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2005-03-12T23:51:37 todo and calendar are the same thing: Every PIM I've ever heard of makes a big separation between calendar "appointments" and todo "tasks". I can't figure out the difference. Suppose I remember I have to go to the DMV-- that's a 'task'? What happens when I schedule a time with the DMV-- is it now an appointment? If I have to schedule a followup meeting, do we now have two appointments? After the meeting happens, I have to remember to make copies of some paperwork to keep in my home and car. Another 'task'?
It's all the same thing! The point of a PIM is to track items that correspond to things I will do in real life, and each item has at least one date [*] associated with it. A "calendar" is a display of items which makes use of some of their dates. Today's common PIMs have rigid schemas for their items (calendar item: creation / occurrence(s); todo item: creation / deadline; contact into: nothing). I want a PIM that stores whatever info I have, and then displays it in useful ways. The latter job is FAR lower priority than the former, since I can always get or write new display software and test it on my existing data.
Unsurprisingly, I'm not using a palm or a zaurus or any of the other software I have to manage my schedule. I'm using my email inbox [E]. There was probably email about any event, so I leave it in the inbox until the event happens. Also, people send me change-of-address emails that have their current email/phone/home addresses. Since my email archive already contains good information about contacts and events, how about I make it the main source of contacts and events? All the infrastructure exists already to send email to me from anywhere (and anyone). It just needs to be parsed and searchable.
[*] the creation date, silly
[E] and apparently so does Edd Dumbill (http://usefulinc.com/edd/blog/2005/3/14#22:02)
