I maintain interest in self management frameworks and a friend recently introduced me to the Franklin Covey software tools, most specifically the Plan Plus for Outlook product. I downloaded the demo version to evaluate. The results of that evaluation are the subject of a different discussion.
When installing the software, I was surprised when the installer laid down a Vista sidebar widget. This is the first example, in my experience, of an ISV packaging a sidebar widget into a commercial product. The particular widget is a perfect application of the technology as it displays real time access to the Franklin covey tasks and goals. In the Franklin Covey methodology, a user will want this data visible and at the ready constantly.
One could make a reasoned argument that these little gadgets are not simply trinkets, but can be genuinely useful as tools. After all, it is the content of the application and not necessarily the framework that makes software valuable. Franklin Covey clearly sees it this way, too.
These little gadgets are not hard to develop, even I was able to do it :). Give it a try.
It’s funny you bring up this subject. I was just about to attempt tech support on this.
I installed the new Franklin Planner Windows software this past week also, but the gadget doesn’t work. It has a drawing issue where it only shows about 1/10 of the box, and it doesn’t update itself with the tasks.
http://scottelkin.com/images/franklin-gadget.jpg
(notice the upper right gadget)
If drag the widget off the sidebar, then re-add it to the sidebar, it looks normal, but it still doesn’t update. You can see that I do in fact have tasks to do:
http://scottelkin.com/images/franklin-screen.jpg
Crazy, huh?
I know the gadget has issues too, but I am ina tech support round with them on the Outlook software in general running Office 2007. I am getting ActiveX control violations and other errors like that.
I really dont want to run a seperate application for this (the windows version) if I can use Outlook instead. One dashboard would be easier, basically.
Of course, they have the hosted version…
Bottom line, I bet they have outsourced their software development as it is not their core competency and are getting long turnarounds on fixes to folks like us. We’ll see, I eagerly await the patches.
I own the last version of the Outlook software, and tried to install the Outlook 2007 version and like you got mad ActiveX errors. I called tech support and after speaking with them, the guy actually said, “I don’t know”.
That is why I started using the PlanPlus for Windows. And the truth is, I am happier, because I had too many problems with it hosted in Outlook. Outlook crashed more often, it wasn’t supported in Outlook 2007 until this latest version (which also doesn’t work…), and slowed down the startup of Outlook.
But good luck, let me know what you figure out!