The VitaDesktop Blog

VitaDesktop 1.0 is now ready for release!

I’d like to thank all of the beta participants, very much, for all of their help, feedback, encouragement and support during the beta.

Also, a special thank you to Robert and the Vitalist team for allowing me to release this application to the public.

So, if your copy of VitaDesktop hasn’t updated you already, please feel free to download VitaDesktop v1.0!

Oh, and a Merry (belated) Christmas to all, and a Happy New Year as well!

Cheers,
Michael

P.S. Don’t forget the reason for the season!

Another day, another update!

I just put up the latest VitaDesktop version on the server (v0.93.0347.0). This update was mainly to add a few feature requests (see below), but there are a few code-tweaks in there as well.

Those who have automatic updates turned on will receive the option to download the next time you start VitaDesktop. Otherwise, you can download the latest version from the downloads page or the links below.

Feedback is always welcome! If you have any ideas, suggestions or bugs to report, please feel free to post it in the forums.

Download Links:

• VitaDesktop Beta 0.93 Build 0347 (Default: 32 bit, x86) download
• VitaDesktop Beta 0.93 Build 0347 - 64 bit download

Enjoy,
Michael
 

There’s been a lot of people who haven’t been able to install VitaDesktop since they do not have Microsoft .NET version 2.0+ installed. Up until now, if a user tried to install the program and didn’t have the appropriate .NET version, they’d be presented with a friendly message notifying them of this along with instructions on how to download the correct .NET version.

I think this may have turned off some people…

So, to make this process easier for everyone, I’ve updated the setup utility to give you the option to automatically download and install .NET for you, if the minimum required version isn’t already installed. I’ve also added an installer for 64-bit systems, which will also download the 64-bit version of .NET if necessary.

In other news, expect an update to VitaDesktop by next Wednesday!

If you have any feature requests to be included in the next update, please feel free to post them in the comments or in the forums.

The latest installers can found in the Downloads section.

Cheers,
Michael

It looks like I missed a small bug in the previous build that prevented saved settings from being correctly applied when VitaDesktop starts up, causing the default settings to always be used. It’s fixed now though, and can be downloaded from the downloads section.

Direct Link: VitaDesktop Version 0.92 Build 0002

Hi All!

VitaDesktop version 0.91 has been put up on the server. This update fixes a few bugs found in the “Full View” mode.

If you’re already using VitaDesktop, you can click the “Check for Updates” link in the System Tray menu to automatically download and install the update. Otherwise, please visit the downloads section to download the latest version.

If you’re interested, here’s a list of the bug fixes for this version:
 

I just posted a short video of VitaDesktop, showing the Compact and iPhone view modes in action. It can be found in the Videos/Screencasts section.

Enjoy!

Alright, the VitaDesktop beta is ready to go! If you don’t know what VitaDesktop is: it’s a program that I wrote to make accessing Vitalist more convenient.

For more info on VitaDesktop, including screenshots, please see this post.

If you’re ready to try it out, please click here to download VitaDesktop Beta.

I look forward to hearing your feedback!

Enjoy,
Michael

Hey all,

This evening, I’ll be opening up the VitaDesktop beta to the public. For those who don’t know, VitaDesktop allows you to easily view and modify your Vitalist from your Windows XP/Vista desktop, without having to open up your browser.

Here’s a sample screenshot to give you a better idea of what I’m talking about:

Before I officially release the beta, I thought I’d use this time to give everybody a little bit of background info on VitaDesktop:

I’ve been using Vitalist for a while now, and I’ve gotta say that it’s the best Getting Things Done (GTD) web-app I’ve found. I got addicted to it fairly quickly, trying out all of those little “tips and tricks” that other users came up with to make Vitalist more accessible. One of my favorites is using Jott to update my list using my phone, as mentioned in the Vitalist blog.

That was a really neat trick!

The thing is, as I got more and more into using Vitalist, I found it more and more bothersome to have to consistently open up my bloated web browser and log in, just to see what my next action item was…

Side-note: Maybe it’s just me, but when my copy of Firefox starts up, it immediately eats around 60 MB of my RAM. After I’ve surfed for a while and have opened a few new tabs, that figure easily jumps to over 100 MB.

…and don’t get me start on Internet Explorer!

So, being a software developer, I decided to write a program to solve these problems — because that’s what we do, solve problems!

I had four main goals in mind when writing VitaDesktop:

1. Use the least amount of system resources (especially RAM) as possible,
2. Make it super-easy to access and modify my Vitalist action items,
3. Make it secure, and
4. Make it non-intrusive: it should stay hidden when not in use and avoid occupying unnecessary window/taskbar space.

Once I finished the initial VitaDesktop prototype and started using it, it was fantastic! Now, whenever I want to access my Vitalist data, I just double-click on the little System Tray icon and — bam! — up pops VitaDesktop with my Vitalist tasks.

I made a “Compact” mode (which uses the mobile version of Vitalist) to keep the window nice and small. There’s two other view modes as well.

Also, the amount of memory used is only around 10-11 MB during regular use, and just about 3.5 MB when hidden — that’s just 1/5th to 1/10th what I’d end up using with Firefox.

Not too shabby!

I’ve found it so incredibly useful that I figured other people would like to use it as well. So, I’m going to allow people to download a beta version starting sometime (late?) tonight to try it out.

So, spread the word! And be sure to check back this evening (EST), or tomorrow morning for the beta version of VitaDesktop!