Back in September I wrote a blog post title Collaborate with Myself, in which I talked about various ways to write down and store information, as well as syncing that information between multiple computers. I wanted to take some time to write an update. Of all the software I blogged about, OneNote, Groove and Live Writer are probably the one's that I have used the most in the past 5-6 months.
What am I Using
Groove
Currently I have 5 workspaces: IE Favorites, KeePass, Live Writer (Drafts), OneNote Notebooks, and Work Documents. I have had very few problems syncing between 2 computers, and only a couple of times were there were conflicts, primarily a result of groove not running on one of the computers.
IE Favorites are kept in sync, although sometimes the order in which they are displayed is not the same. The first time this happened, I thought that syncing wasn't working at all. KeePass is a great program to store passwords in. I maintain 3 password "databases" and all 3 available at work and home. With Live Writer, I sync the My Weblog Posts folder, which contains drafts and recently posted. Having the drafts sync is great. I can start a post at work, and finish it at home or vice versa. One Note syncs just fine, and if there is a conflict it's pretty easy to spot because you get a new tab that has the word Copy in it. Finally, I just started syncing my work documents, as it's nice to have them available at home without requiring some sort of remote access. It's also my way of backing them up (DTA = Don't Trust Anybody).
Live Writer
Not much to report on Live Writer, other then it works as advertised. I added a plug-in to format source code in posts, and that's about it. The only thing I have to log into my blog for is if I want to add a track back. I'm up to 89 posts, and except for a couple of posts I've brought over from a different blog, all of been created with Live Writer.
One Note
OneNote is a great program that I have started using on a daily basis. I have the quick launcher in the system tray so all I have to do is press Shift+Windows+N to bring it up. I'll write something down, close OneNote (as my task bar gets so full during the day) and can bring it back up with ease.
I've used OneNote to record meeting notes, project ideas, book notes, track trouble shooting steps during my on-call rotations. I have a Personal and Work notebook, each with several tabs, and Groove keeps everything in sync.
Looking back at my first post, I am not even using the features I blogged about, but am still finding great value. This is the perfect opportunity to revisit some of those features and see if I can make use of them.
Unfortunatly I still haven't gotten a tablet PC. I was looking on Ebay again today, but just couldn't pull the trigger on buying one as I have some other expenses coming up, including a possible roller hockey tournament in Cincinnati, OH. I need to put some thought into how I can justify it as a work expense. On the one hand, it would make taking notes during meetings more efficient, but I'm really trying to limit the number of meetings I'm in, as it means I'm not getting much development time in.
What I'm Not Using (yet)
Wiki
I did finally get some Wiki software installed on the website, but there is no content on it yet. I still need to get backups setup and play around with the software a little more before I commit any serious time to writing content for it.
I have chosen ScrewTurn Wiki as it's an asp.net file based Wiki, which also has support for running offline. With the launch of http://wiki.asp.net I am a little more encouraged to move forward with my own Wiki, although I am interested to see if Telligent does in fact release a community version of the Wiki software, although I suspect the data store will be SQL which I think is overkill for my needs.
One thing that is lacking from ScrewTurn is page level, or category level security. While I realize that a Wiki is all about collaboration and public involvement, some of the pages I would want to restrict access to. The reason for this, is that I see the Wiki acting as somewhat of a CMS for my site in certain instances.
Sharepoint (at home)
I did finally get Sharepoint installed at home, if for no other reason then to try out the 40 some Sharepoint templates provided by Microsoft. Currently I'm playing around with the Stock tracker template (not the official name), and Lending Library.
I defiantly like Sharepoint and the templates, but it's hard to get too excited when you are the only one using the Sharepoint Site. Even though I have changed the wife's home page to the Sharepoint site, she still doesn't read the announcements and calendar. I bet if I put the project management template on there and told she would use it ;)