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View Full Version : PocketPC Addict Reviews PIToday 2.0


Janak Parekh
08-26-2004, 05:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pocketpcaddict.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3690#11165' target='_blank'>http://www.pocketpcaddict.com/modul...ic&t=3690#11165</a><br /><br /></div><i>"PIToday was created originally as a personal project by Deje, a Pocket Informant enthusiast, who wanted more control from his today screen. But since then, it has been developed to professional standards, and has become one of the most popular PIM based Today screen plugins available. I've been running version 1 since it was first released, and have found it invaluable, so I was delighted when Deje sent me a late beta of version 2 for review just a few days ahead of release. So, without further ado, lets take a look at just how far this program has come since the last update from not so long ago."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040826-PIToday.jpg" /><br /><br />It's great to see so many fantastic new Today screen plugins -- both this and PocketBreeze seem to be particularly popular as of late -- and Brad gives PIToday the thumbs-up.

ricksfiona
08-26-2004, 05:33 PM
If only I didn't need to synchronize my data with ACT! :cry:

willkess71
08-26-2004, 05:55 PM
When Can I Get it! It looks incredible.

JTEK
08-26-2004, 06:55 PM
If only I didn't need to synchronize my data with ACT! :cry:

Ahhh, I would love to synchronize with Act!, but the tools out there are seriously lacking (ActLink for PPC, Trans/Act for PPC, et. al.).

I'm curious as to what you're using to do so. Moreover, have you tried using the new Act! 7.0?

PiatekHS
08-26-2004, 07:12 PM
You can get it at http://www.pitoday.de.vu/

Any idea what the upgrade cost will be from version 1.x?

It is excellent and looks even better now.

JTWise
08-26-2004, 07:18 PM
According to Deje, Version 1 Users will receive a 50% discount on version 2.

maymaio
08-26-2004, 07:37 PM
As it seems to me, once again PIToday copied most features from PocketBreeze.... :evil: and still PocketBreeze is much better looking and with more valuable features! 8) (to my opinion....)

SBSH is also offering %50 off as a competitive offer, which means you will need to pay about the same price to upgrade from PIToday to PocketBreeze :D and now you can also enjoy your contact on your today screen with ContactBreeze!

http://www.sbsh.net/products/pocketbreeze/index.php?page=special_offers

I must admit that although I don't work for SBSH, I am part of their beta group..... but I really advice to check PocketBreeze before making any decisions.

surur
08-26-2004, 07:59 PM
Mmm... its very nice, but its also starting to become intimidating. Ive got many plug-ins on my today screen, and PIToday 2 seems to do best as the only item on the screen.

It worries me a bit that Ive wasted all the functionality of this program by just using it show appointments, and switching off most of the display options so it fits within 140 pixels, instead of 300.

Well. thats progress, but it feels like its leaving me behind.

Surur

Marcel_Proust
08-26-2004, 08:06 PM
As it seems to me, once again PIToday copied most features from PocketBreeze.... :evil: and still PocketBreeze is much better looking and with more valuable features! 8) (to my opinion....)

SBSH is also offering %50 off as a competitive offer, which means you will need to pay about the same price to upgrade from PIToday to PocketBreeze :D and now you can also enjoy your contact on your today screen with ContactBreeze!

http://www.sbsh.net/products/pocketbreeze/index.php?page=special_offers

I must admit that although I don't work for SBSH, I am part of their beta group..... but I really advice to check PocketBreeze before making any decisions.

Don't get angry, this is great for us! Look what happened at AF and PI, they are always trying to leapfrog each other, and neither is above copying.
Right now I'm preferring PocketBreeze especially with the incredible contact plug in. Is anything like that in that in the new PIToday?
Is the new PIToday as fast as PocketBreeze, which seems to coexist quite happily with other plugins. And this is even with seven days displayed in a very busy schedule.
Those time gages graphics for busy/empty times look great - I don't think the ones in Pocketbreeze are as functional unless I am missing an option.

KTamas
08-26-2004, 08:50 PM
I still prefer PocketBreeze....

ctmagnus
08-26-2004, 09:09 PM
Does PIToday still wreak havoc with the order of Today plugins?

thendless
08-26-2004, 11:56 PM
I used to use pitoday and while i liked it, IMO pocketbreeze is pretty much superior to it in every way. However that's just my opinion :)

maymaio
08-27-2004, 12:15 AM
I agree that PocketBreeze is much better.

I also think that with the contacts addition in PocketBreeze the development of PocketBreeze is going to a better direction then PIToday's adding more and more calendar related features that I'm not sure if anyone really needs? :? (or understand...)

rpommier
08-27-2004, 12:17 AM
And then there's me using TAgenda :| Which pretty much does it for me...

maymaio
08-27-2004, 12:25 AM
And then there's me using TAgenda :| Which pretty much does it for me...

Have you tried PocketBreeze? it gives you much more then just agenda! and you can also get now your contacts 8)

mrkablooey
08-27-2004, 02:11 AM
I still prefer PocketBreeze....

Exactly. If not for the quality of the product, but the level of support.

jlp
08-27-2004, 02:45 AM
Am I missing something or I don't really see the utility for something that tries to do what PI already does very well?! AND still not do it all!! AND still needs to launch PI to do creating/editing stuff.

I installed Pocket Breeze, but now I inactivated it; and I will probably uninstall it soon.

My limited Today screen real estate is already taken by CLaunch (1 line and small icons), World Today (1 tiny line of text) Journal Bar, Pocket Weather (more complete than JB's), and Notes Today. On the bottom I display my favorite sports car.

I have no more space for a plugin that does even less than PI and yet PI 5.21 launches about as fast as PItoday refreshing the page; or I can leave PI open. Yet PIt/PB still need to launch PI for some operations like creating/editing data; and I can directly do hundreds of things (in PI) I can't do with PItoday (I presume) or P.Breeze that I tried.

AND it saves me precious RAM and money :D

ctmagnus
08-27-2004, 03:30 AM
It takes some getting used to. Since I started using PIToday and then Pocket Breeze, I have ditched three lesser used today plugins due to the fact that I find this kind of plugin so useful.

DeJe
08-27-2004, 08:56 AM
As it seems to me, once again PIToday copied most features from PocketBreeze.... :evil: ...
Hi, I was not about to participate in this thread.
But I think I need to answer here and this will be my first and last answer letting you continue to discuss.

First of all, both PIToday and PB are pretty good today screen plugins in my opinion.
But the statement above makes me shaking my head.

Maymaio, did you ever compared features for both plugins? Or do you just looking at PB and than realize PIToday have that feature too. Some even since release version 1.0 in December 2003. ;) How about "filter" or left aligned icons to name just two features?
Should I say "...once again PB copy ..."? No, I did not and will not cause that's the normal way it goes if the request from the users are there or the idea. ;)
And No, I don't want to go into discussion which feature was "copied" from the other in both plugins. ;)

I am just a bit disappointment about a statement like yours as a PB Beta team member!
It's just half of the truth.

Regards,
DeJe

amitregev
08-27-2004, 10:14 AM
I must say I agree with Deje here and I'm sure PocketBreeze and PIT would have never been such full featured products without the other 8) this is true for everything, competition is the best way to push development of things.

Competition is a great thing for the developer and even better for the customer. I think we both learn from each other and improve our products with things we learn from the other.

And well... it's not every day that I get to post right after a great developer :D (unless it is one of those posts against Handango or PocketGear commissions were all developers join together :lol: )

Have a great day.

DerekTheGeek
08-27-2004, 02:45 PM
I for one use this type of plug-in frequently. It allows me to just turn on my PDA and get an agenda "bird's eye view" of what I have comming up.

Even though I have purchased both plug-ins I would be interested in a comparison of the two (Pocket Breeze and PIToday). I know this would be tough as they both are updated frequently.

- Derek

Mark R Penn
08-27-2004, 06:30 PM
I believe both programmes are extremely good, and agree with Deje and Amit that comments about one copying the other are not helpful.

There are some features in PIT that appeared in PB first, but there are just as many that appeared in PIT before PB - that's the way it works.

I'll give you one example (as a member of the PIT beta team). Both programmes now have time bars that you can use to create new appointments. PB's appeared in public a few days before PIT's were known about (through the review), BUT the fact is that PIT had them in a beta version as far back as July, while PB's version was first discussed publicly in a thread on their forums started on 8th August. Did PB copy PIT? No, of course not, because they couldn't possibly have known about what PIT 2 was going to have. Did PIT copy PB? Again, no, how could they have done if the idea wasn't discussed until after PIT already had them?

The ONLY way you'd ever be able to answer this one is if both developers operated in the same way, and released new features as soon as they were incorporated, so you could tell who had the idea first, but they don't. PB has new features added which are released almost imediately, while PIT tends to go through a longer private beta phase. BOTH aproaches have their advantages and their dissadvantages, both for the developer and the user, but neither is "right" or "wrong".

IMHO there are three things which should be left out of threads like this, which sadly have all appeared in this one:

- Half facts used to justify a statement. Making statements like "PIToday copied most features from PocketBreeze" simply isn't true - there are just as many features in PB that were in PIT first, and there are still many in PIT that aren't in PB at all (and vice-versa I'm sure). They are both PIM based Today screen plugins - they are bound to have many common features. Suggesting one or other developer is simply copying his competitor, and therefore has no imagination of his own, is insulting, inacurate, and childish.

- Statements along the lines of "PB is still better". Umm, firstly, how exactly do you know that - PIT V2 hasn't even been released yet?!! Such statements, made when you can't possibly have tried both, simply demonstrate that you intend to hold a given view no matter what the facts might be. And in any event, niether is "better". If PB had only one feature more than the built in Today plugin, while PIT had every feature it was possible to imagine, PIT would still not be "better" for everyone - many people value simplicity over features.

- Statements knocking the level of support offered by either developer, unless you have specific facts to back them up. BOTH developers support their products far better than the norm in this market. It is not right to assume that because one offers superb support, the other does not. It's also not right to equate frequent updates to good support. Frequent updates are liked by some, loathed by others, but neither group is "wrong". It could be argued that less frequent updates represents better support, as maybe that developer tests his product more thouroughly, but equally it can be argued that frequent updates mean that problems are fixed more quickly. My experience is that although PIT is not updated as frequently with features, it IS updated VERY quickly if a problem is found, and in the background a lot of work is going on to develop and test the next version. I personally prefer that aproach, but also respect and have no issue with PB's aproach. Who's to say which is right?

Offering opinions is good, and I have no argument with anyone who prefers PB over PIT and says so, and says why, even though I hold the oposite view. But come on, stick to facts for goodness sake. It doesn't do your argument any good if you don't.

And anyway, they're only Today plugins. It's hardly life or death. :wink:

Mark R Penn
08-27-2004, 06:47 PM
Even though I have purchased both plug-ins I would be interested in a comparison of the two (Pocket Breeze and PIToday). I know this would be tough as they both are updated frequently.

- Derek

I used to want to do a comparrison like that for AF and PI, but in reality it's pretty meaningless. Firstly as you say, both are updated frequently, so it'd be out of date almost as soon as it was written, and secondly it's not just the feature list that is important, yet that's all that could be compared acurately (plus speed maybe, but even that is a choice the user is sometimes willing to make - "I'll accept a slower refresh because I prefer the XYZ").

The only answer for anyone is to try both, and see which one YOU like the best. Opinions in threads like this tell you very little other than both are worth trying. You have to try them yourself to see which fits your life best.

Even the number of downloads or positions in best seller lists tell you nothing, once both are selling well enough to reassure you they are not unstable PPC eaters, as marketing and distribution routes have more effect on those than quality (assuming both are high quality) does.

I'd like to see a comparrison too, but don't think it would settle anything.

Mark

brucejackson
08-30-2004, 08:51 AM
Hi,

Just to add another option to the list, has anyone else tried alarmToday? It doesn't offer quite so many options - but sometimes "less is more" :)
And everything I need is right there on my Today screen - coexisting with my 4 other plugins.