Filed under: Software
Contactizer 3.6 Gains Leopard Goodness
Objective Decision released a free update to their oddly-named flagship product Contactizer. A powerful, Sync Services-savvy personal information manager (PIM) application, Contactizer 3.6 comes in Pro and Express flavors depending on your needs.
I used an earlier version of Contactizer last year and was impressed with its power, although I did run into issues with how it synced with iCal and Address Book. One of the best features from my viewpoint was the ability to track tasks throughout an entire project using the Project Manager mode (see screenshot above). Contactizer also did a great job of handling mail merges, and I found the way that it integrated email information into my contact list to be very helpful.
The update includes a Leopard-only Cover Flow mode that displays contacts as business cards, an improved sync system that works with multiple calendars, a quick entry panel for tasks, and a number of other user interface improvements.
Contactizer is a Universal Binary application which requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or better. You can download a 30-day free trial, or purchase Contactizer Pro for $119 (Express is $59.90).
[via Macworld]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rick said 1:39PM on 6-02-2008
so, is this like Microsoft's Entourage?
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Steven Sande said 1:43PM on 6-02-2008
No, I'd say it's in a class of its own. It is more integrated with iCal, Address Book, Mail, and .Mac than Entourage could ever be. Emails that come in from people in your Address Book are linked to that person's "card" in Contactizer, and you can see a history of all of the appointments or tasks associated with that person as well. It's pretty cool, although it didn't fit my needs.
Garrett said 2:18PM on 6-02-2008
They need to get some originality for their website, they stole it all pretty much off of MacRabbit, the blog, and took the source code for the zoom.
Lost any and all respect for these losers.
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Steven Sande said 2:28PM on 6-02-2008
Yeah, so they look similar. So what? Take a look at the source for each site and none of the style names are even close. Perhaps they both used the same design tool for building their sites.
TUAW Steve
Garrett said 2:33PM on 6-02-2008
Look at the design elements, the background, the sidebar, when you click on something the grey background shows up.
The JavaScript image layover is the exact same. I never said they copied and pasted their HTML. The separation of body and the header are the same.
Look at this:
http://blog.objective-decision.com/
http://macrabbit.com/blog/
If they had months to build a decent app, I would expect them to represent themselves by spending some time to make them stand out, not mirror MacRabbit.
Lerxst said 3:09PM on 6-02-2008
I don´t think it´s fair to jump into conclusions like that, there could be many reasons why these sites look similar, copycatting being only one of them; for instance, there are lots of designers who sell website themes in 2 price ranges, one being very expensive and exclusive (i.e., once you buy it the theme is never sold again) the other one being non-exclusive, which is an order of magnitude cheaper but you may end up having other sites looking like yours. Another possibility is that this is a default template in some CMS engine both use, etc etc.
No reason to pre-judge people.
Steven Sande said 3:27PM on 6-02-2008
Garrett - what does this have to do with whether or not Contactizer does its job as a personal information and project manager? I've had website designs of mine get "ripped off" and as far as I'm concerned, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. It shows that someone not only looked at my site, but liked it enough to want to have a website that looked like it.
I'm sure that if you look around enough, you can find a few thousand other sites that are "identical" to MacRabbit's. I don't think there is any way to get a trademark on the look and feel of a site, so until that happens I think a lot of web designers are going to run into the same problems with people borrowing their designs.
TUAW Steve
Garrett said 4:19PM on 6-02-2008
I apologize for going crazy, my bad, just frustrates me as I build websites 8 hours a day....so it just gets to yah you know?
I am sure they build awesome programs, just sucks they couldn't make their website represent themselves more.
Steven Sande said 4:57PM on 6-02-2008
No problem, Garrett! I understand your frustration, since I've seen others get paid for copying work that I've done. THAT definitely makes me mad. My hope is that they'll eventually have to make some additions to the site for their clients and won't have a clue how to do it... ;-)
Keep up the good fight, man!
TUAW Steve
tony said 3:07PM on 6-02-2008
This looks like a crappier version of Daylite - www.marketcircle.com
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Steven Sande said 3:27PM on 6-02-2008
LOL!
TUAW Steve
Philip (flip) Kromer said 8:33PM on 7-16-2008
Long post about site imitation
http://blog.pastie.org/2008/05/build-a-good-wa.html
and dubious accusations of Design Piracy given a "Single Sheet of Paper" design:
http://blog.pastie.org/2008/05/sheet-of-pape-1.html
Long story short: banner at the top, 744px-without-the-border-main-div sheet of paper, against neutral background, having sidebar with links and beveled mac-ish buttons == every OSX software related site.
flip
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