Ulti-Planner Version 2.1 Released - 50% off for the Holidays!!

[Birdiestyle]

http://www.birdsoft.biz/images/up21week1.gif

Birdsoft is pleased to announce the release of an Update to the #3 Super-PIM, Ulti-Planner. This Version adds Custom Category Icons, Improved VGA system support, the addition of our "best in class" Day Bars to the week view Titlebars, and more....

Check it out at
http://www.birdsoft.biz/upmain.htm



With Great Features, a "Better" Interface, a Low Low Price, and Free Updates for Life... Be sure to try out Ulti-Planner!

[emuelle1]

Thanks. It's pretty much what I've been looking for. I think I'll give your demo a try. Any plans to release a companion add-on for Outlook?

[emuelle1]

So far, so good. I like the displays. It's locked my unit up a few times (my fault for having an older model), but overall I like the display and it's probably going to turn into an asset. What really seems to eat up processor time is changing calendar views. As long as I leave it in 5 day view it's fine. That's what I prefer to work in anyway. It would be nice to have a Today screen plug in and/or a desktop companion, but that might drive up the cost.

[amnon]

How does it compare to the big guys (Pocket Informant and Agenda Fusion)?

Don't just state it doesn't have this or that. I am interested in size of application, speed, robustness, etc.

Thanks in advance!

[emuelle1]

I honestly haven't used Pocket Informant or Agenda Fusion. Wish I could help you there. I can only realistically compare it to Pocket Outlook and Tagenda. I'd like to download the trials, but I'm afraid that I'd decide I can't live without them and my wife doesn't always react favorably to my "toys" having money spent on them. Long story that I'll spare you.

Application size is fairly small. Speed is not that great on my 3765, but I'm sure it would run awesome on an x50. It does lock occasionally, but that's probably just my older device. I'd say it's fairly robust. The calendar, tasks, and contacts are top notch. The developer admits that they have barely scratched the surface of what they can do with notes and journal on their web page. One thing I really like is being able to see my day's appointments and tasks grouped together in one view.

Hope that much was helpful to you and sorry I can't do much more.

[Birdiestyle]

Being the developer, it is probably better to ask users.. Or try it out.... But I'll try to give an honest go at it....

Features...
We have a lot of the major features that PI and AF add...
*linking *category icons *category filtering *contact images
*sorting * search *week view *detailed month *etc.. etc... etc...

A couple things we come up short on for now are...
* No Alarm Notes(which we think other 3rd party apps do better at).
* No Hourly Day(we do have an agenda type day) or Year Views (YET!)
* Our Bar Week view is a little less detailed
* they have had time to add a few more tricks here and there.. (templating, text features,split screen, etc..) Some could be just what you need. If it is.. just let us know.. we are always upgrading...

It is very flattering to us that though we are the newest kid on the block, the competition is already copying and/or playing catch up on some of our features. Competition is good!


Simplicity
* We planned out the layout of the application at the beginning to allow for expandability, and simplicity. The big two have now resorted to huge drop lists of features, that make it extremely difficult to find particular settings that you want, as they are mixed in with many rarely or never used settings. And then they have added functionality under double-clicking of icons, or in menus, so it is not always intuitive how to setup the things you want to do. Using the manual comes into play for a lot of issues...


Speed
* We are all doing basically the same things as far as loading the information. So besides some specific tweaking and the amount of information we each cache, the speed is dependant on the machine and we are right in the mix with them. We Double Buffer everything so our screen draws are instantaneous once the info is ready, so you won't see as many flashing screens, and slow drawing...


Price
* No contest.. We are at $10 with no update fees ever. They charge around $30, and then try to charge you half that once a year in order for you to update(which isnt always that justifiable by new features). Watch very soon for an even more ridiculious sale price for the holidays.


Size
* No Contest again... ~700Kb Total to install.. The competition both push 2MB or more.... Which is very important since PIMs are better stored in main memory for performance reasons...


Hope this helps...

Thanks

Brian
Birdsoft



The lockup is not a normal occurance, and shouldnt be happening even on older devices, I will have to look into this more for this particular situation.... Speed of Month view drawing is device specific (and # appts and feature specific too, and after its loaded once the info is cached). On an x50v its fast, and on an x5 its very acceptable if not fast, and....

[amnon]

Thanks, I might get myself to try it (though I am picky on what I put on my Axim).

I remember trying the big PIMs and they seemed sluggish compared to the built in Pocket Outlook and I didn't feel they added amazing value. It was surprising to see any sluggishness because I have an Axim X30 624MHz with very little on it apart from data.

Thanks again for this overview,
Amnon

[Birdiestyle]

Yes unfortunately based on the amount of information we show, and how we have to access the information in the Pocket Outlook Databases, it will be slower than Pocket Outlook. We all are accessing the DBs directly to try to get closer to matching the speed of PO, becuase the software development APIs that Microsoft provides are even slower yet....


Thanks for considering it...

[Birdiestyle]

Happy Holidays!!

We are offering for a very limited time... Ulti-Planner for 50% off!!!

Yes, a Super PIM for under 5 bucks... And yes you still recieve free
updates for life!!

Just use the discount code 3D96FF4 at Handango.com to recieve the discount. This offer is for a limited time and availability, so get it now...


So come check out the new Features in Version 2.1!

[emuelle1]

Brian, how often do you plan to release updates? For $5, that does sound like a steal.

[Birdiestyle]

Update schedules for my products are very dependant on number of sales, so as popularity increases so do the amount of updates. But for Ulti-Planner I AT LEAST do a major release once a year, with several other minor(though sometimes significant) releases scattered in there...

[emuelle1]

Sold American. Can't beat that.