SCOTTGSMITH62  Overall: Grossly over-priced for what it does, which is nothing more than a dressed up notepad, and it is VERY bug ridden (more like an Alpha release candidate instead of a production version).

The Good: It looks nice

The Bad:

- The price borders on the ridiculous for what this thing does. A person with Windows Notepad could do the same thing (except the pretty backgrounds).

- The hotkeys for performing menu actions do not work. I have two PC's on my desk and have installed it on both, but with the same outcome - using the hotkeys does NOTHING

- After using the menu option to fit more lines on the page, I decided to decrease the lines on the page after I had typed some data, but the menu item did not even work then. Restarting the program did not help.

Recommendations to developer:

1. Stop using the general public as your testers - this really pisses people off, and wastes time that is short in supply anyway. When it gets to me as a user, it should be without bugs and things should just work the way they are supposed to.

2. To make this an attractive application, really go with the notebook metaphor, and instead of having a scroll bar, when the user gets to the end of the page, have it flip over to a second page like a real notebook. Otherwise, what is the real difference between this application and MS Notepad, other than screen decoration? Before you do this however, download one of the applications for the Mac, like NoteBook or Omni Outliner, and see how it supposed to be done and what works.  
(Version 1.4.4)

SCOTTGSMITH62  The Bad:

1. The company is slow to update the product - the application ostensibly works just like it did five or six years ago, and it shows in the clunky feel of the application. The developer has a good core idea, but good ideas are not going to gain users of the Life Balance application.

2. The price of this application is really a joke, especially when you realize that you have to pay $80 for the Windows version as well as $80 for the Mac version (if you are one of the millions who use a PC at work and a Mac at home). If the price were $80 for both versions, then it would STILL be overpriced by about $30, when comparing the software to competitors.

The Good:

1. The company has a good reputation for support, and with the interface not being updated in such a long time, you will probably need support if you purchase the application.

2. The fact that the application is cross-platform, and allows a user to go back and forth between a PC and a Mac without troubling with conversion issues, really is nice.

Overall:

Even with the fact that this application is cross-platform and has good support, it cannot clear the hurdle of an interface that is ancient in computer terms, and is seriously overpriced. Before you consider purchasing this, do yourself a favor and look at competing products; there are a lot of them out there.  
(Version 5.1.1)

SCOTTGSMITH62  This review is really about the company itself, and how they support the user community.

At first I was very excited about the application because of the cross-platform nature of the product; being able to keep my work PC and my home Mac in sync was very attractive.

However, it became obvious that the company did not intend to keep the two applications in sync; in fact, from the time that I bought the application a few years ago until now, the Windows version and the Mac version have NEVER been in sync.

Requests for changes to the application to get them in sync have only been met with whining about how there is only guy to do the coding.

...hate to sound cold, but that really isn't my problem. If I purchased the application in good faith, I expect good service and prompt attention to questions and concerns about the product, instead of continued excuses.

I have moved on to ProNotes (http://www.softraph.com/); application is in sync across platforms and the developer is very quick to respond, and handles all of my task related needs.  
(Version 2.5)

SCOTTGSMITH62  This app does have some promise, but it falls short in a couple of areas.

The first issue I had with the application was a general sense of disorder. Part of it was related the fact that general application conventions have been put aside somewhat in order to be original. That's all fine and good, but when you have to spend a considerable amount of time to get beyond that "originality" to get things done, it defeats the purpose in a information management program.

The second issue I had with this, is solely related to price. These folks are really proud of their product. For what this application does, it does at a very high price point; i.e., there are a lot of applications out there that do more than this one for the money... just do a little searching.

I really do not think that this is worth your hard-earned money, given the high price and cluttered nature of the application.  
(Version 3.2.0.81b)