SEAGULL23  Chronos continues to promise and then disappoint. They have a great concept, but consistently fail to execute. Every version seems to be plagued by small but annoying bugs. I bought version 7, which actually worked reasonably well. But I'm regretting the upgrade to 8.07 because of the same sort of bugs that infested versions 5 and (apparently) 6. For example, in the latest iteration you can't save records of phone conversations (a variety of error messages), and records of previous conversations have been deleted. A previous poster reported that they had actually interacted with a Chronos rep, but in my experience, their customer service doesn't exist.

Buying this company's products is sort of like being in an abusive relationship with someone you really like -- they just happen to be a complete screw-up. You keep hoping Chronos will get better, but after this release I give up on them. I strongly recommend that others not buy -- you will experience hours of frustration trying to get the software to work as it should. None of the other products on the market offer quite as much as Organizer -- but they deliver what they promise.  
(Version 8.07)

PAULKELEHER  I strongly recommend you do not buy this software! I was a long time user of Personal Organizer and was excited when Chronos went Cocoa. However the first edition of SoHo for OSX was a joke, it was so devoid of functionality. I waited until eventually Version 8 was announced as the compete product - it had only taken Chronos what, 4 years to catch up with the 'new' OS. I should have been warned off by that inexcusable delay. I even pr-ordered Version 8 thinking it had to be the one. In fact it is slow, cumbersome, ugly - which really takes some doing for a Mac product - but what's really inexcusable is it doesn't even work properly. For example, try editing phone numbers in a contact. As you delete them it merrily creates duplicates instead - after hanging for ages - which then sync, messing up your MobileMe account too and then any other device syncing as well; it's like buying your very own virus. I've no doubt sometimes it will work for some people, but it is not safe, solid software and it should not be on sale as guaranteed to work. I've tried to delete all traces of SoHo but I'm not sure my computer has recovered yet.

If that weren't enough customer support is a joke. I've posted questions and had to wait 18 days for even a reply, never mind a solution. I've tried to request help and got not reply and my request for a refund fall on deaf ears. Somewhere the developers of this software disappeared up a blind alley; don't follow them.  
(Version 8.05)

MASSEYPRENUP  Problem...stay away. Difficulty importing contacts/calendars. Crashed constantly. Pain to uninstall.  
(Version 8.08)

STEVEN GOODHEART  Well, I used it for a week, and bought. Now, three weeks later, I have to say that Chronos hit it out of park with this one.

1) Been absolutely rock stable. Not a single crash.

2) The synching with Apple's iCal and Address book internal database has been flawless. I installed the program, SOHO Organizer went out and got the data, and voila! imported all my iCal and Address info. Also, it accurately synched my OmniFocus and The Hit List To-Dos and Events (of course, it should, since these synch to Apple's database too; it's all shared data.) Anyway, I had nary a problem with SOHO Organizer's import, which allowed me to hit the ground running. All I had to do what set up the Preferences (which offer some wonderful options for customizing how your calendars and data look.)

3) The feature set of this Calendar/PIM is really terrific, and much better implemented, in my opinion, than say, Now X 10.0. I'm not going to repeat all the features they tout on the Chronos website, except to say that they are pretty much as good as they say.

4) Features I especially like: the customizable Desktop Calendar and the ability to have your To Dos show up in the calendar, if you want. My favorite: how it automatically collects and shows you all e-mails connected to any contact. That's SO helpful. And I can attach almost any kind of file to a contact with ease. Best of all, I can attach any contact to To Dos and Events I create. Oh, and I love the built-in Journal -- it's so handy for notes and off-the-cuff writing.

As for the companion SOHO Notes, I have to say I just haven't used it. It looks pretty nifty, but at this point, I am absolutely wedded to DevonThink Pro 2.0. Nothing even comes close in terms of features, horsepower, flexility, ease of import of almost anything from almost anywhere, and best of all, incredible built-in artificial intelligence to massage, sort, and research your data. Simply the best, and this is no slight on SOHO Notes, which looks to have quite a bit of horsepower as well and certainly has great synergy with its partner Organizer.

So, with no crashes, no synch problems, and so many great features—and after three weeks of heavy, constant use—I have to give SOHO Organizer a solid 5 stars. It's really a great, usable, feature-rich, stable program. After all the travail and miscues and disappointments of some of the past releases, I'm very happy to say this, and am glad for Chronos.  
(Version 8.07)

ANON BUD  Though by no means a perfect application and though there are some pretty aggravating glitches (all of which can be worked-around) Soho Organizer is a pretty good Contact/Calendar Management system.

Positives:

Prints better than iCal

Allows for various kinds of links for contacts (emails, notes, phone calls, events, files, etc.)

Nice GUI

Good Journal entry and Daily note entry

Syncs fairly well with iCal and Address Book, thus keeping Mobile Me up to date (if you've got that)

Ability to tag notes and arrange in various folders and smart folders

Much faster launch times than previous versions

Fairly good support with regular app updates to fix problems

Drag and drop of contacts on contacts to establish relationships between the two

Negatives:

Search in Soho Notes does not work

Drag and drop of contacts on established events does not work (it is supposed to)

Email of attendees from within event views does not work (the option is grayed out)

Some random crashes, though that is getting better and better

Changed event times/dates in iCal do not always sync to Organizer

I still use iCal to create most events (especially with the “Create in iCal” contextual menu in Mail) as I am able to email attendees from iCal and not from Organizer.

It would be nice if there was a LaunchBar plugin for Organizer so that I could find specific note links to contacts.

Would be nice if I could use Spell Catcher with Organizer.

This is a much better and more stable app since version 8 (and getting rid of OpenBase architecture helped), so check it out!  
(Version 8.05)

DANCING BROOK  As you've heard, Chronos has a checkered record at best. Commenting here is fine but share your thoughts with folks below and you can keep sharing your experiences and interacting with other (perhaps potential) users:

http://groups.google.com/group/ChronosTalk  
(Version 7.0.2)

JIMW  I checked all over their website for a phone number so I could contact them with a presales question - i.e.will it print calendars and tasks to a Franklin Day Planner. Unfortunately the do not list one and the only way to contact them is via email after registering on their site. Thank you, but no thanks - I am not going to give them all of my personal contact information so they can sell it to someone or harass me with junk mail if I do not want their product. If a company is not willing to talk to me or publish ALL of their contact info, I am not willing to consider purchasing their product.   
(Version 7.0.2)

ZO219  Why does Chronos even bother.   
(Version 7.0.2)

H.A.L.  I loved Chronos's Personal Organizer; used it for years, but...

Grudgingly upgraded to SOHO Organizer 6 as the Mac OS was gradually making Personal Organizer obsolete.

That upgrade was a nightmare. They'd reconfigured their product to run on top of Apple's iCal, which had all kinds of problems.

I updated to SOHO Organizer 7 very late, after its user reviews indicated that it had - after many update fixes - managed to correct many (but not all) of the version 6 issues.

Now they're selling version 8, and even though it was only released last month (November,) they're already up to update 11!

Clearly that November version "8.0" was really a "beta," and Chronos is using buyers as beta testers.

I'd check back later next year on version 8, when-and-if it's TRULY ready for public release.  
(Version 8.11)

RAFACIANA  I think SOHO Organizer has finally arrived in a solid, reliable, very helpfully integrated, flawlessly-synchronizable state!! I have been a Personal Organizer heavy user since version 3 and have been stalled on version 4.5 for a long time. It is used to manage my psychiatric practice (all contacts, clinical notes, reports). I have tried every attempted upgrade of SOHO Organizer, all of which were very disappointing, and have regularly followed other's reviews, complaints, and disappointments. Version 8.09 is what I've been waiting for. It loads quickly, has a very clean and intuitive user interface and integrates well with SOHO Notes, iCal, Address Book, and Mail. I like being able to email from Organizer, the linking capabilities. I tried StickyBrain in the past, found it not intuitive enough and settled on Yojimbo. However, I will probably move to Notes after I have tested the demo bundle a little longer, given the promise of good integration with Organizer, etc. One recent glitch with QuickNotes (froze when trying to save a QuickNote) gives me concern. I am waiting for an email reply from Chronosnet regarding this. My experience with their support was satisfactory the few times I needed it a long time ago; no recent attempts. They are reportedly about to release NoteLife, an iPhone app that syncs with SOHO Notes. Print Essentials seems very powerful and complete and is a very much improved upgrade from Personal Organizer's template-producing element. The most recent version is reportedly a complete upgrade using a different database engine. They state that they sacrificed some group organizer capabilities, but since they were mostly used as a personal product, they chose to go in this direction. I think they finally realized that they needed to do a major change or completely fail. My impression is that the company is not sensitive to the importance of customer satisfaction and not very business-savvy. They market their products very sparsely. Their presence in Mac journal reviews has generally been almost non-existent. They stopped being at MacWorld Expo about 4 years ago, while Now has been aggressively pushing the beta upgrade of their Now-up-to-Date/ NowContact product (code named "NightHawk"), which was just released as Now X. I tried it: would you believe that it is even much buggier and slower than previous versions of SOHO Organizer? I've looked at DayLite which I found too expensive and geared more for businesses with projects, etc. I was a strong devotee of Act! before moving to Personal Organizer, before Act! stopped supporting the Mac platform. I still pine for it. I suggest giving SOHO another try and will be following your feedback. The manuals for each of the products in the bundle are very clearly written without being wordy. I think the price is reasonable for the bundle at $100. (Now X is $130 and DayLite is $150 and are both without the other ancillary apps.)

  
(Version 8.09)