Show HN: My implemented vision of a PIM | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: My implemented vision of a PIM

53 pointsCMPayton20 comments

Hi one and all. I've created an encrypted personal organizer I wish to share with you all. I know.... you are sighing and thinking "Oh! No! not another one".

doogiePIM is different in that it's built by the same coder that created one of the very first PIMs that came out around 18+ years ago and creator of TexNotes way back then (it was actually called Scribillo. Wow, I feel old). The original PIM was sold then abandoned by GemX Software and that made me feel really bad. So, I obtained the full code and started to build a far better version of the information manager. One that will (hopefully) stand the test of time. The work is still ongoing, taking out the bugs, improving features and making it available to everyone around the world with localisation of the UI.

(Warning: I'm going to invoke Obi Wan Kenobi logic here....) Therefore, it's not another PIM - it's one of the oldest on the Internet... from a certain point of view :P

After a couple of years of work, I think it's almost there. I've rewritten a huge chunk of code, implemented a more modern UI and reworked a lot of the database encryption. I can now start implementing some needed new features and quality-of-life implementations that help rather than hinder. Features such as Android connectivity and better importing of Cloud data. I'm pretty sure you guys will give me a guide as to what you need in a solid PIM.

I want to invite you all to take a look at my vision of a single focus PIM. Go ahead and try doogiePIM, tear it apart. I'd love to read anything you have to say about it.

You can read my latest dev blog here: https://bitespire.com/community/274-around-the-world-in-80-d...

Download here: https://bitespire.com/download.php

Of course, read about the features and usual blurb here: https://bitespire.com/details_doogiepim.php

Kindest regard to all, Chris

Is this a time traveler PIM? Email client, database, outliner, dashboard, personal finance, perpetual license, desktop client. Nicely done!

Congrats on recovering the source. Ecco Pro and Lotus Agenda users were not so lucky. Users have binary patched a 20-year old .exe to extend Ecco Pro's functionality.

You should include TexNotes screenshots on the site for historical context.

Since you're already doing time travel, will this run on ReactOS (open-source Win32) or Wine on Linux and MacOS?

Ecco was really really good. Pretty sad that this type of software has pretty much stopped being developed.

I'm playing around with Wine at the moment. doogiePIM does run but there are issues with the toolbars that I need to adjust so Wine will run smoother.

I haven't tried ReactOS. doogiePIM is 32 bit so I'll have a go. Thanks for the heads up.

MacOS is something else. That could take a longer time. :(

I love the TexNotes idea, many thanks. I'll get to work on writing an "About" page with some retro photos.

Jumps back into the TARDIS and whizzes off

From the feature page: doogiePIM has your privacy in mind. It doesn't use an unsecure Cloud, it stores your data using strong encryption on your disk of choice

How can cloud storage be "unsecure" if the data is encrypted?

> How can cloud storage be "unsecure" if the data is encrypted?

Because security is more than just encryption. If someone puts my data on a simple HTTP web server but the file's encrypted, the only defensive layer between my data and someone else is that encryption - it better be damn good and have used a strong key.

I'd rather that file be behind more layers of security than that - I want authorization and authentication, preferably multi-factor authentication. I want the data service provider to have some notion of what addresses I'd likely be accessing from (North America), and which are likely attacks (China, Russia), and act accordingly (e.g. increasing security measures like anti-botting, asking security questions, etc). I want them to have a pretty robust logging infrastructure and intrusion detection, so that when they do eventually get attacked, they can notify who they need to that their data has been compromised and rotate credentials. I want to know they properly handle drives and NV memory that have had my data on them - either securely wiping them, or destroying them outright.

This whole idea is known as "defense in depth," - if one layer fails, you have more to fall back on, with the hope that attackers will eventually give up once they've hit too many hurdles to make the attack pay off, or they simply can't surmount the numerous layers of defense.

From the perspective of everything I just mentioned, just throwing your encrypted files on a web server feels pretty insecure to me.

You can encrypt files on a public server, but if you don't hide the keys, then those files might as well be plain text.

Data breaches of personal information are becoming increasingly common and it's important for companies to state that security is a priority when it comes to cloud storage.

The value proposition of this product is claiming to do too much. Because I don't have a pre-existing belief in the value of integrating all these functions in a single "PIM" (what is a PIM anyway? is my smartphone a PIM?) I'm stuck wondering how this might help me, and reluctant to try something that might not be valuable until it has replaced a huge set of habits/tools.

If I want to benefit from trying this PIM, where should I start? In case it helps, I'm a gmail/gcalendar/emacs org-mode user.

doogiePIM (PIM=Personal Information Manager) is designed around you so you start where you need to start. eg: If you're a coder and you need somewhere to store snippets of research and code whilst researching the web, then you would start with the Documents section whilst using the browser tabs. If you're more into needing a way to organize the Events of the day, then you start at the Calendar.

doogiePIM isn't a tool to use for the sake of being there but a tool to use to assist with what you're a doing. Think of it as a Swiss Army Knife.

If you're already happy with your current set-up to manage your Gmail/Calendar then stick with that.

Don't try to fix something that isn't broken.

Actual doogiePIM user here: I've been using this app for the the last four months and it really does do everything Chris promises it does - its amazingly stable and adaptable for being developed by one talented individual. Hardly a day goes by I don't discover a new feature which has helped me migrate certain workflows into one, local platform allowing me to replace Word, Google Calendar, and Mint to name just a few (I keep everything on my Surface with occasional backups off site).

While doogiePIM is billed as a personal information manager (PIM) I actually use it more as a Personal Knowledge Manager (PKM), which is especially conducive due to the built in Chromium browser, so I don't have to keep switching between multiple apps like Chrome (which I no longer trust), Notion, or some other Productivity program. Talking with the OP he is extremely responsive and open to suggestions that would make doogiePIM more functional and customizable.

As a longtime HN lurker I've noticed that for years individuals have longed for a centrally managed information program and I feel strongly that this is the only one that fits that bill:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8806950

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8270759

It was actually this topic that exposed me to HN in the first place.

I am not in any way affiliated with the OP but I am a believer in that the program delivers. That and the fact that it's a local app gives me peace of mind.

This is good stuff! PIMs were such useful bits of software: Agenda, Packrat, Sidekick, Organizer, Ecco...

I am a Mac user but I'll be watching this very closely. I would love to see this get some traction.

EDIT: Sorry, thought I'd better add something of substance here. One negative is that I have to trust you that it is secure. I get the integration of Calendar, messages, notes etc. but the password manager is a step too far in terms of trust for me.

Yes, since this application is trying to do so much, perhaps have some modular components which are open-source, e.g. anything related to security and encryption.

Trust is a huge thing and understandable. This is one reason why I don't trust Cloud storage with very important data. I would rather have my data on my local drive where only I can see it.

I like the idea of some open-source modules. I'll think about how I can do that without compromising security of existing data.

Here's hoping for an OSX version.

Yes. Will there be the macOS version?

Alas, not soon. I want to take the next few months to add Android import and personal LAN use first. Then I'll think about porting. I am looking at Wine now though.

Might be worth a look at http://strlen.com/treesheets, which is a smaller, OSS, cross-platform swiss army knife based on wxWidgets.

On Android, NoteLynX Pro has some neat ideas, including an outliner item having multiple parents, http://astrodean.blogspot.com/?m=1 Mindscope on iOS also allows an item to be soft-linked into multiple trees/parents for display, with a navigation path back to the original context.

ConnectedText on Windows, DevonThink and Scrivener on macOS have partial overlap.

For mobile: could doogiePIM import OPML files with dedupe? Many existing mobile apps can export as OPML. Could serve as a one-way sync/import.

For archival resilience: will the database format be documented, or could SQLite or XML export be supported? It's tempting to consolidate data into one app for UX/power, but we all know the long term risks.

For mail import, might be worth confirming that MBX import works from https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore-home/, a free (for individuals) German app that can archive email from many cloud services. Presumably doogiePIM stores email in a standard format.

The cross-linking capabilities seem honestly really cool, and this is something I have often yearned for in managing my own info. I dig that the license is unlimited updates within a major version too. Will give it a shot. :)

The cross-linking of data was the primary reason for creating doogiePIM. I've recently added the ability to hyperlink words and images to specific words and other images within the Documents and Noteboard. This is detailed on my dev blog entry here: https://bitespire.com/community/239-one-link-to-rule-them-al...

Major versions are roughly 18 months to two years apart with at least a 50% discount for the upgrade. I was thinking about a subscription basis but thinking from the point of view of a user, I wouldn't like that myself. I think this is a fair compromise - users get a good deal and I get a little something to replace my flux-capacitor every couple of years.

For the retro folks among us, JetBrains' PIM, Omea, is still available from them. [1] It's free, but not supported. And not as feature packed as the PIM described here.

[1] https://www.jetbrains.com/omea/

This is all very confusing.

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