At Sardi’s

It’s the morning after Tinderbox 5. Some fresh comments and clippings from Giles Turnbull’s article on Tinderbox 5 at Cult of Mac.

Tinderbox 5 is wicked fast. That seems to be the headlining feature, but I hope folks don’t miss some of the other big ticket items like checkboxes, columns, and what seem like hundreds of minor, useful improvements. Tinderbox has been my go-to software for years, and it keeps getting better. -- Jack Baty

It’s $229. No, that’s not a typo. $229. Ludicrous! -- Tim

People who need to cut through dissertation-level or professional research, large-scale litigation, etc. don’t mind paying for this level of power. It’s overkill for most people, but that’s fine… it’s a professional tool.

I can only think of one other tool on either Windows or the Mac that has anywhere near the depth of Tinderbox. There are plenty of tools that don’t do a fraction of what Tinderbox does ... and cost substantially more. — Alan Yeung

"Tinderbox cost twice as much as MS word because it can do twice as much as MS word. There is no other software that can organize thoughts spatially without making you conform to a system beforehand, export those thoughts in html, opml, or xml, do automatically do exactly what you tell it to do in the process.

I can tell Tinderbox, “automatically update all pertinent information to exactly how I want it, and it will.” Wouldn’t you pay more if MS Word could automatically gather all of the sentences from your notes and put them in the correct order? This is just ONE of the things Tinderbox can do.-- "Eric"

It’s the closest software has ever come to mirroring my thought processes. It’s also the deepest and most elegant outliner and mind-mapper available, and although intimidating at first, it is also very easy to use for simpler matters. It’s potential complexity only serves to increase its flexibility. If you think it, Tinderbox can represent it, and the software eventually becomes a kind of second brain.

I’ve used it every day for about two years–with heavy usage, of course, the price seems more reasonable. It may or may not be worth it for you, of course, but you shouldn’t rule it out automatically. — Steve Stein