Conqu
AgentCooper
via web
Hi
There has been lots of posts comparing Nirvana to other GTD/to do-apps but i haven´t seen anyone mention Conqu (http://conqu.com) a GTD app that appears to have native applications for iPad, Android and is in the same price range as Nirvana (53 $ year).
Since I will have to make a decision on whether or not I should stay with Nirvana when it goes pay-version, I am curious if anyone has tried Conqu and will share their experience in comparison to Nirvana.
2 Posted by Proximo on 18 Oct, 2011 03:08 AM
Never heard of it. Will check it out and see what it's about. Thanks for mentioning it. Now I have yet another GTD app to waste a little more time on. lol
3 Posted by Folke on 21 Oct, 2011 11:56 AM
The overall feature description sounds good, quite a bit like Nirvana, actually. The big difference seems to be that this is downloaded software, not a web app, so they have different software versions for each type of device. An iPhone version is not available yet, and Windows and Mac versions are in beta. The free version seems to be without limitations in number of projects etc, but is a standalone package for that device only (or for each device separately). You pay for the capability to synch your devices. Maybe you have to pay for the Windows and Mac versions - I'm not sure; it seems a bit unclear; you have to sign up for a sync account to try these.
4 Posted by Folke on 21 Oct, 2011 02:34 PM
Haha, look:
http://conqu.com/help/discussions
Amazing similarities - cannot be an accident! Any kinship behind the scenes?
5 Posted by levi on 21 Oct, 2011 03:16 PM
Yeah, it looks interesting and very similar, though I haven't looked past their website. But the fact that it's not a web app makes me a bit leary. I don't want to have to rely on installing it on every computer I use (or just use it on my phone)....
6 Posted by Folke on 21 Oct, 2011 04:07 PM
I know, but did you notice that the forum has EXACTLY the same layout and texts?
Do Nirvana and Conqu both just happen to be using some particular 3rd party forum platform that has exactly the same texts preprogrammed, such as:
Problems
Having some issues? Something not quite working right? Post your problems here and we'll get to them as soon as possible.
Suggestions
Do you have a suggestion? Maybe a feature you'd like to see implemented, or a suggestion on how an existing feature should work. Let us know what you think, we're always glad to hear opinions.
Or is there foul play at work?
7 Posted by Proximo on 21 Oct, 2011 06:56 PM
@Folke
Nirvana does use a 3rd party forum platform that many others use. I think Nirvana is moving to a different forum system down the road with more flexibility.
I still need to check out Conqu. Been busy but it's on my Next list tagged with @computer and "Low" energy. :-)
Support Staff 8 Posted by David McLaughlin on 21 Oct, 2011 08:13 PM
Conqu is not related to Nirvana -- it does appear they are using the same 3rd party support software called Tender -- http://tenderapp.com/
David
9 Posted by AgentCooper on 21 Oct, 2011 09:27 PM
Conqu is not a pure web app as Nirvana but an Adobe AIR app.
All clients are free to use locally but you have to pay for "ConquSync", which is marketed as a separate product/service, to be able to sync data between your devices. I think this model is kind of pseudo because most people needs syncing and there are no alternative ways (like webDAV, iCloud or Dropbox) to sync, than to use the developers own service.
I tried the mac version and my first impression is that the interface of Conqu is very ipadish and not at all suited for desktop use. It sure is pretty (and i guess some would say prettier than Nirvana) but not an interface I would want to live in every day.
10 Posted by Proximo on 24 Oct, 2011 01:59 PM
@AgentCooper
Don't want to upset anyone because this is just my opinion.
I have never seen an Adobe Air app that is worth me using. They always seem light weight and run unpredictably. This is just my experience but I am usually turned off by Adobe Air apps.
I also must have a web app as my GTD solution. I have a Chromebook and web apps is all I use for 100% of my personal computing. At the office, I use Windows 7 with some very expensive and powerful software, but at home I live in the cloud.
Support Staff 11 Posted by David McLaughlin on 24 Oct, 2011 03:01 PM
Personally I hate everything Adobe except Acrobat -- so I'm a bit prejudiced.
Pretty is as pretty does.
12 Posted by AgentCooper on 25 Oct, 2011 07:59 AM
Proximo:
I have had the same experience with Air as you, in context of Air being used to create larger desktop-like apps. The Air framework is okay for some types of apps that does simple things without managing user data and syncing - as an example, check out the free Pomodoro timer Focus Booster which i really really like to use. The benefit of "make it once and you have a version for all platforms" is of course a huge one.
13 Posted by AgentCooper on 25 Oct, 2011 08:15 AM
Just to be fair to Conqu, I´m sure that they will make the app available from a browser also - simply because it is so easy.
McLaughlin: I would not like to live without Photoshop and After Effects either. Adobe makes great apps.
14 Posted by MarcinGTD on 25 Oct, 2011 10:14 AM
I have tested it. It seems decent
However I find Nirvanahq's UI to be superior. So clean.
15 Posted by Proximo on 25 Oct, 2011 06:53 PM
@AngentCooper
I used Focus Booster so I agree with you 100%. Air is good for simpler things.
I have love for Adobe, but it's the Air apps that I normally don't care for. I love Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, Premier and After Effects. I am decent with Photoshop products, but still learning Premier and After Effects. I also learned Dreamweaver before Adobe purchased it. :-)
If Conqu makes a web app, then they got something...
16 Posted by AgentCooper on 26 Oct, 2011 07:09 AM
@Proximo This might be going a bit off topic but how is Premiere these days? I used to work in Premiere 6.5 (long before it was Premiere Pro I think) with some Matrox hardware and it was terrible - constantly crashing and often with huge losses in terms of corrupted projects and sometimes even media (backup was not an option because media storage was ridicules costly at that time!). I then did a project on Premiere Pro 1.0 with a Decklink card. I was a bit sceptic but thought, "hey, they probably fixed all the stability issues" - after all, the feature set was very impressive and the UI did not kind of slick. But I got to say, that it was not at all a great revisit.. It was all hell. Almost like using beta-software. And we tried every imaginable thing to get it to play along but the app just constantly crashed. I ended up recapturing all media into an Avid system and manually recreating timelines from time code sheets. Since Premiere Pro 1.0 I have never touched that piece of software.
17 Posted by Proximo on 26 Oct, 2011 02:08 PM
@AgentCooper
My experience with Premiere Pro is OK. I don't know it well enough to do crazy things with it so I never experienced crashes. For simple video editing, it's an overkill because they UI is cluttered with many advanced features I know nothing about. :-)
Maybe I should stick with Premier Elements.
Back on topic.
I plan on testing Conqu today just because it's only fair. I don't expect the experience to be something I am going to enjoy because of Adobe Air and the lack of a web app. "You see AgentCooper, this is how you get back on topic. ;-)"
18 Posted by travis on 26 Oct, 2011 07:11 PM
I just reviewed Conqu , it is okay, still doesn't not have the core functionality of GTD that Nirvana just nails. You can't arange tasks manually, no staring (focus), kind of slow (too much animation), UI inside of a task is kind of clumsy and it takes a while to set everything on a task (not as clean as Nirvana), I don't like that they only have a Today, and not a hybrid Focus that has Today, past due, and starred tasks. No Area of Focus (Big fail, this is the strongest benefit to Nirvana and I would not be able to use any GTD app without it). Really the only benefit I see to Conqu is that they have a Android and iPad app..... Come on Nirvana dev! You guys have an amazing product that no one can touch, keep up the great work!
Regarding Get It Done App, its UI looks horrible and doesn't follow GTD correctly (ie. missing waiting on and such).
I don't have too much confidence in Wunderkit, based on some of the screenshots I saw, they are breaking GTD concepts.
19 Posted by Proximo on 26 Oct, 2011 09:48 PM
@travis.
Wunderkit was not created for GTD but could proably work for GTD if they allow the user to tweak some of the features.
Have to wait and see what it's like. Wunderkit is created to help manage task and projects with collaboration and social functions. Like I said, it's not going to be GTD based but may provide a workable solution for some.
Still have not tried Conqu. I have it under High Energy and 30 minutes of time. Not something that has come up with my filtering process yet. :-)
20 Posted by travis on 26 Oct, 2011 10:19 PM
You can set it to 5 minutes, there is not much too it.