Some notes on various tools I've used for various kinds of writing over the years...

1984-88: [PCs] at work ([Word Star], MsWord for [DOS], Frame Work which I loved). Mac on the side (MsWord), plus little note-munging utilities which I've forgotten.

1989: use Info Depot for some class notes during MBA program. Too bad much of that was lost due to hard disk crash with no backup!

Outliners: mainly for task/project mgmt, but a little for writing.

1992-1995: Hyper Card for personal diary (wow, just opened that old stack with Meta Card with no problem at all!)

Mind Mapping tools to Brain Storm (prioritize, shake out ideas, etc.). The Brain, [MindMan], later [E Mind Maps].

Jul'97: start saving the emails I send to a bunch of people, pointing out links, with a bit of commentary...

Apr'98: start manual ([Visual Page]) WebLog (buried in Med Scape public server).

Sep'99: get interested in Extreme Programming processes. Discover the core Wiki Wiki Web site, which was a hotbed of [XP] and [Design Patterns]. Get intrigued by the site's WiKi engine. Download a Python-based wiki clone onto my laptop and use it to start writing big-picture notes about tech issues (e.g. (Content Management System) relevant at work (Med Scape). One of my first pages notes the potential for wiki as a Wiki Weblog tool!

Nov'99: considering leaving Med Scape, come up with idea for new veture (Project Flux). Start writing ideas in WiKi.

Dec23'99: start my Userland Manila WebLog at http://webseitz.editthispage.com/1999/12/23

Jan'00: decide to leave Med Scape to start Project Flux. WiKi acts like a Business Plan in outline form, where there's a big [Table Of Contents] page that links to single-topic pages.

Fall'00: once we have our own servers in place at Axiom Legal, I launch a ZWiki server to use as our Intra Net.

Oct'01: having earlier started renting ZoPe space and used it just for static document posting, I finally launch/tweak ZWiki.

Jan30'02: start noting Recent Changes in my Userland Manila weblog.

Feb7'02: stop blogging in Userland Manila, doing it all in my Wiki Weblog.

Hi Bill! You might be interested in our lab's working group [Thinking Powerfully] http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thinkingpowerfully/ to jumpstart a network of software tools for augmenting thinking including an import/export standard http://www.ms.lt/mindset.html We award free membership to makers of open source tools. Is your tool open source? Andrius Kulikauskas, ms@ms.lt

• Bill replies: yes, this tool is Open Source. You might want to check out what the Open Hyperdocument System people are working on, esp. their recent thoughts on modelling many collaboration process bits as graphs - they'll probably aim toward RDF as an import/export format.

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