For many years I have used 'Now DateBook and TouchBase Pro', that subsequently became 'Now UpToDate&Contact' that I presently use; v. 5.3.1. However I have kept my 'Now TouchBase' active because I have appoximately 350 contact entries and I found there is no global upgrade procedure that 'really worked' when following the rather cumbersome Now Software directions. I am dissapointed that a simple global upgrade method from Now TouchBase to Now Contact that 'really works' is not provided.
I also found that the custom lable making and printing procedure in Now Contact is not nearly as intuitive as the previous version Now Touchbase. In general, Now Contact is much more like a downgrade rather than an upgrade from Now TouchBase Pro. The Now Contact custom lable window has flaws and requires working in an extreamly small window that is definately a downgrade from the intuitive custom lable making procedures and window size provided in Now Touchbase.
With reference to Now Datebook, I very disappointed that there is no 'Event' or 'Task' option in the 'Type' in the 'New Event' drop down options list. For instance, if I am reviewing my day's activiites and want to account my time spent from 2PM to 4PM cleaning up my office, I cannot enter and account for that time with the Event Type options provided that are limited to: Holiday, All Day, Appt., Meeting, To Do, Call, Undated, Stickey Note, Banner and Graphic. There is simple no TASK of EVENT choice to account for such items as existed in the previous version of Now DateBook, that was more flexible by being able to customize what is now the Event 'Type' list, and I am not looking for a 'work around' way of account for the 'events' and 'tasks' in my day (e.g. using stickes, etc.) but a solution by having an 'Event' or 'Task' option on the Event Type List; and, better yet, a means to customize the Type list.
I will express my frustration with the assignment and use of Sets and Catagories for another entry.
Any and all response comments will be appreciated, especially by previous users of Now UpToDate & TouchBase Pro either on this forum and, or directed to my email address: [url=mailto:cpkarch@mac.com]mailto:cpkarch@mac.com[/url]; and, please reference my computer and operating system stats below.
Chet
Chester P. Keefe II, Architect Portsmouth, NH 03801 603 / 431-5210
Mac G5 DT/1.8 GHz / OS 10.4.10/ 1.5 GB SDRAM Mac iBook G4/933 MHz / OS 10.4.10 / 640 MB SDRAM
I'd like to hear back from Chet re the suggestion for importing Touchbase data into Address Book. Address Book Importer purportedly has specific support for Touchbase Pro users. But most alternatives to date for importing Touchbase data have not been viable--at least, not without a lot of busy work for most Touchbase users.
The biggest problem with getting Touchbase data into Now Contact, or any other contact manager, is the stupid import limitations of these programs. Aldus (the original developers of Touchbase and Datebook) had real programmers with brains and IQs. They actually thought about what they were doing (how novel) and understood the problems of migrating data. They provided not only for exporting Touchbase data files using Touchbase's proprietary delimiters, but also provided for tab-delimited text AND user-designated ASCII codes as delimiters.
Nothing I know of (other than Touchbase) recognizes Touchbase's proprietary delimiters. No contact management software I know of (other than Touchbase) supports user-designated delimiters for importing data. And tab-delimited text isn't an option, as anyone who has even glanced at Touchbase would know (which means the folks at Now should have resolved this a thousand years ago--but apparently they don't have IQs or brains).
Touchbase provides for a note field that can contain multiple paragraphs--i.e., text containing linefeeds. But tab-delimited text uses linefeeds to delimit records. Thus, a Touchbase note field with multiple paragraphs is seen as multiple records by the importing program. And there is just no elegant or simple work-around.
My preferred solution would be for the folks at Filemaker to turn Filemaker Pro into a real database program and provide flexibility wrt delimiters for importing data, plus a label printing feature that is useful. Alternatively, the programmers at Now Software should, perhaps, take a few classes at ITT Tech and learn to think about how a program will actually be used, learn to evaluate and anticipate users' needs, especially the obvious ones, and more especially when they involve killing off acquisitions that are superior to Now Software's own products. Now Software acquired Touchbase and had access to the software and the programming code. There is just no excuse for not having made the very minor tweaks necessary for Now Contact to effectively accommodate Touchbase data.
As far as I'm concerned, this grossly negligent oversight on the part of Now Software automatically disqualifies all of their products from any consideration. There are levels of stupidity that don't warrant courtesy or forgiveness. And screwing over the majority of your customer base is an example. But, in the Karma Bank column, Now Software's sales are very poor, so the company is paying the price for creating bad software. At least, that's some consolation.
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