Comments on: Seven worthy Google Notebook replacements

With this week's news that Google Notebook is no longer getting any development updates, it might be time to look elsewhere. We've got you covered.

[dubhexa]

I don't know that this will be a big issue for a lot of people but if you read the Terms of Service for Evernote they own everything you submit to them. Google is still hands off in that department. I would imagine the others are the same but I haven't read their terms.

[Techno Guy]

Wrong. From Evernote's terms of service: "You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Service." (http://www.evernote.com/about/tos/) They only own content that you submit to them through their "Contact Us" interface, content you are sending to Evernote not for your use but for _their_ use.

[arsprod]

I know this might be a web 2.0 no no, but anyone tried Microsoft OneNote? I've been using it for a little over a year, and while it's not designed to make notes public it seems to work well for collecting information.

[jowhit67]

I use OneNote, too...included with my copy of Office 2007...and love it. It's also available as a standalone app. There's also WordPerfect Lightning from Corel. Not available for purchase as yet, but the beta is free. You can get it here: http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1171405162003#tabview=tab0

[slveryder]

I got OneNote as part of Office '07 as well & it has been the best program ever. I can't understand why more people don't use it. It has the ability to print anything to a file, clip parts of pages, compile & categorize, etc. It is one of my favorite programs & has saved my sanity during 2 years of school.
The biggest drawback is that it is hardware-based and you can;t use it from multiple computers. That can be a pain.

[arsprod]

slveryder, you can sync OneNote between multiple machines so it's not totally hardware dependent. Check out this helpful article, http://blogs.msdn.com/chris_pratley/archive/2006/06/07/621692.aspx

[fooldog01]

I just recently decided to put the never used OneNote from my office suite to use and I have really found it more useful than I initially thought it would be. Im impressed.

[bryan1821]

I use MS OneNote on multiple computers and keep them in sync by saving the files to Dropbox (a flash drive would serve the same purpose).

[FargoUT]

I have been using OneNote as well. I think the nicest feature is that I don't need to click "Save" as I do with almost every other program. The only complaint I have is that OneNote doesn't seem to be used much--it is not installed on any of my school's computers, so the only place I use it is with my personal laptop. It is quite a complex program when you think about it, with a lot of features that makes it a unique and well-designed note-gathering utility.

[BenzTech]

I absolutely love OneNote. It and my Zune software are pretty much the only reason I run Fusion on my Macbook. Though Microsoft hasn't hinted anything in this direction, it'd be great to see this app move more to the cloud. Something like Windows Live OneNote would be great (though it'd probably be branded differently, as all the Live services are currently free). OneNote FTW.

[diigo]

Josh,

Like to invite you and your readers to take a serious look of Diigo www.diigo.com and Diigo List.
With in-situ highlights and sticky notes, group collaboration and richer social sharing options, Diigo is being appreciated as the premium web annotation / social bookmarking service. Knowledge workers, work groups and schools around the world are embracing Diigo for better productivity.

Here is a brief side-by-side comparison of Google Notebook and Diigo: http://blog.diigo.com/2009/01/15/diigo-vs-google-notebook-importer/

We are working on a Google Notebook importer so you can move to Diigo with a few clicks very soon. Stay tuned!

[Josh.Lowensohn]

Fair enough. The only reason I didn't include it with this selection is b/c Diigo's big aim seems to be more about layering on top of live Web pages with sticky notes than collaborative composition in a word processor. That would have opened it up to a slew of other services that do the same thing. As for its bookmarking qualities I'll bite.

[diigo]

Josh,

Thanks for taking the time to review Diigo and your comment.

In almost every aspect of bookmarking features, we believe Diigo is the best in its class. Web annotation seamlessly integrated with tagging is one big plus, as you also mentioned.

More relevant to the discussion here is that Diigo also excels at information organization. I do not think 3, 6, 7 on your list (I have not tried the others) provide any organization metaphor like a Google Notebook, but Diigo does. With Diigo Lists (& its upcoming enhanced version), which will enable us to come out with a GN importer soon, something I do not think some of these services on your list can easily do.

Of course, we are not just piling on features -- all features are thoughtfully designed and seamlessly integrated with the vision to make Diigo the best knowledge management and sharing platform. Besides the GN importer (again, most relevant to the GN alternative), we will continue rolling out several major upgrades and cool apps soon. Stay tuned as Diigo continues to evolve.

[diigo]

I've marked on this page using Diigo's web annotation. Here is a "Annotated Link", so that anyone (even without being a Diigo user or software installed) can view this: http://www.diigo.com/04n02

Among other powerful Diigo features, this unique "Annotated Link" feature enables effective personal productivity, group collaboration, and easily sharing of your online discovery with others!

it is a shame that Diigo is not included. It is so MUCH better than at least those "social bookmarking" services listed above.

Didn't Diigo just win the Open Web Award in the Social Bookmarking Category? None of the above is even in the final round), as I recall

[avguste]

Josh,great article.
I do however think that you should check NotebookG at http://www.notebookg.com
I found it a couple of weeks ago and began to use.Looks and works great.

[JeffJaner]

Have you looked at springpadit.com? Full disclosure - I'm a co-founder and we're in beta, but springpad is a free set of online notebooks (applications) that help people organize, share and tackle life's tasks and projects.

[JeffJaner]

Have you looked at springpadit.com? Full disclosure - I'm a co-founder and we're in beta, but springpad is a free set of online notebooks (applications) that help people organize, share and tackle life's tasks and projects.

[nickbeee]

I've tried to use Google's Notebook on and off since they introduced it. Always found it a bit clunky and difficult to organise. I prefer to clip stuff and store notes in Google Reader, via the Shareaholic plugin for Firefox.

[aerialsky]

Other Notebook replacement:
SimplyBox : http://www.simplybox.com/
Sazell : http://www.sazell.com/

[deenlarc]

Now I have a lot of alternatives. Thanks for the info. Since one of my laptops just died I know that I can make use on a lot of these sites.

[mfgringo]

Great article! I didn't even knew there is such a software on the "market"

[twm2912]

Positive comment from aother enthusiastic Diigo user - switched from Delicious just before Christmas - Diigo maintains my old Delicious a/c for me; particularly keen on the "Group" faciliy and using collaboratively with my students

[purpleLightning]

Ubernote looks to be the best contender for a straight replacement of Notebook. It travels mostly the same path as Notebook not allowing itself to get encumbered with excessive UI widgetry and trying to do too much in terms of functionality. Assuming it remains as responsive and stable as in my tests so far, I'd probably switch to that one. The web-based mobile client is a step up from Google Notebook's mobile access, thanks primarily to the edit ability, but that comes with some major caveats (removes HTML markup in original Note) and seems to have a significant bug if you try to cancel an edit.

[WebNotes]

Hey Josh,

Great article. For social bookmarking, we at WebNotes really like Delicious and find it to be great for managing bookmark-level content. If you end up checking out Diigo, you should also check out WebNotes and i-Lighter. I won't speak for i-Lighter, but at WebNotes, websites and their respective annotations can be organized for future reference and shared with others via email or permalink. We also offer a tool for aggregating all of your annotations onto an html or PDF document which can be shared with colleagues. If you'd like to see how WebNotes stacks up as a Notebook replacement check out our demos at www.webnotes.net or shoot me an email and I'll set you up with an account.

Regards,

Alex

[Ripiajo]

Check out this

http://notepub.com

Its is simple, snappy, and versatile.

[uusirna]

I use www.threetags.com. They have a bit different approach to user privacy, which I like a lot.