Equivalent for non-cloud users?

[RobFreundlich]

I am absolutely thrilled that you're providing a non-mobile database and app! However, I'm less happy that it's a cloud database and web app instead of a desktop app.

The reason I started using DJO and CL when I got my first Android device was that I didn't like the cloud model that Google provides. I came to Android from a decade and a half of Palm devices and Palm desktop, and I like both the simplicity of Palm Apps and Desktop and the security of a local database and local synchronization. Currently, DJO on the device provides me with the simple/clean mobile apps, Palm Desktop still provides me with the simple desktop app, and CL provides me with local synchronization.

However, Palm Desktop is getting long in the tooth. There are basic features I'd like that it doesn't have, such as configurable fonts to make it readable on my high-res monitor. So I've been exploring how to write my own version of it, using the Palm DB format so that I can still use CL to sync.

Then, yesterday, I checked in on the DJOA forum for the first time in a while and learned about the upcoming CL6 and its free year of DejaCloud and access to this new DJOL app, which I hadn't heard about before. So close to what I want, but not quite!

I like the fact that you are differentiating yourselves from Google by building it with the business user/privacy-minded user in mind, but the fact remains that it is still a cloud-based online solution, and that still makes me uncomfortable. Not to mention that I can't really afford (or justify to my wife) an annual fee.

I can, however, pay a one-time fee (or, rather, a once-per-major version fee) for a desktop version of the application. Do you have plans to offer anything like that?

Alternatively, do you plan to offer a version of the cloud/web app that a savvy user could install on their own network?

[DJOCTO]

Rob, we are continuing our practice of "one time fee" for the desktop software. For most people they can stay on the current release for 4 years by paying the fee. The first two years are for the current version, and the subsequent two years are the following version. So right now nearly everyone who bought CL5 get a free upgrade to CL6, and those who bought CL3 and CL4 have a discounted price to upgrade to CL6.

NSA News indicates that there is really no way for us to fully secure a cloud system hosted by us. All indications are that if we were asked to turn information over, we would be required to comply and also to not talk about it. Outside of that restraint, however, we still feel our system is better simply because it is a paid subscription, and we are not using the data for marketing as Google says they do.

We don't, at this time, have plans to make this available for own-cloud or drop box models. Perhaps when it is truly stable, but right now we have weekly updates and tweeks, so there is a fair amount of maintenance going on.

[RobFreundlich]

Rob, we are continuing our practice of "one time fee" for the desktop software. For most people they can stay on the current release for 4 years by paying the fee. The first two years are for the current version, and the subsequent two years are the following version. So right now nearly everyone who bought CL5 get a free upgrade to CL6, and those who bought CL3 and CL4 have a discounted price to upgrade to CL6.

I get that, and I like the policy a lot and will be taking advantage of the discounted upgrade to CL6. But what I meant was a desktop version of the DJO/DJOL app - that is, something like Palm Desktop, but written by you folks and designed to sync easily to DJOA/DJOL.

NSA News indicates that there is really no way for us to fully secure a cloud system hosted by us. All indications are that if we were asked to turn information over, we would be required to comply and also to not talk about it. Outside of that restraint, however, we still feel our system is better simply because it is a paid subscription, and we are not using the data for marketing as Google says they do.

We don't, at this time, have plans to make this available for own-cloud or drop box models. Perhaps when it is truly stable, but right now we have weekly updates and tweeks, so there is a fair amount of maintenance going on.

That makes sense. I'll have to ponder what it means for me going forward.

Thanks!

[DJOCTO]

Oddly, there is a Windows version of DejaOffice. If you go to the Windows 8 Store, you can download DejaOffice and install it.

This is a side-effect of our support for Windows Phone 8 devices.

Of course, you can go to the Chrome Store and download DejaOffice CRM Live also.

For both these cases, the database is going to sync via the Cloud, so that is not the same as a local install with local data files.

[RobFreundlich]

So close, and yet so far! (although I have to admit the Windows version is a neat side-effect!)

OK, so switching to a different tactic (and perhaps this is the wrong place for this discussion, in which case I'm happy to move it elsewhere). When y'all wrote the Palm 4.1 sync code for CL, were you working off of a spec, or did you reverse engineer it? Every time I think about writing my own Palm Desktop replacement, I get stuck because all of the unofficial specs I can find from folks who've reverse engineered the database formats are for pre-4.1 versions. I could do my own reverse engineering, but (as I'm sure you know) that's a HUGE pain in the neck and if I can find a good existing spec, it'll be a good jumpstart.

[ltaylor1152]

Rob, I also would like a Deja Office for my pc. I Have used palm desktop for many years. It is the best PIM I have used, and I keep going back to it. Deja Office is so much like palm, and even better on the handhelds. I would like the same thing to replace my Palm Desktop 6.2 on my Desktop and Laptop PCs.

[RobFreundlich]

Rob, I also would like a Deja Office for my pc. I Have used palm desktop for many years. It is the best PIM I have used, and I keep going back to it. Deja Office is so much like palm, and even better on the handhelds. I would like the same thing to replace my Palm Desktop 6.2 on my Desktop and Laptop PCs.

Do you have any development experience? I can't devote myself full-time to writing a replacement (in particular, to reverse-engineering the database format), but if I could find a partner, I'd be interested in a shared project.