Filed under: Software, Internet Tools
Chronos replaces StickyBrain with SOHO Notes 5.5
StickyBrain, one of the leading 'digital junk drawer' apps that recently entered a 4.1 beta testing phase, has been officially discontinued by Chronos in favor of SOHO Notes 5.5. Current registered users of StickyBrain 4.0 will receive an upgrade to SOHO Notes for free, while users who own licenses for any previous StickyBrain versions (1.x, 2.x and 3.x) can upgrade to SOHO Notes 5.5 for a mere $25, the price offered in the past for upgrading from StickyBrain 3.x to 4.x.
Why is StickyBrain being dissolved in favor of SOHO Notes, you ask? Chronos has published an announcement and FAQ explaining the decision, but here's the short version: SOHO Notes is basically the big brother of StickyBrain; they're almost the same app, derived from the same codebase, except SOHO Notes included three key features that Chronos used to charge extra for:
- SOHO Notes can synchronize notes between multiple computers using a .Mac account (seamlessly, in the background).
- SOHO Notes can access multiple note databases simultaneously.
- SOHO Notes is multi-user capable which means users can share notes with others over a network using the product's client/server technology.
Feature-wise, this new version of SOHO Notes 5.5 offers some powerful new goodies, such as the ability to import and catalog almost any kind of file, send notes to your blog, a DockNote that makes it easy to get info both in and out, audio recording notes, full-screen editing of notes, a Daily Journal/Diary category that can automatically date/time stamp notes and much more.
Whether you love your hate
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
B B said 11:56AM on 7-09-2006
Been playing with the SOHO Notes since receiving Chronos free upgrade email (a few hours ago). This seems much more stable than the last time I tried Notes (where StickyBrain was still much more stable). Not sure if sync has been perfected yet (it was one of Notes well publicized issues) as I don't have .Mac account. I still think overall StickyBrain errr SOHO Notes is superior to Yojimbo (at this point), but if Chronos moved away from limitations of OpenBase (security/encryption, scalability, etc.) that gap would be larger. That likely isn't going to happen unfortunately, so we'll see as competition (Yojimbo, Mori, Voodoo, etc.) approach. And as mentioned in the article DEVONthink is still out there and depending on your use (as it's arguably a different product) ahead of all the others (I use both DT and SB). The Pro version is also much more expensive though. Overall (as long as the stability continues) this Chronos move is a great benefit for StickyBrain users. Thanks Chronos. Kinda wish you'd kept the name (though I know you've focused on the SOHO brand the last few years).
Reply
Dave said 12:33PM on 7-09-2006
You gotta be running 10.4.7 to upgrade to SOHO Notes. Guess I'm not quite ready... .
Reply
Silver said 1:15PM on 7-09-2006
I love this app, but I mourn the passing of the StickyBrain name. "SOHO Notes?" Ugh, sounds like a Windows app name. Bad move in my book. Talk about diluting your branding...
Reply
Twist said 2:32PM on 7-09-2006
Note to developers: we don't all have .Mac so you might want to look into coding FTP based syncing. First decent note taking software that does this gets my cash (come on Mori or iOrganize X).
Reply
Daniel said 9:52PM on 7-09-2006
Hmm... SOHO Notes requires 10.4.7 and it seems 10.4.7 is only available for intel macs. Is there any way to run Notes on a G4?
Reply
Paleobiology said 10:14PM on 7-09-2006
I'm on a G4 and it's working great.
Reply
B B said 10:44PM on 7-09-2006
10.4.7 is available for PPC.
See: http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosxupdate1047ppc.html
Reply
Zach Everson said 9:46AM on 7-11-2006
I've had to Force Quit it six times so far. Not happy.
Reply
Leif Halvorsen said 1:02AM on 7-28-2006
I used to love StickyBrain because it was reliable, useful, light/quick, and a great value. It was a product I recommended to many people. But, SB started to get bigger, more buggy and sluggish with each new release and finally reached the apex of bloat by becoming SOHO notes (I hate the name. sounds like a typical Windows junkware app). However, now that I have two Macs, the synchronization capabilities of SOHO Notes was very welcome even if it requires .Mac (I HATE this! Why not over the LAN? Rendezvous? Bluetooth? Go up to the internet and back down to a computer that's sitting inches away?!?! WTF!) But the sad truth is that it doesn't work. After looking at the Chronos help forums I saw so many problems, and complaints, and irate users that I realized that even if I could get it to work, that it was not going to be reliable or stable and therefor not worth my time. So I started looking for alternatives. The one I finally settled on was Yojimbo. It is fast, light, and is basically what StickyBrain used to be. And, unlike SOHO Notes, the .Mac sync actually works! Having said that, it still floors me that you need .Mac for syncing (is this some kind of corporate conspiracy? Like the crippling of Bluetooth on us cell phones?) But, Yojimbo does have a cool name and a cool icon (and yes, the subtle details ARE IMPORTANT!) If you want to use something cheap, clunky, ugly, and unreliable, get a PC and run junkware. But Mac users demand design, elegance, balance, usability, and reliability. I do miss the Flashnote menulet that StickyBrain had, but I'll have to live without it as I need to keep my two computers in sync, otherwise there isn't any point in maintaining a personal database.
That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
Right now I'm moving everything over to Yojimbo. When it starts to suck I'll pack up and move somewhere else.
Reply