Best To-Do List Software?

JojoLinkyBob writes "Greetings, Council of Slashdot. I am curious what everyone here recommends as their favorite organizational software. Specifically, I am trying to find a simple freeware/open-source todo list manager. In the past, I've dabbled with TreePad, Shadow Plan, Mantis, and various virtual sticky- note apps ..all with mixed success. Currently, I'm back to my old-school ways of scribbling my todo's on the back of each Daily Dilbert Calendar page, which sadly means today is June 23 :)"

Comments

What's wrong with Old School?

[Anonymous Coward]

Perhaps we could be of more help to you if you would explain why the 'Old School' approach of using scratch paper is unacceptable to you. What features do you require in a to-do list that pencil and paper cannot provide?

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[Anonymous Coward]

the pencil and paper will not remind you when its time to be somewhere or do something. or tell you your busy when you try to set up another meeting.

What you are describing is a Planner or Calendar, not a to-do list. IMHO, a to-do list is simply a list of stuff that needs to get done without precise temporal constraints. If this guy really wants the features you list, then he didn't ask a very clear Ask Slashdot question. In any event, I think you'll have to agree with me that his question is pretty piss-poor because he gives NO explanation what features he needs. Maybe he doesn't need any of the features you just listed. We'll never know because he didn't bother to list his requirements.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[tekunokurato]

the pen and paper does not archive itself and is not back searchable.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[gl4ss]

for one, you can't read that paper list remotely.

unless you got some slav.. coworkers, fiancee or somebody to call and tell to RTFTDL.

Re:What's wrong with Old School?

[jafomatic]

There's no 'egrep' in my drawerful of notes and receipts. That's what's wrong with pen & paper.

With even a simple textfile solution, I can generate changelogs and (primitive) reports with a a single command.

It's really not a technical problem.

[winkydink]

I've been a student of time management practices for some time, always looking for that perfect app, that will make me super efficcient. I've read many books on the topic. There is no silver bullet. Becoming an effective time manager is more akin to making a lifestyle change.

It really boils down to self-discipline, much more than some specific methodology. I'm a fan of Covey's methodologies, but unless you really, really, really commit to it (or some other one more to your liking), you're no better off with a slick app than you are with to-do lists on the back of a Dilbert calendar page.

Wiki

[mcbevin]

I simply use a private wiki. The advantage being I can access it from work or at home or when travelling. Flexible enough to store a to-do list or store some bookmarks or whatever information you want to store. Lots of easy-to-install wiki software out there. I had previously quickly coded a simple PHP todo list but using existing wiki software is simpler and more powerful. Its not like a todo list requires some specialised software.

the cutting edge of TODO list technology

[mboedick]

My TODO list is ~/TODO. I edit it with vim. Sometimes I grep it. When I get things done I dd that line.

I can access it anywhere with ssh.

what's awful about notepad?

[Rai]

A nice alternative to the truly awful Notepad

I know notepad is very basic, but what's awful about it? I can say that's the one MS program I've used that has never crashed and I use it a lot.

Re:Post-it papers on my monitor!

[calica]

*sigh*

All that means is your dad cares more about the security of his house than his wifi network. I mean, if they can see the sticky they're either: A-a friend or family. or B-a burglar. If the former, he probably doesn't mind them using his cable modem. If the later, he won't have a computer soon.

Some people really need to put "computer security" into perspective.