Real portability, flash memory and Registry issues

[Valmaseda]

OneNote is the ideal application to be installed in a memory stick so that we
can carry our notebooks wherever we want, not being fettered to a particular
computer. Actually this is what it would made it useful for some of us. I
love OneNote and being able to have all my notes, schemes and web clips
related to a situation is great, specially for its link and tag abilities.
But the trap is that being sth to be used to organize all our main notes
(one-note for everything) we can't take the files as we do with other
documents; we can't use it in any computer as we used to do before. So now
I'm realizing that I'm risking the acces to all my information and I'm
considering redoing/reorganizing all again in other kind of documents...
(sigh, I don't want to).

Hopefully, you will consider a redesign that gets rid of the registry use
(or work with others to design a way to have a registry in memory sticks.) It
seems that the problem implies a lot of energy to rethink some things, but
portability it is also the basic asset and problem of OneNote. People could
use it for some time, but with more time and use they would realize the
inconvenience (even those using a laptop as I do). With the spread of memory
sticks, OneNote looks to be destined to allow real portability... or to die
when others develop it.

I wish you can do something cause some of use really love(d?) this software.
In my case I still could wait at least for someone telling me that there's a
possibility in a not too remote future for us to really take our notebooks
wherever we need.
Valmaseda

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...8238-0dd62e24f5b3&dg=microsoft.public.onenote

 

[Alex]

You can store your notes on a USB stick but you would need ON installed on
the machine. There's no way to install onenote on the memory stick and run
the app from there on a random computer. See here for more info on how to
store your notebooks on a memory stick:
http://blogs.msdn.com/david_rasmussen/archive/2006/06/29/650705.aspx

-Alex <MS>

 

[Valmaseda]

Know perfectly, using it for Desktop-Notebook sync. Wasn't I clear that I was
talking about being able to open my notes in any computer? I can do that with
Firefox, Roboform and several other applications. I can do it also with Word
even though is not able to be installed in a flashdrive because all computers
have it or are compatible with it.
By changing to OneNote for my sometimes crucial info, I'm losing the
possibility of using it in the miriad of situations that I suddenly need it
and I don't have my computer. The ones didn't notice that yet, will.
Hope you realize the importance of this before Evernote make a thorough use
of it. Zotero (which can be used as a firefox add-in installed in a flash
memory that doesn't leave any info in any computer) is already using it and
has some very interesting features to organize info even though is still in
Beta version. It is free and I'm already starting to consider it.

 

[Alex]

Yes, I understood that. While we may not do the "install onenote on a memory
stick" feature, we do care quite a bit about the scenario of being able to
access your notes from any computer, even when onenote isn't installed. If
you were able to store your notes "in the cloud" (don't worry right now about
where the server is), would you be happy if you could view your notes from
any machine with a browser, and possibly do some very light editing (not as
rich as the full onenote client app)? Would this meet your requirements?

-alex <MS>

 

[Valmaseda]

Mmm, we still wouldn't have the freedom of a memory stick; I guess you mean
there has to be an internet connection which would prevent us from using it
in any laptop. But it would be definitively an advance and I will feel some
relief and probably keep my notes and schemes in OneNote if you tell me this
is not going to happen too far away in time.

The most basic think I would need is that this browser feature includes the
possibility of searching our tags, which is what makes several of us to use
OneNote. We need to check for all the questions pending for a meeting or
research in a library or any info we need to put together. This could be done
even with Word but the immediateness and easyness of OneNote is what makes it
the basic feature to have in a limited version.

I'm not sure if it could still be burdensome even for desktops. In some
periferic areas, specially in some countries, the access is not easy or
impossible, but in this cases USB for memory sticks could even be not
available. More important for this browser access to give us more freedom it
would be that the access is not dependent on having IE7 installed (instead of
previous versions, Firefox or other browsers) so that people in relatively
industrial cities are not limited even in "normal" circumstances.

Valmaseda