Microsoft Loop
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So, is it just me or does Microsoft Loop look like a gound up re-work of OneNote? Microsoft Loop: Collaborative App | Microsoft 365[^] Many of the core facilities of Loop were already available (admittedly by somewhat dubious pathways) in OneNote (real-time collaboration, embedding of documents and web pages, live sketching/writing sharing etc) albeit in a much 'clunkier' UI. However, with a little investment, OneNote could IMHO have become a fantastic real-time collaboration tool without the need to be permanently on-line (something that is only possible on a small percentage of the world's surface despite what MS, Governemnts, telcos etc tell you) -improved handwriting tools and better recognition, plus the ability to properly embed/edit PDFs would have got it very close to the Loop feature-set, adding a code window linked to git, VS (locally hosted or on-line) or other dev environments would have got it the rest of the way. I did try to log in to the discussion forum provided (which had no comments when I tried), but I got an 'unknown error', all of which rather sums up the whole mess of Teams/OneNote/Loop/Sharepoint etc - tools which all seem to provide lots of advantages if you can get them to work, but only seem to work in certain very tightly specified environments that most smaller orgs etc do not, and cannot, run cost-effectively. I have relied on OneNote almost since it first came out (Desktop not APP version) but recently, after extensive research for something with a better feature set re handwriting/PDFs etc) have switched to Nebo Nebo[^] , which does everything and more that OneNote did, across multiple platforms, is still being actively developed, and still allows for off-line working and later sync. THe only drawback for me really is the 'app'-like UI, but I can live with that... I'd be interested in hearing what you think!
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So, is it just me or does Microsoft Loop look like a gound up re-work of OneNote? Microsoft Loop: Collaborative App | Microsoft 365[^] Many of the core facilities of Loop were already available (admittedly by somewhat dubious pathways) in OneNote (real-time collaboration, embedding of documents and web pages, live sketching/writing sharing etc) albeit in a much 'clunkier' UI. However, with a little investment, OneNote could IMHO have become a fantastic real-time collaboration tool without the need to be permanently on-line (something that is only possible on a small percentage of the world's surface despite what MS, Governemnts, telcos etc tell you) -improved handwriting tools and better recognition, plus the ability to properly embed/edit PDFs would have got it very close to the Loop feature-set, adding a code window linked to git, VS (locally hosted or on-line) or other dev environments would have got it the rest of the way. I did try to log in to the discussion forum provided (which had no comments when I tried), but I got an 'unknown error', all of which rather sums up the whole mess of Teams/OneNote/Loop/Sharepoint etc - tools which all seem to provide lots of advantages if you can get them to work, but only seem to work in certain very tightly specified environments that most smaller orgs etc do not, and cannot, run cost-effectively. I have relied on OneNote almost since it first came out (Desktop not APP version) but recently, after extensive research for something with a better feature set re handwriting/PDFs etc) have switched to Nebo Nebo[^] , which does everything and more that OneNote did, across multiple platforms, is still being actively developed, and still allows for off-line working and later sync. THe only drawback for me really is the 'app'-like UI, but I can live with that... I'd be interested in hearing what you think!
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onenote desktop team in ms was maybe three people....also now that things move to app format... desktop = stop
Caveat Emptor. "Progress doesn't come from early risers – progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things." Lazarus Long
Indeed so - that was my point (I think!). OneNote could have become much more, but was effectively abandoned (probably for good reason, at least from the MS company culture viewpoint). If you have to start over with Loop, then that's fine for new teams etc, but for us oldies with years of project notes etc already, it makes more sense to move to something that allows us to retain/migrate our existing workflow etc. As almost always happens with MS (and indeed most large orgs) the attraction of the shiny and new is greater than the consideration for what has gone before and so long-term customers are, once again and at best, simply not considered.
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So, is it just me or does Microsoft Loop look like a gound up re-work of OneNote? Microsoft Loop: Collaborative App | Microsoft 365[^] Many of the core facilities of Loop were already available (admittedly by somewhat dubious pathways) in OneNote (real-time collaboration, embedding of documents and web pages, live sketching/writing sharing etc) albeit in a much 'clunkier' UI. However, with a little investment, OneNote could IMHO have become a fantastic real-time collaboration tool without the need to be permanently on-line (something that is only possible on a small percentage of the world's surface despite what MS, Governemnts, telcos etc tell you) -improved handwriting tools and better recognition, plus the ability to properly embed/edit PDFs would have got it very close to the Loop feature-set, adding a code window linked to git, VS (locally hosted or on-line) or other dev environments would have got it the rest of the way. I did try to log in to the discussion forum provided (which had no comments when I tried), but I got an 'unknown error', all of which rather sums up the whole mess of Teams/OneNote/Loop/Sharepoint etc - tools which all seem to provide lots of advantages if you can get them to work, but only seem to work in certain very tightly specified environments that most smaller orgs etc do not, and cannot, run cost-effectively. I have relied on OneNote almost since it first came out (Desktop not APP version) but recently, after extensive research for something with a better feature set re handwriting/PDFs etc) have switched to Nebo Nebo[^] , which does everything and more that OneNote did, across multiple platforms, is still being actively developed, and still allows for off-line working and later sync. THe only drawback for me really is the 'app'-like UI, but I can live with that... I'd be interested in hearing what you think!
onenote was interesting and it tossed out some new ideas. I've been looking for an electronic engineering notebook for decades, and I actually had hope for one note - nah. It just got too clunky. Worse, somehow Microsoft managed to shove their head up where the sun doesn't shine and start indexing folders everywhere. This irritates the living daylights out of me because I use SVN heavily. So the stupid little files show up yada yada yada. Microsoft does do some interesting work, but they always seem to manage to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Charlie Gilley “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759 Has never been more appropriate.
