I've been using AF for about a year when I had iPaq 3650 - PI was just
too slow.

Then I got a newer PDA (iPaq 2215) and AF was slow on it, but PI was
fast - so I switched to PI and was a loyal user for about 3 years.

A couple of months ago, I bought a Dell Axim X51v. Even though it has a
much faster 624 Mhz processor, starting up PI takes 3 times as much -
12 sec vs 4 sec on 2215. Unfortunately, AF is about as slow. I tried
AgendaOne and it's a bit faster but not by much. In the meantime, I
re-assigned my hardware buttons back to POL - I can't stand waiting for
the PI to start up.

I posted my problems on WebIS site and got a few people saying they had
a similar problem, then a few more saying they didn't. The developer's
answer was - it's as good as it can be, it's all WM5 fault, so don't
expect any improvements anytime soon. While I do believe that they made
an earnest effort to make the code as efficient as possible, my
previous experiences, as well as the fact that different users have
different experiences with same program on same OS, makes me believe
it's not entirely OS-dependent issue.

I think I am, unfortunately, finished with PI at this point. The AF
doesn't work much faster, and the Ultiplanner is just too buggy.
However, the POL flies - with same database it starts in less than 2
sec.

I am looking for a program that allows me to display tasks and
appointments on a same screen, works fast, and is not a today plugin (I
like to be able to turn it off when I don't use it).

Any suggestions are welcome !

Reply to message from "Amamba" <egroy@mailexcite.com> (Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:
03:03) about "Any new alternatives to Pocket Informant / Agenda Fusion ?":

A> A couple of months ago, I bought a Dell Axim X51v. Even though it has a
A> much faster 624 Mhz processor, starting up PI takes 3 times as much -
A> 12 sec vs 4 sec on 2215.

I have the same PPC - writing this note on it right now - and I don't have
the same experience as you with PI.

I just shut down and restarted PI with 5 other apps loaded but dormant.
Time to present the Agenda Screen 6-1/2 seconds.

I would not write off PI So fast. Not before you investigate what might be
making the loading slow. For instance, is it loaded on a slow flash drive?
ln my case PI is loaded in System memory. Also, what screen is being
painted first? Does that screen have or lot of information that needs to be
painted? For instance On my Agenda view I have the defaults set - maybe if
I had say 1 month to display and I had custom settings far this view the
program may load slower.

I could go on with this but I think you see where I am coming from.

Best Regards
Wayne Moses <wmoses@houston.rr.com> Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:28:08 -0600

=== Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 3.3

Wayne Moses wrote:
> Reply to message from "Amamba" <egroy@mailexcite.com> (Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:
> 03:03) about "Any new alternatives to Pocket Informant / Agenda Fusion ?":
>
> A> A couple of months ago, I bought a Dell Axim X51v. Even though it has a
> A> much faster 624 Mhz processor, starting up PI takes 3 times as much -
> A> 12 sec vs 4 sec on 2215.
>
> I have the same PPC - writing this note on it right now - and I don't have
> the same experience as you with PI.
>
> I just shut down and restarted PI with 5 other apps loaded but dormant.
> Time to present the Agenda Screen 6-1/2 seconds.
>
> I would not write off PI So fast. Not before you investigate what might be
> making the loading slow. For instance, is it loaded on a slow flash drive?
> ln my case PI is loaded in System memory. Also, what screen is being
> painted first? Does that screen have or lot of information that needs to be
> painted? For instance On my Agenda view I have the defaults set - maybe if
> I had say 1 month to display and I had custom settings far this view the
> program may load slower.
>
> I could go on with this but I think you see where I am coming from.
>
> Best Regards
> Wayne Moses <wmoses@houston.rr.com> Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:28:08 -0600
>
> === Posted with Qusnetsoft NewsReader 3.3

Thanks for the reply,

I did try checking all possible reasons. I have it installed into main
memory, starting up in Agenda showing one day appointments and dated
tasks. There are two threads on WebIS forums related to PI speed, and I
think it's been pretty well established that it's database size that
causes slowdown. At least one more member timed his startup speed at 12
sec. Now, I have about 5 thousands items, roughly half of them
appointments. I can reduce the startup speed by deleting old
appointments, but I don't want to do that - sometimes I have to check
meeting notes from 2 years ago, my projects span that long.

Anyway, in my post I stated I didn't want to look at Today plugins. I
now must admit I was wrong. I tried Pocket Breeze and it was, well, a
breeze. :) It didn't seem to affect soft reset startup time, it shows
me all information that I want, and it provides about 80% of PI
features that I use. It doesn't have timeline (that I never found any
use for anyway) and it doesn't jhave a full-featured Month view, which
is about the only thing I miss (it does show the month view with
appointment bars and icons, there's no Zoom feature). It even shows PI
icons and templates. However, given the speed increase (from 12 sec to
virtually instant), the convenience of always having information at
your fingertips (you can have the same effect with PI running in the
background, but the memory useage is much more then) I can easily
relegate the more involved tasks like planning etc. to the desktop.

I am keeping PI on my device but I have not used it at all in the last
couple of days, before that I only used it maybe 20% of time.

As for WebIS, I am really losing my faith in that company. I bought
three products from them. PI originally worked so well, and the
customer support was so good, I went ahead and bought two more products
based entirely on my good faith in the company. The Journal Sync
_never_ worked - it was crashing AS all the time, and WebIS was unable
to fix the problem since early 2004, when I bought it. They just fixed
it in the last version, but I am not paying for it.
I also went WebIS Money 2. I expected it to sync with MS Money (the
sync engine was in the beta, but the company developer boasted on their
forum that it is nearly flawless). In case the sync didn't work, I
expected to use QIF import. Well, the sync never worked - but neither
did the QIF import. The sync was a beta feature, so I can only blame
myself. The QIF import was not a beta feature, and I had every right to
expect it to work. Five months after I reported the problem, it was
still broken. I then bought Cash Organizer from Inesoft and wrote off
WebIS Money as a dud. AFAIK it still is broken. Of course YMMV.

Now, 2 out of my 3 purchases from WebIS were money wasted, with no
help from developers. Yes, they've acknowledged the problem, said that
it was working for the majority of users, blah blah blah. I still have
2 products that I paid for which don't work. Now, the 3rd and most
important product becomes a snail on my new 624Mhz device. They blame
WM5 for being slow - and they may well have a point there. However, POL
using same database is lighnting fast, and PocketBreeze is very fast.

I paid upgrade for PI2007 even though there was no features that made
it stand out from 2005 - I paid anyway since the company needs cash to
continue software development, and I felt that I was investing in a
future product that will be useful to me. Well, they are not getting a
penny of my money anymore unless they prove first that they have a
product I can use; no more good faith advances.

Anyway, sorry for my rantings. :) Most people probably have a better
experience with them but I am fed up. Alex is indeed a polite and
responsive person, but he and his team didn't do a **** thing to make
sure that products I bought from them years and months ago work as
advertized, or work at all.

I will try the SPB Pocket Diary - which is supposedly faster but less
configurable than PocketBreeze - and it will be one or the other.