for notes, system design and > brain storming, but planner mode is how I manage all my projects, various > project tasks, project notes, time tracking and reporting etc. I find its > task management much better than org modes, its reporting more convenient, > its publishing more flexible and the general management of multiple > projects easier. > > > I think the Emacs community is big enough to support more than one mode > that does similar things - this is emacs afterall and its strength is in > being able to make it work how you want rather than forcing you to work how > it wants. Consider for example, the numerous different mail agent modes, > multiple modes that support reading newsgroups, multiple sgml/html/xml > authoring modes, latex modes, etc. > > If it turns out nobody wants to contribute or maintain the mode, thats a > different story. However, while there is an active user and maintenance > base, I cannot see any reason to drop it just because emacs 22 has org > mode. > -- Markus Hoenicka [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Spam-protected email: replace the quadrupeds with "mhoenicka") http://www.mhoenicka.de _______________________________________________ Planner-el-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/planner-el-discuss
