John Lawlor

I discovered this great programme from Evernote over the weekend. Available in both free and premium editions, it enables users with an Evernote account to store snippets of information, thoughts, pictures, documents, etc on the web. I regularly write notes and post-its to myself but often lose, mislay or simply forget about them. With Evernote, all those notes can now be stored simply and conveniently in one place on the Web for later processing. It is also possible to share your online notes with other Evernote users.

The service is available on a wide range of platforms, which is one of its most attractive features. There is a client for Windows and Mac, a version for the iPhone and other smartphones, a browser service and an email service. This means that it is pretty easy to capture and store a note, picture or document on any device no matter where you are. I tried to install it on my Blackberry but had problems with the Blackberry software. However, it was not a problem, as there is a mobile web version as well and the email service can be used with equal convenience.

The free service is pretty generous. It gives 40Mb of storage a month, which should be plenty to capture and store short notes or a few pictures. You can later move them into your preferred tool or system, or delete them when you have dealt with them. The subscription service costs $5 per month or $45 per year and gives 500 Mb of storage, more options and added security. I’m going to stick to the free service for the moment and see how it goes.

So why not check it out and if you like it, leave a comment and let me know.

Have you implemented Microsoft BPOS or are you considering implementing it?

I am carrying out an assessment of Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) and its suitability for use in large organisations.  If you have implemented BPOS or if you are a user of BPOS, I would really like to hear about your experiences of implementing and using it.

What problems did you encounter, from a technical perspective? How did you migrate from previous platforms, e.g. Webmail, Outlook 2003, SharePoint 2003, etc. What use have you made of OCS and Live Meeting? What about non-Microsoft browsers, such as Firefox, Safari, etc. Do you use other platforms, such as Apple and mobile devices? What approach did you take to roll-out, particularly in larger organisations? How many users did you have to cater for? How have you found the service  from the perspectives of security, availability, reliability, resilience, etc? And how have you found it from the perspectives of usability and accessibility?

What went well in your project? What benefits did your organisation gain from the implementation? What was the user and techcial training requirement? How have users adapted to the service and what has their experience been?

I’d really appreciate if readers would share their experiences with me and leave a comment here. I will collate all comments for a later blog post.