Carl:
About the same time, I started using Smith Micro's Hot Line with XyWrite to
run my phone. I now have about 65,000 contacts in my five databases (US
Media, Universities, American Business, DC Area, and my personal file.
In addition, Hotline has the neat feature of dialing a number off the screen.
Thus, in my "Notes" files, also go back to 1986 or so and contain everything I
have been working on since then.
The result: very good records, many contacts, all findable in an instant. With
only a few exceptions, I have not dialed a phone since I first installed
Hotline.
Did a study for a telecom firm back around 1987. Found that automatic dialing
from XyWrite using Hotline, used by a three person CEO office saved almost
three person weeks a year in phone number lookup and dialing time.
The Windows version of Hotline was never as fast as the DOS version and a few
years ago, Smith Micro quit updating the area code numbers. Still use the
screen dialing and while I have tried almost every PIM on the market, found
none as fast and easy as Hotline. It looks like I will move to MS Outlook but
am worried about its great file overhead and lack of integral quick dialing
ease.
I have been constantly amazed at how people in this business do quite well
with the biggest tool we use (computers) and are almost oblivious of the other
tool--our telephones.
TR...
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-xywrite@xxxxxxxx On Behalf Of Carl L. Distefano
Sent: Friday, March 21, 1997 3:54 PM
To: xywrite@xxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Notes file (was "Highlighting a line")
** Reply to note from Harry Binswanger Fri, 21 Mar 97
10:22:00 +0000
> I use a "Notes" file for everything that would otherwise be written down on
> a scrap of paper (and promptly lost). I store phone numbers ...
Harry - I started inputting my telephone notes in 1989. I open a
new file every Jan 1. All my phone notes and miscellaneous
jottings for the past 8 years are just a couple of keystrokes
away. Don't know how I lived without it. While structured
databases have their obvious strong points, you can't beat
free-form plain text when it comes to ease of entering data, IMO.
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Carl Distefano * * * CLDistefano@xxxxxxxx
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