Re: organizational time management and effieciency

[Anonymous]

Here’s an exception to the rule re: Free software : Zimbra. It’s stable. It’s good enough for Yahoo to use as the mail software for their clients. It keeps me organised – all my documents are in one place and the wiki links within those documents can link to any other info. If you are not savvy enough to use wiki links, it works fine without them.

BTW, anyone looking for a cool niche to serve the ADHD population will find one right here. The help files that come with Zimbra, and every other software application for PIM or related stuff, tells you how the software works, but not how best to use it. An entrepreneurial type (I’d LOVE to – but I’m still being titrated on my meds, and will burn water, trip over own feet, haven’t seen my keys in days or my purse in months – you get the picture) could do really well bundling this with a document about how best to use it. You could even add Open Office (another exception to the free software rule) that allows for more sophisticated spreadsheets, document formatting, etc. (Anything you’d expect from a full office suite.) And yes, I have 45 folders, Get it Done, Doing it Now, and a host of other Get Organised books, ebooks, software, etc. (The best so far: Sidetracked Sisters, and Fly Lady, but I digress. The adult ADHD’ers need their own PIM tech guru online.) Charge for the documents and the DVD itself, not the freeware, and for personal assistance. Skype is free, too, btw. And they offer a cheap 800 number.)

I don’t work for these folks, nor do I own stock or in any other way profit from having you switch to zimbra, etc.

Here’s some sites to get started (free &stable stuff) :

Firefox in British English: http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/ (I like this better.)

Firefox in US English: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

(still not available in 64 bit)

zimbra: http://www.zimbra.com/products/product_editions.html

open office: http://www.openoffice.org/

On most of the computers here at home we’re running Fedora. You might want to marry a techie before you try this, or become one. Fedora is a type of Linux (free operating software) that will run tons of free applications that are reliable and Trojan/virus free. Trying to get the drivers to run your monitor, modem, keyboard, printers, web cam, etc. can occasionally be a hair-pulling-ly long trial-and-error experience. (Builds character, right? Yeah – I’d rather set my shorts on fire. My big screen TV is currently running with a generic drive, and looks great esp. in HD from youtube.com, etc., but I’ve lost a little functionality in not finding a specific drive – no picture in picture, that kind of stuff.)

Way shorter learning curve: http://mail.google.com

plus: http://docs.google.com

– google docs have come a long way – you can make drawings, spreadsheets, etc.

and sign up for google calendar, reader, etc. (Except Buzz. Stay away from Google’s Buzz until privacy

issues are addressed.)

The big plus here is whatever you store online will not be lost should your computer crash, or if your laptop is lost/missing/stolen /thrown out the window in a fit of rage (perhaps by you spouse after a 3 day warcraft marathon….)

There’s always more new, free stuff. If you find something that looks really interesting – cool enough to make you want to install it, and spend a few hours learning how to use it, cool enough to risk losing some data and possibly passing a virus on to you contacts (even the best virus software in the world won’t catch everything) then GOOGLE FIRST. Buyer (or down-loader) beware. Always Google first. Read the BAD reviews only – you don’t need to read the good ones – you’re already sold. Read the bad ones, as these were not written be the program’s author under a pseudonym. The bad reviews will tell you if the app/plug-in/whatever hijacked their browser and downloaded a gig of k*ddie p*rn, or if it uses an esoteric file format that no other application can make use of, or that it’s just flaky or whatever.

Have fun !

eimat

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