Finally a modern PIM for Macs is nigh.

Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
Thank you Chronos



Here's a post on their discussion board about the new suite.



SOHO ORGANIZER REVEALED



SOHO Organizer is actually a suite of specialized applications. It is comprised of four applications: SOHO Contacts, SOHO Calendars, SOHO Notes, and SOHO Print Essentials. SOHO Organizer is not meant to be an "exact" replacement for Personal Organizer or Group Organizer?some old features are missing/changed and some new features have been added. As previously discussed, market conditions and user needs have changed in recent years and we believe SOHO Organizer represents a solid adaptation to these changes. Plus, now that we have the foundation in place, greater things are in store for the future and we'll now be able to add new features more rapidly.



SOHO Contacts, SOHO Calendars, and SOHO Notes all store their information in a single database. Since contacts, calendars, and notes are stored together, it makes for some really tight integration. It also ensures related data stays together which also makes it easier for the end-user to manage. All three products also make sharing contacts, calendars, and notes over a network easy. They all feature advanced administration so various members of the workgroup can be assigned different levels of access to the data. Mobile users can even take shared data with them when they disconnect from the network so they always have access to the shared information. When they reconnect to the network, all of their changes will automatically synchronize with the master shared database.



SOHO Contacts, SOHO Calendars, and SOHO Notes each support Mac OS X synchronization. This means contacts, calendars, and notes are available to any application or device (cell phones, iPods, Palm handhelds, etc) that also synchronize with Sync Services. It also means that you can easily keep your contacts, calendars, and notes synchronized between multiple computers using .Mac synchronization.



SOHO Contacts is designed to be the most powerful way to manage and share contacts on Mac OS X. It supports all the conveniences of a modern contact manager including phone dialing, call logging, automatic relationship links, auto-completion, map generation, iCal event and to-do linking, etc. You can attach an unlimited of notes, call logs, etc to contacts and these notes show up in both SOHO Contacts and SOHO Notes.



SOHO Calendars is the easiest way to share calendars os Mac OS X. It integrates seamlessly with Apple?s iCal which means shared calendars show up automatically in iCal. Changes made to a shared calendar in iCal on one user's machine show up automatically in everyone else?s iCal. This means workgroup members can continue to use the familiar iCal for working with personal and shared calendars. It also means that shared calendars can be published to the web using the facilities built-in to iCal. I should also mention that non-shared calendars in iCal are automatically synchronized to a user's personal SOHO database. This means you can attach events and a to-dos from your personal calendars to contacts in SOHO Contacts. You can even create and attach personal events and to-dos directly from SOHO Contacts. To be clear, SOHO Calendars currently relies on iCal for its calendar views. It is our intention to add calendar views to SOHO Calendars in the future, but we're going to wait for feedback from users to gauge demand and get a better feel for specific features that add value beyond what iCal offers.



SOHO Notes is the premier digital note-taking application for Macintosh. Use it to capture, organize, and share all of your personal and workgroup information. It can store almost anything including text, sticky, pdf, image, file, movie, audio, bookmark, and web archive notes. It will even let you take your notes with you on you Palm handheld or iPod. Plus, it works with Spotlight so your notes can be searched at any time. And, of course, it integrates with SOHO Contacts which means you can easily manage all the notes and call logs attached to your contacts in one place.



SOHO Print Essentials is the fastest way to produce professional-looking documents. Use it to design and print labels, envelopes, letters, fax cover sheets, invoices, address books, etc. I think you'll find that this is the best design and print tool ever made part of a PIM product. It integrates tightly with SOHO Contacts which means all you have to do to use it is select one or more contacts and choose the type of document you wish to print. It's that easy. Because the product has some amazing design tools built-in, you can easily customize your documents with your company logo, fonts, etc. It also makes traditionally frustrating tasks like envelope printing and mail merge a snap.



ROLLOUT PLAN



SOHO Organizer is now complete with final icons, themes, and documentation. The only exception is that we don't have the Personal/Group Organizer > SOHO Organizer converter complete and unfortunately haven't had time to work on it in a long time. That said, we're going to move forward with a public beta because we know everyone would like to get started with the new product. We've been testing the software internally and with small private beta groups for the past month. We don't expect significant problems but we won't know for sure until we get it in more hands. We caution that this is beta software and shouldn't be used with mission critical data. We recommend you back up your Address Book, iCal, etc. before proceeding just to play it safe.



We're presently building final installers and hope to have them available in the next 24 to 48 hours. To sign up for the betas, please send an email to <[email protected]> and include your forum login name.



We will be releasing betas of the below products. As you can see, we're actually doing a near-simultaneous beta release of five products at once which is no small undertaking. Because these products are so integrated, we basically had to do an initial simultaneous release so it would make sense to everyone and for some technical reasons. A quick word on StickyBrain 4, the little brother to SOHO Notes. Some have questioned our commitment to Organizer over the past year as they've seen us release multiple versions of StickyBrain. We hope it is now evident that this note manager was simply an essential piece of the puzzle in the greater SOHO Organizer picture.



SOHO Contacts

SOHO Calendars

SOHO Notes

SOHO Print Essentials

StickyBrain 4



PRICING



While we reserve the right to change pricing at any time, the below pricing represents what we consider to be final pricing.



SOHO Organizer ($99.99)?a suite consisting of Contacts, Calendars, Notes, & Print Essentials

SOHO Contacts ($49.99)?can be purchased individually as well

SOHO Calendars ($49.99)?can be purchased individually as well

SOHO Notes ($69.99)?can be purchased individually as well

SOHO Print Essentials ($49.99)?can be purchased individually as well

StickyBrain 4 ($39.99)



Volume pricing will also be available:



SOHO*Organizer 3-User Pack ($239.99) (20% savings)

SOHO*Organizer*5-User Pack ($369.99) (25% savings)

SOHO*Organizer*10-User Pack ($599.99) (40% savings)

SOHO*Organizer*20-User Pack ( $999.99) (50% savings)



Upgrade pricing:



Organizer 4.x -> SOHO Organizer = $49.99

Organizer 4.x -> SOHO Organizer 3-User = $119.99 (20% savings)

Organizer 4.x -> SOHO Organizer 5-User = $179.99 (27% savings)

Organizer 4.x -> SOHO Organizer 10-User = $309.99 (38% savings)

Organizer 4.x -> SOHO Organizer 20-User = $499.99 (50% savings)



StickyBrain -> StickyBrain 4 = $25.00

StickyBrain -> SOHO Notes = $39.99

StickyBrain -> SOHO Organizer = $69.99



CONCLUSION



The success of the beta will determine the final release schedule for all of these products. We thank you for your patience and we thank you for being loyal Chronos customers. We completely understand that it's been a frustrating three years and assure you that we completely empathize with both your positive and negative feedback. We hope these new products will keep you as valuable customers. We also want you to know that we're excited about the future and think that this new product line is a solid foundation upon which we can lead this market segment moving forward. Best regards,







I must say that I'm definitely looking forward to a new PIM for OS X and I've used Chronos products before. They have the right stuff.



Some of you that are interested in PIMs may want to see if you can get on the beta. If the Palm sync works as advertised I'll buy a Palm T/X after my Mac mini purchase Q1 of next year.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    I switched to mac a few years ago, and I missed having a good opportunity / sales manager. I tried DayLite from MarketCirlce only to find that it was a joks. I have purchased an expensive FileMaker solution that does great project management, but has no integration with Address Book and really lets up on contact management end of things. Its like nobody hits the mark.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pbaker05

    I switched to mac a few years ago, and I missed having a good opportunity / sales manager. I tried DayLite from MarketCirlce only to find that it was a joks. I have purchased an expensive FileMaker solution that does great project management, but has no integration with Address Book and really lets up on contact management end of things. Its like nobody hits the mark.



    I read about a Golden Seal business programme from Turtle Creek Software that sounds like it may have some features that you are speaking of. Haven't tried it, I believe one may try out a demo. It is not less expensive than FileMaker.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    http://www.chronosnet.com



    Chronos Organizer has been announced. Go check them bennies.
  • Reply 4 of 12
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Ummmm



    is anyone with a recent Mac going to download the trial and comment?
  • Reply 5 of 12
    kcmackcmac Posts: 1,051member
    Okay. I gave it a quick look.



    I have Daylite so I would expect the app to be similar to be useful for me. I chose Daylite because it was similar to ACT which I had used on the PC. I track a lot of current as well as potential projects and contacts. I categorize all of these projects, use keywords extensively, can link all kinds of contacts and info together easily. Syncs nicely.



    SOHO Organizer is nothing like Daylite or ACT. Way too simplistic. Not really a sales tool like Daylite. Does appear to have the cocoa goodies and looks like syncing is easy. They also have an easier purchasing procedure in regards to single and multiple users.



    I didn't give it much of a trial as it doesn't seem like it would come close to replacing Daylite. I was somehow hopeful it could. The GUI for Daylite ain't exactly that great. Daylite though is a very powerful database for manipulating information for what I do. Still fairly painful however.



    Oh well. If you need to organize a lot of info but don't need an app like ACT or Daylite, this could be for you.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    hmurchisonhmurchison Posts: 12,419member
    Thanks kcmac



    I read their support forums and people are NOT happy at all with SOHO organizer. It's depressing because there are so few PIMs that really nail Calendars and Contacts.



    Well I guess I'll see what Objective Decision does with OD4Contact version 3 at Macworld.
  • Reply 7 of 12
    Quote:

    Okay. I gave it a quick look.



    I have Daylite so I would expect the app to be similar to be useful for me. I chose Daylite because it was similar to ACT which I had used on the PC. I track a lot of current as well as potential projects and contacts. I categorize all of these projects, use keywords extensively, can link all kinds of contacts and info together easily. Syncs nicely.



    SOHO Organizer is nothing like Daylite or ACT. Way too simplistic. Not really a sales tool like Daylite. Does appear to have the cocoa goodies and looks like syncing is easy. They also have an easier purchasing procedure in regards to single and multiple users.



    I didn't give it much of a trial as it doesn't seem like it would come close to replacing Daylite. I was somehow hopeful it could. The GUI for Daylite ain't exactly that great. Daylite though is a very powerful database for manipulating information for what I do. Still fairly painful however.



    Oh well. If you need to organize a lot of info but don't need an app like ACT or Daylite, this could be for you.





    KCMAC, I use JobPro Central and it works well if you have corporate stuff. I have also used DayLite and did not like it one bit. Goofy layout, single item opportunities, not much there to work with. JobPro may be more than either of you need, bbut you can download a free trial version...
  • Reply 8 of 12
    kcmackcmac Posts: 1,051member
    Thanks pbaker. I actually looked into that one once. Call me crazy but I have just never had a love for stuff in the Filemaker family. The look always feels so OS 8-9.



    I have actually customized Daylite so that it works really well for me. I don't use it with others because I am the only Mac user in my company. (over 600 people).



    Daylite is just kind of squirrely the the way it operates. Takes awhile to catch on. Quite powerful however. They did start off early by taking the stance that Addressbook, iCal and Mail may never be fully developed by Apple. In the end, I think that is their weakness. Still seems to look and feel like its own little fenced in app.



    Too bad about Chronos. The screenies were exciting. When I saw what their sample notes were though, I knew this was not something that would be helpful to me professionally. It also appears to be fenced in. Just why they need their own calendar and addressbook when we already have a good one in the Apple version I will never know. Maybe someday someone will just get it.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    Quote:

    Originally posted by kcmac

    Maybe someday someone will just get it.



    Have you ever tried Redlien Account Executive?
  • Reply 10 of 12
    Redlien is just like DayLite in that it is very boxed in and limited. That is why I went ot FileMaker.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    kcmackcmac Posts: 1,051member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pbaker05

    Redlien is just like DayLite in that it is very boxed in and limited. That is why I went ot FileMaker.



    Which I think is less intuitive than Daylite.



    I'm sticking with Daylite until someday something better comes along or maybe daylite revamps itself. It really does what I need it to. Just not as enjoyable as it could be. Not quite a Mac app yet.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    kcmackcmac Posts: 1,051member
    Just found another possibility.



    http://www.tacksoft.com/Software/Opp...ager/Index.htm



    I like this one for the few minutes I have used it. Real easy and seems to be just enough features for me. Looks like it could use some iCal implementation but...



    Obviously Daylite is much more powerful but it has a lot of features I don't need.



    Might give Opportunity Manager a quick a try. Costs $40 so not bad. Free trial.
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