MyBase Desktop Edition for Windows

User Reviews

• Awesome Database Concept but Flawed Functionality!

  prstonAugust 7, 2011

  Pros

  Brilliant concept for a personal or small business database.

  Cons

  Horribly butchered execution of genius.

  Summary

  In the digital age, home PC users are confronted with overwhelming amounts of documents, images, spreadsheets, & other files that clutter and crowd their PC desktops. A 'personal' database program to organize and manage that overwhelming amount of digital material is sorely needed. Unfortunately, a user-friendly database program offering effective ways to intelligently and intuitively organize digital information seems almost impossible to find. What choices are available for a personal database? Microsoft Access is overkill for most home users. Dokix's Home Document Manager is easy to use but lacks sufficient organizational features. Nuance's Paperport 12 and Avanquest's eDocXL do a wonderful job of organizing scanned documents but fall short on managing most other forms of digital information in a sensible manner. BUT there is myBase by Wjjsoft presenting an innovative database system that offers many clever ways of organizing a variety of digital info. Wjjsoft describes myBase as "a versatile free-form database system that allows entry of unstructured text, webpages, images, documents, emails and even arbitrary files without regard to length or format." After reading an overview of how MyBase accomplishes its mission, one is left awed by the brilliance of the concept. Eureka! The perfect personal database is found—right? Wrongo! Sadly, Wjjsoft's functionality falls woefully short of its extraordinary potential! The user interface is primitive and oppressing. Its design is austere, boxy, and drab...which is most unpleasant to view, like looking at the glum mug of a sourpuss old man. MyBase's rich features are hard to find and even harder to see. The icons for functions are small and pale grey. I defy anyone to figure out what icons do without clicking on them. MyBase would benefit immensely from a MSFT Office 2010 ribbon-style interface. Alas, in its current form, MyBase is torture to use. Too many of MyBase's best features are overly complex to figure out. WjjSoft's execution of the MyBase concept is anything but intuitive. Sure, MyBase is not as hard as Dreamweaver to learn...but after a full day of studying this program, I hardly rate as a novice user. And oh wow, some functions that should be as smooth as ice to operate are convoluted nightmares to deal with! Some of MyBase's most brilliant features flop badly because the developers failed to consider a critical detail or two. A perfect example is the marvelous way that MyBase saves internet shortcuts of web pages. Suppose you are researching a subject on the internet...and find a myriad of web sites offering relevant info...and you are pressed for time (who isn't these days?). What good choices do you have for saving those pages for later review at your leisure? Well, MyBase offers a splendid solution. In order to quickly save a horde of web pages on a specific subject, MyBase allows you to create a database document with an independent section at its foot where individual URLs can be saved and listed. Later, you can return to that URL list, click on an URL, and have the actual web page open up WITHIN MyBase...astonishing...no need to run a zillion tabs in a browser to see all the web pages saved for future reference. Sounds great, right? But unfortunately, MyBase blows it by making one critical mistake. MyBase will save a list of URL shortcuts within a single database document...but, ha, ha, you CANNOT rename any URL with a plain English description. Thus, the URL description you get on the list is the original long URL that too often is a bunch of gibberish giving no clue as what specific web page was saved. Thus, you are left with a list of saved URLs that don't tell you what is what! Even Internet Explorer saves internet shortcuts with a plain description of the shortcut's subject matter! MyBase will import Word documents but not PDF files! OMG, I can cite a long list of great features with severe shortcomings. Suffice to say, MyBase is an incredibly brilliant concept whose execution was butchered by a lack of common sense. I think MyBase was invented by rocket scientists who don't know how to tie their own shoelaces. Damn pity that this extraordinary software won't benefit mankind due to ridiculous shortsightedness on the part of its developers...but that sums up MyBase...a total tragedy!

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• Its a great program,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, but VERY hard to program

  mrmrsfroggieSeptember 1, 2006

  Pros

  I love the things it does. The program samples are wonderful and show all the great htings it does. It will do just about anything. If it does what it is supposed to do it is GRRRRRRRRRRRREAT

  Cons

  I hate tring to understand this. It is not very detail with the instructions. You have a very hard time changing programs. Like setting up a web page like they show it in " web capture " HOW DO YOU SET IT UP LIKE THAT?????????????????????? Setting up other functions is easy, but most are hard.

  Summary

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