windows

So yeah… just let me find that "diskette". Glad I did those security updates.

Just fired up Parallels with WinXP for the first time in 10 months.  How many OS X updates have there been in the past 5 years? I bet it's less than this.

I just noticed that ResophNotes, the Simplenote client for Windows, has been updated recently. I had thought it was abandoned-ware after a long delay in patches and feature enhancements. I was wrong. ResophNotes now supports pinned notes and syncs much faster. This is the definitive Simplenote client for those of us suffering on Windows.

It is now obvious that Siri has elevated the iOS Reminders app to the winners circle of productivity applications. It has become the quintessential ubiquitous capture device for me. One unexpected side effect is that I am now using the Tasks functionality in Outlook on Windows much more. Exchange Tasks Through my day-job I am forced to use Microsoft Exchange and Outlook on Windows. I loath Outlook but I have come to accept it as my lot in life.

You know an OS is great when it it makes MS Outlook even slightly tolerable. In this case iOS 5 adds syncing Exchange tasks with the new Reminders app in iOS 5. I have avoided uses Outlook task since my first iPhone arrived. I preferred to hop from my work windows machine to my iPhone or iPad rather than use Outlook any more than I was forced to. I missed it in many of the great iOS reviews but discovered it last night when my old completed tasks from work showed up in Reminders (4 year old tasks that were surprisingly completed).

Here’s a great looking and feature rich Markdown editor for Windows called WriteMonkey. It’s a portable application, which means no installation is necessary. What’s more, it is beautifully simple. On first launch you get a black window with a blinking cursor. There’s no menu or other chrome by default. Hitting F1 brings up a simple keyboard shortcut screen that also offers Markdown syntax reminders. F10 opens the preferences dialog. The application is deceptively simple.

I love me some NVAlt and Simplenote. However, I’m stuck in Windows at work and do not have the pleasure of using Dropbox on Windows. There is a decent enough Simplenote client for windows but development seems to have ceased and it is not feature complete. So I recently started using the Simplenote webapp for my notes on Windows and it is a great experience. It’s closer to an NVAlt experience on Windows than any other native application I have tried.

Tinkering Dropbox is incredibly useful and I enjoy extending it's utility whenever I can. I also enjoy choosing projects that will teach me something new about my Mac. My latest project was to provide SFTP access to my Dropbox account. For security reasons, I am not allowed to install Dropbox at work. I considered several options for direct access to my files (email, webdav) but FTP is the most simple and universal access I could develop.

Dropbox (referral link) is the service that Mobile Me should have been. Apple really missed the mark with MobileMe especially in the file syncing arena. Innovation does not tolerate a vacuum or even a partial suck. Dropbox filled that void nicely and the ubiquitous integration with iOS apps has made it indispensable. That's one reason I am a happy paying customer. If I pay for a service, it's usually because I am deriving significant value from it.

OmniFocus from Windows There's no doubt that OmniFocus by the Omni Group is the quintessential mac app. It's elegant, easy to use and simply makes work easier. It has nearly solved the digital ubiquitous capture problem. It's an iPhone app, it's an iPad app, it's desktop app, it's a whipped topping. Unfortunately it is not a windows app (yet).I spend most of my work hours on a Windows machine. I have developed a couple of rountines that allow me to integrate OmniFocus with my workflow on Windows.