©2001 Charles Sorgie

It is funny, in a way, and sadly misguided in another. I mean, at first computers were these impossibly big, much-too-expensive, honking things. Then they got even bigger, and bigger, and more expensive. Then the idea was hatched to have them be these centralized things with terminals connected to them, to spread out the pain. (Remember the Octoputer?)

At some point, the concept of a personal computer was born. The idea was that a personal computer would be a simpler, easier to use computer, more specialized than its big brothers (no pun intended).

But then, personal computers themselves became more and more complicated, which defeated the whole premise in the first place. I mean, my PowerBook has 384 meg of memory. My college computer had one meg of memory. The one meg of memory was the size of four refrigerators, and it had to be in a room with an air conditioner the size of refrigerator itself to keep it from melting. That means that the amount of memory in my PowerBook would have been the size of 1,536 glowing, white-hot refrigerators. And now, it sits in my lap, humming away, with over 250 refrigerators worth of operating system.

Belching, with its hand tucked in under its belt like Al Bundy.

So, now that personal computers had gotten so very big and complex, the process has started all over again, and the idea of a handheld is the latest mock attempt at simplicity. Once again, almost laughingly, the idea of a simpler, personal computer is again reborn.

Should it be a personal computer? Or, a more personable computer?

My Palm Vx can almost split an atom. It has four times the memory of my trusty old SE. It has a sizable operating system, with its own set of quirks. I would hardly call it simple. Simpl-ER, maybe. But not simple, by a long shot. The concept of a focused, simple tool is more attractive to me, for like a Swiss Army Knife, all-in-one tools tend to be so-so in each function, at least compared to their specialized counterparts. A jack of all trades, but a master of none, so to speak.

If we can build it, is it good? I feel like we are once again being sucked into a trap.

I do not know if I want to walk around with a Cray in my pocket. While it is fine that technology is busting its butt to make it possible for me, at some point in my lifetime, to do just that, and more, I, as a human, am not becoming more and more complicated. If anything, as time goes on, I am increasing in pursuit of simplicity. I do not need, or at least I do not want, increasing more complicated tools with more and more power. I would prefer simple, specialized, powerful tools. As in my woodworking, I do not want a drill that doubles as a hammer and a saw, with a screwdriver sticking out of the back. I am more of a Roto Zip kind of a guy. By that I mean, I prefer simple, universal tools. Not three inch thick Swiss Army Knives with a hundred blades.

Which brings me to BrainForest. This application is from Aportis, and you them, right? They make AportisDoc, the Palm document reader and have a large library at their web site of books you can download to read. Same people.

From the Aportis web site:

As stated, the essence of BrainForest is that it lets you organize your thoughts in an indented outline format, and easily rearrange them. This, like the wheel, fire and the Roto Zip, is a universally applicable concept. You rearrange thoughts by clicking on them and dragging them around. You can then export your outlined thoughts in various formats, including HTML.

It can function as a Todo list, an outliner, a Memo Pad, and much more. There are two versions of BrainForest: BrainForest Mobile, which is the outlining application for the Palm, and BrainForest Professional, which includes a desktop application so that your handheld outlines can be kept up to date and edited on your Mac.

Look at these screenshots:

Working with a BF outline.	Managing outlines on the desktop.	Working with the desktop application in the Pro edition.

Thoughtfully, the Palm and Mac programs have similar interfaces.

I do not know if this is striking you or not, but this is pretty darn useful. I mean, aside from the times that you are banging in an address book entry, which is sorted alphabetically, or making an appointment, which is sorted temporally, how often do your thoughts arrive in the order that you eventually want to present them? I will go first: Never.

BrainForest Mobile Edition is US$30 shareware, and BrainForest Professional is US$39.95 shareware. You need not rush into a decision, though, because the Mobile Edition has a 30 day trial period, and can be upgraded to the Professional version at any time for the difference in price (US$9.95).

Touch up your roots...they are starting to show.

Email Charles Sorgie

see Charles' "SyncDifferent" page here at applelust.com

Next Time: Simple Things Done Well