I've been a NUDC and NowX user for about 15 years, and much of my professional life is recorded in my calendar and contacts. (Including detailed notes attached to individuals, companies and appointments.) Moving to something as simple as the iCal and Address Book apps won't really cut it for me. The primary feature I've relied on NUDC for is the ability to link a contact to a given appointment or other kind of calendar "event", and that opening the contact will show me all that history too.
NowX was looking promising, despite its quirky bugs. The one feature in NowX that has not been working for me (and really it's because of synching I believe) is tasks, particularly recurring tasks. It's been a nightmare. I'm not sure whether I should blame Now, Apple's email client (where the to-do list lives, which is strange to me) or perhaps MarkSpace's Missing Sync or Palm.
Tasks aside, is there a calendar and contact management app that has a system for multiple categories and independent tags that allows individuals or companies in the contacts list to be linked to appointments?
I haven't seen one but would love to find a replacement.
I second that question. I've been searching for a while and haven't found anything yet that does the same job. (Still on NUTDC 5.3x but bought license for NowX early on).
The issue we will face is how to get that linked contact and appointment/task data out of NowX or NUTDC and into something else. This issue has held me hostage for some time. (I also started with NUTDC over 15 yrs ago!)
This is probably too much to ask for but I'll post it anyway. Please add to the original request:
How about starting a movement to resurrect Now Contact?!?!?! At least provide a Mac solution and then link it to iCal or BusyCal for tasks and events. Keep the focus small by starting a Mac solution. Then possibly work towards a Windows solution.
It appears that BusyCal is gaining momentum as the premiere calendar solution. Can't quite get into Contactizer for my contacts just yet.
But Now Contact's focus on linking calendars and tasks is what kept me married to that solution from the OS 8 days to Mac OS X.
Maybe if the Wallaces could resurrect Now Contact, improve the speed, and work out some of the bugs, we might be able to salvage something from it. But let's leave the Now brand out of it. Start it off as a new program by rebooting Now Contact as an affordable contact solution?
Contactizer appears to be overkill for many folks but just providing the Now Contact module might be enough. I wonder if a survey is needed?
But the common theme seems to be that people are switching over to BusyCal but are left without a suitable contact solution.
Right now, I would have to go to Apple Mail and do a search on somebody's e-mail or create a smart mailbox. Not exactly elegant.
Then I would have to go to BusyCal and do a search for somebody's e-mail to find tasks associated to someone.
In NUDC and Now X, I would double-click on a contact record and view all the tasks, events, and notes associated with that person. That's what we miss. Address Book on steroids.
We can probably salvage the sync routines, rework the interface a little bit, and then we can have something going.
I thought about having a projects metaphor but I think that might already be done with a project manager like OmniPlan.
We often associate contacts to projects that we are working on. We can have a project such as "Christmas Party committee" or "MacWorld Expo 2011 presentation". Then we associate all the links such as contacts, events, appointments, tasks, and notes. Create a shared folder to put all the attachments. Then have a GANTT chart and progress meter. Show the status of certain tasks, follow ups.
But I think that might be out of the range of a contact solution. I will have to look into OmniPlan for bigger things like that.
So howzabout it John and Sheila? Phoenix rising from the ashes? I'd be able to preserve all the existing links I have now.
I'm another who's used NUTD/C and Now X since "forever." I, too, continue to use Now X and am hoping to see Now X rise again.
I've looked at all the competitors mentioned here and find that they are all awkward or in some way deficient. Besides the attention to all the detail that makes Now X so "sweet," I think the crucial features for me are the cross-linking of events and contacts in a single application, and the ability to link documents with events and contacts. Printing from contact lists is also important.
The best competitor I've seen is BusyCal, which I noticed has somebody from the former NUDT/C team, which may explain why it's so nice. The consistency of design and outlook makes me wonder if it might be a fine new home for Now X.
But then I think about code bases. It would probably be impossible to merge the two products. In a merge, one would have to incorporate the others' features. If the objective is to get cross-linked events and contacts, then, on the surface, it would seem that the best of BusyCal should be imported into Now X, after which the new Now X would replace BusyCal. A market-oriented advantage would be that the new Now X would acquire the BusyCal customer base. Such a path, if feasible, would probably take a long time.
Would it be crazy to consider dedicated and qualified users carrying Now X forward, in a manner similar to an open source project? Or maybe AS an open source project?
Maybe the simplest thing would be for another venture capital outfit to see Now X's uniqueness and potential, and fund it for a relaunch. Or, why not the original VC firm, which presumably had to cut and run because Now X wasn't hitting its profitability target and deadline. Since the product is now well-understood, maybe reopen negotiations with new, realistic targets.
Anyway, my fingers are crossed. We're behind you, John!
The BusyCal folks have reported that having a contact solution was a pretty popular feature request. But they are currently focusing on bug fixes and additional features to BusyCal to bring it up to par (printing being one of those missing features).
They did say that once development for BusyCal slows down, they'll turn their target sights on to other things (hopefully a contact solution).
I don't think they have plans for a Windows version. They are laser-focusing on the Mac platform and probably would need a lot more help to expand into the Windows world if they decide to go that route.
I was also an NUTD/CT user from the very early days. Really too bad about Now X's fate - I feel the personal loss! But given how long it took to release a pretty bad product, despite Wallace's great intentions, if I were a VC, I would worry about the code base. If I were interested in the space, it might be better to begin from scratch with a different team.
Our family's core need is to share calendar and contacts. We've been using BusySync and MobileMe for a year to sync 6 Macs and 2 iphones. We've had great results so that at least solves the calendar problem.
I'd really love to find a solution for contacts that doesn't suck. Does anyone have any experience with the Address Book Server software from a UK company? I've come close to trying it out a couple of times but didn't want to spend the bucks (pounds). Also, it looked complex and inelegant.
On the other hand, better something than nothing. They have a promotion on for a free 10 user license right now so might be worth a try.
Wow! Just tried out Address Book Server. The installation seemed a lot less complex than I recall. They provide an easy, paint-by-numbers quick start guide. Dead simple. So far, I'm stunned by how well it worked first shot. I started with a sync to my address book, then subsequently installed and sync'd my wife's. The two had long ago gone out of sync, so I suspected there would be a ton of errors. Nope - ABS did a terrific job of connecting them! <doing a happy dance>.
Definitely worth a try, especially with their free 10 user license promotion!
How about starting a movement to resurrect Now Contact?!?!?!
We did something just like that!!!
We just released BlackBook - a server based contact management solution. You can take an export of your Now Contact data and import it right into BlackBook.
Just like Now Contact you can share contacts with those in your organization, but we also have some great features - such as a CardDAV server to get your contacts on your iOS device!
There is a 3-use trial available for download on our site www.autriv.com/products/blackbook . The cost of the app is $99/user with the server being free.
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