Ask Slashdot: Open Tools For Logbooks and Note-taking?

New submitter leonstr writes: I'm a sysadmin and I like to record my daily work in a logbook: technical notes, work progress, actions from meetings, etc. I started with the word processor on the venerable Psion Series 3a but for about 10 years I've been using Amaya. It's FLOSS, cross-platform and uses an open file format (XHTML). Amaya has its quirks but I really like it; unfortunately it's no longer being updated and I feel it's time to change. So I wonder: what do other people use for recording their work? What works well and meets your requirements?

Comments

Change just because?

[fisted]

it's no longer being updated and I feel it's time to change.

This mindset is ridiculous. Why do you "feel a need to change" if it still works for you? Are you expecting remote security vulnerabilities to show up in your note-taking software?

Vi

[MagickalMyst]

Vi

The reasons don't matter

[sjbe]

This mindset is ridiculous. Why do you "feel a need to change" if it still works for you?

Please point out where he said that it still works for him. Obviously he feels it is not meeting his needs (whatever they are) in some way. He doesn't have to justify changing software to any of us even if there is no objective reason.

Re:Google Keep

[sanf780]

So far, Google Keep has not been abandoned yet. I am using Google Keep myself. However, I keep my notes short lived: money I owe, DVDs I lend or borrow, etc. I will not miss it much if it is gone, that is, when Google decides that such a great application with no advertising is not aligned with their goal of increasing revenue.

Another non FLOSS service is Evernote. It is popular enough that some mobile applications use Evernote under the hood.

Another non FLOSS is MS OneNote. Some of my colleagues use it for work, because it comes with MS SharePoint 2013.

Re:Post Its

[gstoddart]

I used to take copious notes and kept them forever but that just pissed people off; there's comfort in having their thoughts from the past forgotten

Ummmm .... tough?

My notes are my record of what happens. They're my CYA in case someone demands we do something stupid, or comes back later and tries to claim something else was agreed upon. And they're how I know what was decided and what I need to be doing.

Too bad if your good notes are a problem for someone later on who doesn't want the things they've said remembered. I'm not saying that "John said that Sally has a bad haircut" is something you write down. You're not trying to be the National Enquirer here.

But if John says he'll deliver the document to Sally, and that he agrees with your proposal ... you sure as hell record that.

Because when John tries to blame it on you later on, you flip back to your notes and say "nope, says right here". Because we're all met that particular John guy who tries to rewrite history and claim he never agreed to that.

In fact, with sales guys, and VPs and the like, I make an extra point of making sure they see I'm writing it down. Because they're the most likely to suddenly develop a case of remembering things differently than actually happened.

I'm not there to provide comfort for people who would rather people not remember what they said.

Re:Post Its

[gstoddart]

Sorry, your notes probably don't mean shit to a VP looking to assign blame

This is why grownups who have meetings have someone send meeting minutes.

Specifically because there are far too many assholes in the world to not take steps to a) cover your ass, and b) hold people accountable.

I've lost track of the times that 2-3 people all pull up the meeting notes and day "nope, you were the one who decided we wouldn't do that".

Keeping VPs from weaseling out of stuff/assigning blame later is a valuable life skill.