Process - 3.0.8

As a long time user of the previous version, I was excited to try v 3.0

Downloaded, and after no small amount of head-scratching, realised I had to use "Import" to open my previous 'processes'

Got them in, seemingly intact then tried to delete a project that was now finished.

Process 3 promptly quit.
Safari became unusable and eventually quit unexpectedly.
Mail.app did the same.
Followed by BBEdit.

None of the apps would re-launch without quitting until a restart.

Needless to say, I won't be touching Process again. Ever.

While I freely admit that I like several aspects of Process, such as iCal integration (wish for Addressbook integration as well, please), it's Cocoa UI aesthetic, it's document linking IN THEORY), there are some precarious bugs with this app.

File saving should indeed be automatic. And I have on occasions experienced it NOT saving when quitting, myself. This induces a high degree of mistrust in the application... and such applications REALLY need rock-solid dependability!

File linking is inconsistent -- not from a bug perspective, but rather by design. The Process data files are in fact packages, and SOME file types indeed get "eaten" by Process, as they are moved into your data file's package. This is damned dangerous if you ask me. And, it's a little too aggressive o Process' part, thinking it can be-all and do-all as well as other dedicated applications. Process should simply utilize Finder aliases. This would make tracking of files that are moved, as well as being able to reference one file more than once within Process, easier. My Process data file is littered with broken links.

Unless I am not using it properly, the iCal integration is buggy. When I try to set a future iCal event as an alarm, Process puts it in on the DATE CREATED.

Also, you cannot fully search note contents; only "Item" (or event heading) text. This is a major problem, as -- at least as far as I can determine -- because a lot of data is "hidden" from Process' search function. I have many Items with the default not loaded with text. But, I can't search this text. Major problem.

Also, it would be great if, while being able to preview web pages within Process, an option to "Open page in default browser" would be highly welcome.

And yet, with all these problems, I have twice tried OmniOutliner... but have come back to Process. Process feels like a Mac application, whereas Omnioutliner feels like a Windows port. I really like its iCal integration... if I can get it to work properly.

Process is in dire need of a major revision and ironing-out of bugs. It's potential is serious.

OH! AND PLEASE JUMSOFT do NOT go the way of iCal/Leopard and eliminate the shelf. I absolutely HATE the way Apple changed iCal in this regard. WAY too many clicks/keystrokes to get editing on stuff.

I was surprised to learn that this developer recently released a trio of new applications (Money, Relationship, and Operation) before they fixed some well-known and reported bugs in Process. I feel they would have done better to satisfy the needs of their existing customers before they sought to expand their market.

Process is, in concept, a great app that well combines outlining with calendaring and document management. Unfortunately, it is broken in all three areas and, as a result, largely unusable.

First, in outlining mode, there are serioues flaws that prevent a user from re-ordering and structuring existing items in an outline. Additionally, when creating new outline items, they often do not arrive in an outline where one would expect. This makes sorting a task list very frustrating and, ultimately, unsuccessful.

Regarding its calendar capabilities, Process does not manage its relationship with iCal effectively. It "pushes" new calendars and events to iCal well enough, but typically cannot handle any changes that occur to a Process-published calendar in iCal. Changing events on these calendars in iCal makes Process crash. Furthermore, rather than integrating with a pre-existing iCal calendar with a name identical to a Process project, Process will create a second iCal calendar with the same name, and this causes all sorts of problems with both Process and iCal.

Finally, in regards to documents, yes, as previous users have posted, it has a bad habit of eating Word files. However, another concern I have is the way that it manages a project's relationship with its files. If you fill up a project with files, they are to the existing, external documents, so if you move your Process file, the links become broken.

Process, in its current state, is like a proof of concept. Well, I like the concept, but it needs a lot of work to prove that it's ready for every day use.

Nice interface, but missing important features. Has advantages over Hot Plan, but still not good enough for the money spent. I've emailed the developer twice with feedback and had no response. I haven't experienced the DOC and iCal problems because I don't store my DOCs in Process and my iCals are subscribed, not locally managed.

DON'T BUY UNTIL THE DEVELOPER STEPS UP TO THE PLATE AND IMPROVES THIS SOFTWARE.

As previous reviewer noted, the application totally wipes your iCal data. However what is even worse is that it also ruins your Word documents. It builds a simplified preview in the Process window of the .doc document and this is fine but then it writes back the changes to the file!! All formatting and tables are gone.

As precious people have noted, the support is non-existent. Do not buy this software! Don't get fooled by the nice appearance, it will eat up all your data. This is afla quality software and should never have been sold in the first place.