Operating System Bigamy Bliss

I'm a long time PC guy with roots back to the DOS days, but I must say that the times they are a changing. I now find myself toting an iPad around the office, with an Android phone in my pocket, and a Windows 7 laptop on my desk. Somehow I seem to be making these disparate operating systems accomplish my goal of staying organized and productive on the job. 

Thought I would share with everyone how I have mashed up device interoperability with apps and services that I use on a daily basis in my personal and work endeavors. Now this is how "I" do it, and like my most things in my life it is a continual work in progress, but it is working pretty well as I type this post. Maybe this will help jumpstart the process for those of you with a similar device mix … plus I’d love to hear other ideas from you folks that are also embracing cross platform solutions.

I have always been a gadget guy and still have fond memories of running my Palm Pilot thought its simplistic paces ... note taking with graffiti, to-do lists, and gaming. So I first noticed the power of interoperability back in the 1990s by using a Palm app called Intelligolf that let me replace the scorecard while golfing, tracked all the betting, and yielded some amazing historical stats on my PC. It was worth all the teasing I took for showing up with the Palm Pilot safely encased in a neoprene case on my belt, and I kind of liked my new moniker, "database," that one of my golf buddies bestowed on me.

Capturing Those Fleeting Thoughts

So let’s move on to my current device and app mix. The initial entry point of many of my current to-dos and ideas is my Galaxy S II phone via the free version of Tape-a-Talk (free). The "gadget guru" in me reflects back on my voice recording device evolution from micro-cassette recorder to digital recorder, and now getting rid of the extra device and evolving to an Android app is a beautiful thing. My best personal brainstorming seems to most frequently occur on the drive into work and capturing those "fleeting" thoughts for later development is simple with Tape-to-Talk's minimalistic interface. Push the red button, talk while my Jawbone Icon is in my ear, hit stop and the result is an idea that is not quickly forgotten and can be reviewed later on the phone, or even better yet emailed to myself as a *.WAV file.
 

I have tried numerous To-Do apps and I am sure many of you use something that works for you, but my primary concern was interoperability with all my devices. After trying several that claimed interoperability I have stuck with Google Tasks as my base system using gTasks on my iPad ($3.99) and the gTasks for Android (free) widget on my Galaxy SII for access. Lots of other systems had more bells & whistles and prettier interfaces, but IMHO simplicity is the key for to-do systems. I gravitate to my iPad's elegant gTasks app to add or work my To-Dos, but in a pinch I also have easy access via gTasks on my Android phone or directly from within Gmail Tasks on my laptop.

Never Thought I'd Say This

OK, here’s the really hard part for a long-time PC Windows guy to say (deep breath) …. I love my iPad for taking meeting notes. Just like everyone else I have taken many a note on yellow legal pads, but I rarely went back and reviewed the pads when completely filled, but I always felt compelled never to throw the pads away. Equipped with smartNote ($3.99) and a Bamboo Stylus that clips nicely to my iPad’s Incase book jacket cover I have turned my iPad into a note taking monster. I tried out several note taking apps and found smartNote to work the best for me. Sure you can create multiple notebooks and mirror the “yellow pad” process, but I like smartNote’s ability to take notes at a specific meeting, and then email them as a PDF to myself for distribution to the attendees or simply archiving in the appropriate iBooks category. 
 

Now on to where I keep all the digital content that I am either working on, or need as a resource. Admittedly, there is a little duplicity here but I think this is just something you need to work through until you realize what works for you. My goal is to have the information available no matter what device I have available. That said, availability is one thing, but usability is important too, so I plan my content development schedule loosely around the device that I know will be available. For example, most of the heavy lifting for this post was done in OneNote on my laptop, and OneNote's syncing with Skydrive gave me the flexibility to review and add a few things on my iPad during my son's jujitsu class today as well as while ignoring the previews in the movie theater tonight.

A Five Subject Notebook On Steroids

My "go to" app for initial content development is Microsoft OneNote ($62.76). The OneNote app is like having a 5 subject binder on steroids. With a little categorization forethought upfront you can create an information archive that is hard to beat. Plus, the formatting tools in OneNote give me the ability to simply and quickly create project team communications that look good enough to even share with the CEO. OneNote's free iPad and Android apps extend accessibility to the content by synching with Microsoft's Skydrive cloud storage - and with 7 gigs of free storage I do not see needing more space anytime soon. 
 

Speaking of cloud storage options, I also cobble together a couple of other free systems to accomplish my backup and accessibility needs.... Google Drive (5 gigs free) for my cloud photo backup needs, and Evernote (60 meg of data transfer monthly) for my day in day out life details. Both solutions have extremely elegant apps for all 3 operating systems.

Just Do It

You know it’s easy get caught up in the cycle of constantly seeking out the "coolest" apps … but at sometime the rubber must meet the road and you gotta start using what you got - and stick with it awhile - to know if it’s working. This is what is working for me and I would love to hear what is working for you. Things will only get better for us operating system bigamists my friend!