Windows Software

[Jessterw]

Since I'm once again spending my working hours on a Windows-based PC, I'm needing to refresh my toolset. I've found some decent alternatives to the Mac (OS X) and *nix based ones I've been using, but there are a few areas I'm not entirely pleased with what I've found.

• Desktop Wiki or other relational note takingn - Currently trying out WikiPad
• To-Do list or task management
• Bug/Issue tracking
• Text Editor with really nice Diff (Compare/Merge) capabilities

Not opposed to paying, but I'd like to keep it cheap or free.

[Nowhere]

http://www.tiddlywiki.com/ - wiki completelly contained within one file (opened/edited in browser)
http://winmerge.org/ - compare/merge capabilities (not sure if nice, they suffice for me...)

Free/opensource.

[az]

TextPad is a nice win Text editor which I used. Not sure about its compare/merge capabilities, though.

[spadnos]

Well, it's not freeware or shareware, but I haven't seen anything better than Araxis Merge for diff/merge.

This program is good enough that I would even consider keeping wine or vmware on a Linux machine so I could continue to use it.

- Steve

[Jammrock]

UltraEdit is the best text editor for anything that invloves coding.

A free alternative is notepad++: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

[ND66]

Winmerge & TextPad does the job for me too.

.

[UtwigMU]

For Wiki I'd just set up wikimedia on some spare (virtual?) server at home or at work. The benefit is that if you run the server at home only you have access to data and you can keep personal notes away from work or if you have it at work you can have sort of common work related wiki.

Todo list, tasks: Outlook works, chances are if you have to use Windows, you have to use Exchange and Outlook anyway. Otherwise you can again webify this by vtiger CRM: free opensource CRM that runs on LAMP, free version of sugarCRM based on MySQL. It's probably overkill for notetaking but it's web and you can access it from any platform over 'net in a browser.

I wouldn't know about bug tracking or text editors. If you're 'nix nut you can get VI or EMACS for Windows. Once KDE is ported you'll get Kate.

[jms]

http://www.bugzilla.org/

http://www.crimsoneditor.com/

[Jessterw]

Pretty well limited to client-side software only and I don't need access outside of work to any of it (to clarify that, I have a company-issue notebook with VPN access).

We used Lotus Notes *shudder* and it has the same basic functionality as Outlook as far as to-do's and notes go, but I'd rather not have to load a heavy client like those.

Thanks for the suggestions though guys. Seems I've already found most of the ones people are recommending, just not finding any that match the ease-of-use and functionality I have elsewhere.

I've settled on EmEditor for text editing outside of our Java IDE, largely because I already have a license, at least for now. TextPad is nice and I have a license for it as well, so I've been loading it on occasion trying to see which I like best. My supervisor actually uses UltraEdit and the division manager is more than willing to pay for any licenses we need if we decide on one that does everything the team as a whole wants. Shall have to play with it some more to see.

As far as the rest go, I'm using WikiPad to manage them (TiddlyWiki just wasn't 'enough'), but I wish I could find something a bit nicer in terms of usage.

One I forgot to include is what everyone is using for archive management these days? I used to have a license for Winzip, but I'd rather not have to invest in it again. So I've been using 7-Zip.

[az]

WinRAR?

[Sasq]

you have to remember, both Jesse and I have been more or less exclusivly osx based for the last 4 years, so even common software from then, is a little fuzzy on the memory.

[Jessterw]

WinRAR?

That was the first to spring to mind, but again, not sure I want to spend money on it and I'm not going to be running an uninhibited version of it.

7-Zip works decently well so far, so I'm not exactly needing an alternative - just interested in any new solutions that may have come out.

[Jammrock]

https://www.PortableApps.com

They have a good variety of free Windows applications and utilities that run in their own space, i.e. designed to run off a flash drive. If anything it's a good place to spot free windows applications, tools and utilities to use.

[Jessterw]

Handy site. Knew about a few of them already - using a portable version of Firefox.