Tom Lieber's AllTom.com

GoalEnforcer

I'm evaluating GoalEnforcer for the second time. The first time was more than a year and a half ago, when I asked for a free evaluation copy. The reasoning was that the demo doesn't allow saving, and how could you trust your project planning software enough to evaluate it with no way to save state? I was graciously offered a free copy which I used and eventually discarded for various reasons.

It didn't feel stable. I can't remember any more whether it ever crashed, but it didn't give the right vibes for software I could trust. It's saving feedback is non-standard (a small popup to tell you it's saved) and just feels a little off.
It didn't feel right. I was interested in the progress report, but there were weird inconsistencies (which I reported) and the formatting looked clumsy and unattractive. The rest of the program looks out of place in any OS and the whole thing seems to be designed for Ages 4 and Up. That last one is not necessarily a bad thing, and I think it works in GE's favor, but it still weirds me out a little.

I was reminded of it recently for reasons I no longer remember and decided to check out what's changed. Interestingly, it looks like it's still being developed, and it has actually been getting new features. All of the things I complained about above still apply, unfortunately, but I love the fact that the newest features have centered around ease of input and alternative data displays. I'm giving it another shot.

Posted Dec 17, 2007, in the early morning.

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