RE: Off Topic: X1. Was: NB version 8.0 beta available now!

["Lavenda, Robert H. " <rhlavenda>]

Keith,

I've been using X1 for some time, and find it quite remarkable. First,
it's astonishingly fast--one of those programs that finds things as you
type them in so that by the time you've finished typing, the files are
displayed. Second, it indexes e-mail, attachments, contacts, and files
on the hard drive and can present them separately (that is, all e-mail
files, all attachments, all files) or together. It has built in filters
for photos and music extensions, so you can limit your searches to those
formats. It indexes file contents as well as file names. In a search, it
presents a list of files that include the search string on the left side
of the screen and the file contents on the right side with the search
string highlighted. Thus far, if X1 can't find it, it's not there. 

You can download a 15-day a trial version from www.x1.com, and that
should give you a very good idea as to whether it will meet your needs.
I think you'll be quite impressed. 

Rob

Robert H. Lavenda
Professor of Anthropology
Co-Chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
St. Cloud State University
320-308-3034
lavenda@stcloudstate.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: notabene@piper.hamline.edu [mailto:notabene@piper.hamline.edu] On
Behalf Of Keith L Dvorak Jr
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 4:17 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list NOTABENE
Subject: Off Topic: X1. Was: NB version 8.0 beta available now!

I have been thinking about buying X1, and there are a couple of similar
programs, some even free. Does anyone here use X1? Competing products?

I do have Acrobat 7 Professional, and I tend to save most of my
documents as
PDFs, so I might just leave it at that, but I'm not sure I would be
happy
with that.

I just have tons of documents, and it's getting harder and harder to
find
them all. I might try to collapse the elaborate chain of subdirectories,
and
use something like X1 to find things as I need them.

It's important to find something soon because I'm about to go online
with a
personal blog for some of my friends, and I would like to have the facts
at
my fingertips!

Also, for those interested: there was a product (still offered) called
"Lookout" for Outlook that works a million times better at finding email
than MS's own "find." I enjoy the amazing speed and accuracy it offers.

Best,

Keith

-----Original Message-----
From: notabene@piper.hamline.edu [mailto:notabene@piper.hamline.edu] On
Behalf Of Mark D. Szuchman
Sent: Tuesday, May 03, 2005 3:52 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list NOTABENE
Subject: RE: NB version 8.0 beta available now!

Hudson,
My intent wasn't so much a defense of Orbis, but rather to probe more 
deeply into the comparative strengths of different applications. This is

not usually or reliably found in the (necessarily?) superficial nature
of 
reviews in the professional trade and promotional materials. In turn,
such 
reviews allow many readers to imagine possibilities that are not
designed 
into the product, or, fail to inspire additional possibilities in their 
use. Indeed, Orbis is an example of an application that offers more 
potential than is often utilized. Now, if Orbis's design were to probe
into 
the full range of documents in the user's machine, it would be, indeed, 
ubiquitous.

 From what I've read about Spotlight it sounded to me that its purpose
is 
to find files and metadata in the machine and then present the actual
data 
using the application that generated them to start. Indeed, it's been 
compared with X1, but, as is so often the case with Apple, with greater 
elegance and sophistication.
Mark

At 04:09 PM 5/3/2005, you wrote:
>Mark,
>
>Aargh!  I didn't mean for my personal message to go to the list, nor 
>especially to create a launch point for a defense of Orbis.  However, 
>since I started it, I think you are 100% right about Orbis. I also 
>specifically agree with you that  Orbis capabilities are unmatched in 
>terms of integration with other "modules" and in terms of making raw 
>information into useful information for writers.
>
>On the other hand, you are wrong about "Spotlight" (Mas OS X Tiger) in
the 
>sense that you think it is about finding files rather than the text and

>metadata that they contain.  You also underplay the significance of 
>Spotlight's ubiquity, especially for the researcher whose raw data
might 
>come in many forms.  The tools that will organize, manage, and
integrate 
>that data are yet to be invented. Spotlight is after all only at
version 
>1.0, and it tends to fit with the platform that is all about playing
and 
>tinkering (with data) rather than managing and publishing.
>
>Just my 2 cents.
>
>H.
>
>
>
>
>
>>Hudson,
>>Ubiquitous, yes, powerful, not quit, except in the sense that it is
not 
>>application-specific in its search. Other apps have had such finding 
>>capabilities for some time (e.g., X1). But finding is only a portion
of 
>>Orbis' story, and frankly only a beginning. Orbis offers boolean-based

>>searching, finding, retrieving, organizing, citing, and hyper-linking 
>>capabilities.
>>
>>One scenario of need (typical of the average computer users) is
founded 
>>on the following desideratum: "where did I put that file which I need
so 
>>desperately to find, so I can use it?" (to edit, print, attach, etc.,
... 
>>whatever).
>>
>>More complex and sophisticated scenarios that Orbis is designed to 
>>satisfy would sound something like this:
>>"Find all instances (not whole files) of this (complex) relationship
of 
>>terms and strings, such that when I find the one(s) I need, I can 
>>incorporate them into my work, automatically have relevant citations 
>>available, automatically format them according to the style manual 
>>governing my document, reference the bibliographic manager, gather all

>>results into a sort of journal capable of creating additional
documents 
>>with all the found texts whenever I want them, and, please, do all
this 
>>virtually instantaneously."
>>
>>Now, it may well be that there is an application out there with these 
>>capabilities, but I'm not aware of them. Orbis has historically been
the 
>>most underutilized, yet richest application in the NB suite. Over the 
>>recent past, and especially now, by the looks of version 8, Orbis is 
>>coming out of its shy self, making its linkage with the other NB apps 
>>more obvious, and inviting NB users to take it for a drive each time
they 
>>open NB, right from the start.
>>Mark
>>
>>At 08:03 AM 5/3/2005, you wrote:
>>>Hi Annie,
>>>
>>>The new version of Mac OS X contains a new utility called 
>>>"Spotlight".  It's an Orbis-like utility that operates at the level
of 
>>>the file system, so it is potentially more powerful and ubiquitous
(but 
>>>perhaps less well integrated with specific programs).  I don't know
what 
>>>implication it has on NB, but I thought you or Steve might find it 
>>>interesting.  I see that some portion of your users are now using the

>>>Mac in emulation.  That's a good thing I guess.
>>>
>>>Hope all is well with you.
>>>
>>>H.
>>>--
>>>
>>>The Garnet Stone Company   Ph:610-348-4371 Fax:206-339-2515
>>>Hudson Barton   hhbv@highwinds.com   http://www.garnetstone.com
>
>
>