Trying Xobni, wondering if I can add ClearContext into the mix
January 10, 2008 by Tris Hussey
Filed under Business News
I did finally get my invite to try out Xobni and uninstalled ClearContext to give it a fair shot. While I think Xobni’s search is great and I like the ability to see related people and attachments, I miss ClearContext’s topics, fast filing, and connection to to-dos, schedule, etc.
So here’s the question: Can I install both and get email Nerdvana or the Seventh Level of Outlook Hell?
We all know Outlook is famous for running like a dog–especially Outlook 2007–would putting two similar Outlook extensions just kill it?
I fear I’m going to be forced to choose between one and the other. ClearContext, though not as sexy as Xobni, is a much better GTD app. Since I can go from e-mail to appointment or to do and have it linked to the message at hand.
Tonight, after I prep the MediaSmart server I was testing to send back to HP, I’ll reboot and load ClearContext coupled with Xobni. I bet it’s going to make Outlook sluggish to say the least, but I’m going to give it a shot.
Update: I’ve had both ClearContext and Xobni running together for a couple days and so far and so good (crossing fingers). The two together make for a lot of email goodness.
BTW … if you’re wondering about the gray box…we’re testing some cool new photo stuff here at b5. Being training manager also means I’m a guinea pig for these things too.
Hi Tris,
I’m not familiar with either ClearContext or Xobni (you could do an Utterz on how to pronounce Xobni), but desperately needing to GTD, sounds like you’re saying ClearContext is the formidable player (sans the sex appeal). I didn’t know what I didn’t know. Thanks for sharing this experience!
All the best,
Dave
Tris,
We have tons of users who run multiple Outlook addins, but not sure about Xobni. Sounds like the guys over there have been working hard to address their Outlook performance issues, so perhaps the latest build might work OK in conjunction. Will be interested to hear your results.
On a related note, we have some prototype stuff that we’ll be releasing to a small group soon that I think you’ll find quite “sexy” :-)
Hey, Tris. This is George from AGORACOM. Sorry to see Mark go but good to see you slotted in.
Let me know how the experiment goes. I’ve been thinking about using Xobni but always afraid of things in Beta - especially when it comes to something like outlook.
Best,
George
Yeah CC has been a “clear” winner for me! Thus far Xobni has been great (it’s pronounced Zob (like nob) knee).
Deva–very, very interested to see what’s coming down the pike!
Tris:
FYI - in one of the early Xobni betas there was report of a conflict between Xobni and IMS, but it appears that the Xobni team fixed it in later builds. If you do encounter some performance issues, my first advice would be to perform a little maintenance on your mail file and see if it helps:
http://blog.clearcontext.com/2006/12/video_outlook_p.html
This is, BTW, a good exercise to go through even when you’re not running any add-ins…
Dave:
If you decide to check out ClearContext, our GTD setup guide is probably a good place to start:
http://www.clearcontext.com/gtd/
Feel free to send questions our way about the product as you have them.
Thanks for coming by Brad. I’ll let you know how it goes. Good reminder on maintaining Outlook–very, very important to do often! Which means…
I like the program, but had to uninstall as it wouldn’t let me close Outlook properly (and thus my backup couldn’t occur)… I’ll try again once they release a final version.
Fred, yes I have the same issue with a lot of add ins, I think it’s an issue with Outlook, actually. I generally go to the friendly neighborhood task manager and kill the extra Outlook process. Not great, but it lets Outlook close. This is also important for Brad’s tip on running SCNPST (highly recommended, btw).
As a quick update, I redownloaded and installed ClearContext IMS this morning. All seems good. Of course I had to reset the views to get things to show up right, but that’s cool.