My Tasks Organized

[Doug Linder]

I am a new user of MLO.  I have purchased licenses for Windows and Android as well as a cloud subscription.  I have to say, it's the best "to-do list" organizer ever - and I've been looking for a LONG time.  It has fantastic features I have never found in any similar app.  I have no complaints about the software's ability to manage tasks.  At that, it excels, and that's why I bought it. But...!  (you knew there was a "but" coming) I do have some comments.  Take this as a compliment - if I didn't think the software had a lot of potential, if I didn't want to keep using it (and possibly recommend it to friends) then I wouldn't be writing this.  I'm spending my valuable time writing in the hopes that someone will notice and pay attention.

Having said all that, I have to say, it's silly to call it "My LIFE Organized" since it's not organizing my *life*, only my *tasks*.  My *actual* life also includes EVENTS that also need to be organized.  Since I still have to use a separate calendar app, MLO does not meet the standard for what I would consider organizing my LIFE.  You can say that's just semantics, but that's how I feel.  I would desperately love to have one app that not only told me what I needed to get done today, but what events were happening - meetings or whatever - so I could plan for everything.

Now, I know there are a million calendar apps out there and re-inventing the wheel is stupid, so I would never suggest it.  Integration with third parties is the way to go.  And I think I have read - somewhere! - that MLO has some kind of ability to display events from Google Calendar, which would be fantastic.  But for the life of me, after hours of searching, I can't find any mention of it anywhere.  All I have is a vague memory that I once read something about it somewhere.  Either it does not exist, or the people who make MLO have done a piss-poor job of making the feature known.  It's not in the very lame and dated manual, nor is it explained anywhere that is easily available (FAQ etc).  The video tutorials are OK as far as they go, which is not very far, covering only the most basic introductions.  For a product this complex, they should be far more detailed. They are only simple feature demonstrations and introductory material, nothing to really show you how to use the full power and advanced features.  I suppose with time, over the years, and with enough reading of the manual I can figure out more or less what I need it to do, but it sure would be nice to not have to put in all that effort and instead watch videos about tips, tricks, and efficient use of features.

I have this to say to the people who make MLO: yes, I know all you Apple people exist in your own little bubble and think everyone who doesn't use apple products are sub-human.  Fine, be that way.  But if you're going to sell Windows and Android versions of your software, then SUPPORT THEM.  2/3 of your online videos (youtube) are for IOS and Macs.  Most all of your blog posts are oriented at Apple products.  You have no user support discussion forums on your web site, just this ridiculously hard to find Google Group.  You have no documentation, or if you do have it, you do a shitty job of pointing new users at it.  Do you want to succeed?  To make money?  Then wake up and smell the coffee - MOST people use non-Apple products.  That's where the market share is.  Cater to us too, not only them.

1) Lives are heavily influenced by EVENTS in those lives.  If you want to organize a life and not just tasks, work on integration with non-proprietary calendar formats like Google Calendar, not just Outlook. Though Outlook is popular, even so, MOST people do not use it, even Windows users.  Deal with that..  You don't have to make MLO a calendar app, but it needs to work with them.  In short; iCal support.
2) The PDF manual has a copyright date of 2015 - WTF?  Is that the last time you updated it?
3) MOST people do not use Apple products.  Sorry, that is reality.  Deal with it.
4) You have native Windows and Mac versions - how about Linux?  We Linux users may be fewer in number, but we have money and clout, and are definitely looking for quality nativbe apps.  You have the opportunity to be first in this space and become a Killer App.  Consider that.  It may be a smaller market, but you could have 100% of it since there is no competition.

[Stéph]

Hello Doug. Welcome to the MLO users community. 

Well, you've picked up on a couple of topics which have had quite a few posts devoted to them, over the life of this Google group. MLO can currently read the calendar on the iOS version and, I think, the Android version. If you have the iOS version (and, hopefully, the Android version), look at the list of views and you'll see one called the "Today" view.

There has been a lot of discussion about adding calendar integration to the desktop version, with many people keen on being able to view their tasks with their Google calendar (which wouldn't work for me, personally, because I only have 2 of my 3 calendars on Google).

Regarding manuals - yes, that's also something which others have complained about. The video tutorials are a new thing for the MLO team, but I understand that they're planning on doing more. They're also keen for any users to post videos about how they use MLO - It's very flexible software and everyone uses it in subtly different ways. I don't think many, if any, use all of the features available.

You'll find members of this Google group helpful in trying to solve the problems posted here.

It's funny that you berate the MLO developers about working with Apple products and their "Mac version" - In fact, MLO started off as Windows software, with the Outlook integration, before more recently developing versions for mobile platforms. In fact, they still don't have a Mac version at all (although they're thinking about developing one, depending on demand). For mobile products, it was a commercial decision to go with iOS first - There's less variation in Apple products and iOS users tend to spend more on software than Android users.  So far for Linux, if you search this forum, you'll find that there are users who've managed to install and run MLO in a Windows emulator.

This is a friendly group and you'll find users keen to help with anything you can't find in the manual and to add their vote to any good development ideas you post. On behalf of myself and the other users, I'd just ask that you keep the language clean - you won't need to use strong language to get a point across here.

All the best,

Stéphane

[Alyona (MLO Support)]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. There are just a few points I would like to add to Steph's words.

We are receiving quite a lot messages from our users and appreciate all of them! Most of the suggestions are the same, so we are aware of the need for calendar integration and we do agree that MLO has quite a learning curve due to its numerous possibilities, therefore more tutorials are necessary. There are also many feature requests for other things. Striving to keep the balance between powerful app and uncontrollable monster, we are constantly working on adding new features and implementing users' suggestions. We are also working on the tutorials and hope to please you with them soon. As for the platforms supported, we are equally developing all of them. Here you can compare the features. If you need any help, just let us know.

Steph, thank you for the great answer. We are proud of our strong user community helping others discover all tricks in MLO.