A person who is thinking about managing knowledge in his business and is looking into various alternatives asked in an email message:
Does Microsoft have a licensing agreement with Mirror World Technologies to use their Scopeware Version 2.1, and/or Server-Based Scopeware technologies in OneNote? Did they pirate the technology. What is the difference in the products?
I replied:
No, Microsoft's OneNote is certainly an interesting application and will get attention from people who want to better manage their thoughts, but it suffers in comparison with Scopeware...
The basic structural difference is that OneNote requires the user to "push" items into the application. If you move the data to OneNote or create information in the application, then OneNote can be useful in finding and managing that knowledge. All of the other unstructured information you rely upon in your computer, local area network or on the Internet is not available through the application.
Scopeware, on the other hand, "pulls" information. It does not matter where the information is located, which application was used to create the data or even whether you or someone else on your team created the file. Scopeware monitors it all. If it is digital information that you have permission to see, Scopeware can keep track of it.
The other significant difference is the way OneNote displays information. OneNote requires the user to look in various places for information. It relies on a physical office metaphor. The user puts the information in a file choosing between various categories. If the user remembers where it is, then they can return to the folder, browse the files stored there and eventually find the information.
Click to enlarge.If the user does not remember where she put the information or if she is overwhelmed by the amount of information in the file, she can do a search of text to find OneNote files that contain the text. OneNote displays a list of "hits" and the user scrolls through the list hoping to find the file they want.
Scopeware takes all of the unstructured information it has stored in its repository and displays it in a chronological stream. The default view includes everything with the most recent thing on top. There are no folders, no tabs, no physical office metaphors that force the user to do the work of organizing and finding information.
Click to enlarge.Scopeware works the way your mind works. You remember something about the information--it can be text, a date or date range when the data was created, who created the information, the application in which the information was created--whatever comes to mind. Scopeware then filters out of the stream all information that does not include what you remember about what you are looking for. You can further refine the search by searching within the new stream--in other words Scopeware can filter the stream further using an additional thing you remember about the information. OneNote and most other applications always look at the entire database of information when a search is executed and cannot refine a search that has already been made.
The stream is not like a list of files. It is a stream of related information. The stream tells a narrative story--this happened, then this, and then this--each item representing a digital file or record of various types, all integrated into the narrative context of the stream. The user can scan the stream with ease, moving from moment to moment. The item located in the stream where you're focused instantly displays above the stream. You see a thumbnail image of the file; a summary of what is contained in the file; key aspects of the data like who created it, when, by which application. As your focus moves in the stream new images pop up, giving you insight into the flow of what was happening at that moment. When the item you are looking for pops up you not only find what you are looking for but now you understand what happened before and after that item was created. This narrative stream display of search results is very powerful.
So, OneNote is cool, but it only keeps track of a small fraction of the whole story and only what you put into the software application. Scopeware contains everything in your universe of data and integrates it all in a creative, simple, elegant user interface that brings insight and intelligence to the user.
