Google Notebook vs. Stikkit

Here comes the question of the week: Which one do you prefer – Google Notebook or Stikkit?

Both of them are slow as hell (or maybe that’s just my Internet connection). One of them is smart and does a really good job of understanding what is that I am doing – planning a meeting, saving a bookmark, or sketch a project with tasks. Another one is integrated with my Google account. Both of them have sharing. Google’s user base is wider, meaning people that I share things with won’t have to register for Yet Another Service. But Stikkit has a number of features that Google’s alternative doesn’t have – comments, email integration, and history of changes.

Google Notebook is all about structure. It has books, sections, and notes. There is limited depth, which somewhat forces to think before saving a note. Stikkit uses tags and vague organization. That is more convenient at the time of saving the note, but can easily lead to unmanagable mess (like I have with del.icio.us bookmarks now).

Sometimes, I just hate choices…

8 thoughts on “Google Notebook vs. Stikkit”


  1. @Alexey: come on! you don’t really suggest to install outlook in wine on linux? are you? :-D

    on the topic. i remember you posted link to one absolutely cool KDE program for note taking. doesn’t it do the job? but, honestly speaking I haven’t seen a good sollution so far. Something ideal for me would be a standalone tool, which in the same time would be able to synchronize with online DB.


  2. Alexey,

    My computer refuses to run it. Must be either that Linux thing, or something wrong with the license. Or both. :)

    Sergey, yes, indeed, I posted about Basket note pads not so long ago. Feature wise this program is more than enough. And it’s fast and stable and everything. Unortunately, we turned out to be incompatible interface-wise. There are small things here and there, which are barely noticable in the beginning, but become quite annoying as time goes.

    The good thing is that KDE usability team will focus on Basket in the nearest future, so, hopefully, those minor issues will get solved.

    Until then, I’m looking for a replacement ;)


  3. Leonid, thanks for posing the question and articulating some of the differences. One point you make is that Google Notes “forces you to think” before creating a note. That’s exactly what we don’t want you to have to do.

    We’ve really embraced the metaphor of a sticky note because like sticky notes, when you’re jotting down information, you pretty much always want to capture the note without hurdles. It’s why sticky notes sit near phones, and why we have them stuck to our monitors, and stuck to project folders. They’re useful because they have no overhead.

    And just like real world sticky notes, with Stikkit, you’re not faced with having to fill in specific boxes on the sticky note, or, before writing down notes while on the phone, determine where the note should be categorized, or what project it belongs to. You simply want to capture the data quickly. After the phone call, you can tag it or share it with others or elaborate.

    And we’re determined to make sure your notes don’t turn into an unmanagable mess. So far, we’ve been highly focused on the core capabilities of Stikkit. We’ve given it just enough smarts to be good at determining what you’re writing down. The next push will be towards making it extremely easy for you to organize your notes in a way that makes sense to you.

    So I hope you stick around as we push ahead – and I really appreciate the post.

    – Michael


  4. Michael,

    Thanks for stopping by. :)

    One point you make is that Google Notes “forces you to think” before creating a note. That’s exactly what we don’t want you to have to do.

    Understood. However different people work in different ways, and for me the “thinking” part so far has been vital. Even paper notes don’t work very well for me, because I tend to write too many of them, lose them, and stick them in the wrong places. As much as I’l love to use them, I haven’t figured out the way to do so until now. :)

    We’ve really embraced the metaphor of a sticky note because like sticky notes, when you’re jotting down information, you pretty much always want to capture the note without hurdles. It’s why sticky notes sit near phones, and why we have them stuck to our monitors, and stuck to project folders. They’re useful because they have no overhead.

    Nice goal. I hope computers will just work one day… without overheads. :)

    By the way, I have recently seen quick notes implementation in SugarCRM. While the functionality is limited, they had one nice feature – double click the note area and it switches into edit mode. Click somewhere outside of note area and the note is saved. No need to aim at “Edit” button or press any keyboard shortcuts. Perhaps this could be implemented in Stikkit one day too.

    And just like real world sticky notes, with Stikkit, you’re not faced with having to fill in specific boxes on the sticky note, or, before writing down notes while on the phone, determine where the note should be categorized, or what project it belongs to. You simply want to capture the data quickly. After the phone call, you can tag it or share it with others or elaborate.

    I saw people who do it this way. For me personally though it doesn’t work. I am a very messy guy. ;) If I am calling somebody, I prepare my note taking application before the call. If somebody calls me and I feel like I’ll need the notes, I pause them for those ten seconds that I need to get prepared. Rude, crude, and broken, but it works for me. :)

    Otherwise I just lose stuff…

    We’ve given it just enough smarts to be good at determining what you’re writing down.

    Yup, as far as I am concerned, Stikkit detects the proper content pretty good. I haven’t seen automatic note linking (by title or ID), but that’s more complicated I understand. And I’m not even sure that it should be implemented. Maybe an easier way to create links manually. Like WikiWords or something.

    So I hope you stick around as we push ahead – and I really appreciate the post.

    I’ll play a bit more with Stikkit. If it won’t work out for now, I’ll definitely check back later on. On the large scale though, it doesn’t matter if it fits me or not – I’m sure there are plenty of other people who find it useful. It’s nice to know that you care though. :)

    Thanks for all your effort and good luck.
    Keep it up. :)


  5. It would be interesting to see if Google would make any move on Skkitit; being Google Calendar my primary scheduling app I’d rather stick to Google tools as needed (I like having everything on one single place) but so far I’m liking Skkitit and I see a lot of potential in it. In the end I’ll work with whatever fits my needs…


  6. I need to apologize for the grave spelling mistake I just noticed… I meant Stikkit. Sorry!

    In my defense I blame lack of sleep.

    By the way, does anybody know anyway to integrate Stikkit/Google Calendar and Windows Mobile?

Leave a Comment