Do you try new software? Often, occasionally or never?
We try new software all the time, since we keep looking for great tools to improve what we are doing or to add them to our arsenal.
But often, it takes more than one glance to figure out the power of a software app. Or even one glance.
Case in point: Flexibits' Fantastical.
Our initial take was predictable: Yet-another taskbar app that allows a user to schedule calendar appointments. We already have two free ones, we don't use them, so why even bother evaluating a new app, especially if it is not free?
So we did not bother. Until I ran into Michael Simmons, one of Fantastical's creators, at Macworld.
He gave me a demo. I threw my objections at him, one at a time, and he showed me how to address them. 15 minutes later, I was sold - at home at night, I downloaded the app, tried it for 15 more minutes and then bought a license. And the next day I went back to Macworld to thank Michael for selling me on it.
So what's so special about Fantastical? It's the only taskbar calendaring app I've used that allows me to do everything without taking my hands off the keyboard. Hit a hotkey to bring it up and start typing your appointment in natural language. It knows how to interpret location and date information, plus recurring appointments. There's even a shortcut for assigning the appointment to a specific calendar. I'm done in seconds and can move on to my next task.
And that productivity boost is worth the cost of Fantastical, and then some. Thanks, Michael, for convincing me to give it a try!
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