
Introduction to Microsoft To-Do - acidshards
http://gunnarpeipman.com/2017/04/microsoft-to-do/
======
roryisok
Since we're talking about todos, I built a screensaver todo list the other
day, and it has helped me a lot.

my main issue with todo lists was that I forget to look at them. Once I'm at
my desk I get my head stuck in work and forget to call dave or email chris or
whatever. So I built a screensaver, set to 1 minute delay, which displays my
todo list. It simply reads a text file from dropbox with some UTf8 icons at
the start of each line.

Every time I go for tea or take a toilet break its the first thing I see when
I get back. I wish I'd done it years ago

~~~
amorphid
A screen saver todo is a good idea! Is it open source? Care to share it?

Heh, asking if the code is open source in this context feels like panhandling
:)

~~~
roryisok
Yeah, I can open source it. I'll reply back shortly

UPDATE: Here it is!

[https://github.com/roryok/todoscreensaver](https://github.com/roryok/todoscreensaver)

(uses WPF/.NET, GPL, based on a WaveSimScreensaver source by Sean Sexton)

Planning a few updates already, mostly just extra settings (change font size,
theme etc)

~~~
cuchoi
Thanks! Do you know if it is possible to implement this in OSX?

~~~
roryisok
Don't see why not? It's just a screensaver that opens a text file

EDIT: found this blog entry on creating OSX screensavers in Swift if anyone
wants to give it a go

[https://whichline.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/os-x-
screensaver-...](https://whichline.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/os-x-screensaver-
swift-2-part-1/)

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welanes
Don't Microsoft own Wunderlist? My theory is that if you observe a large
cluster of developers for long enough, todo apps simply manifest into being.

None as good as Lanes though, [https://lanes.io](https://lanes.io). Obviously
;)

~~~
owenwil
This is built by the Wunderlist people, and that's now dead :(

~~~
welanes
For real? Wow, that's super lame ( _he says, while frantically beginning to
code an 'import-from-Wunderlist' feature_).

~~~
H4CK3RM4N
I think Microsoft released one for this new thing. I'm not sure if it's cross
compatible.

------
maaaats
I've never quite found a TODO-app I like. They are all too constrained. Kinda
like using jira/trello instead of a physical board with post its. It limits
the creativity.

I use OneNote and just add things everywhere I feel like it. Different
folders, pages and scattered across a single page. Full freedom, instead of a
simple list.

~~~
ckluis
try workflowy? It’s beyond awesome.

~~~
breakingcups
I can second that.

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owenwil
RIP Wunderlist, a shame they've decided to sacrifice a product with a good
loyal following and brand for their own branded one, but alas. :(

~~~
blahblah12
It's the same exact ppl working on it. The CTO now runs a ton of teams at
MSFT. They just cloned the app with a different backend and a few new
features. The only thing that changes is the brand. It's like accompli.
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/fowlerchad/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/fowlerchad/)
\- runs a ton of things now

Christian is an EIR -
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianreber/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianreber/)

The rest of the accompli and sunrise teams are around, too.

~~~
gorbachev
"The only thing that changes is the brand"

That's not quite true. Microsoft To-Do doesn't implement nearly the same set
of features than Wunderlist does.

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ohitsdom
I used to love to-do apps and use them often, but after becoming a Google
Inbox user I'll have a hard time switching. Having all action items in one
place that are snoozeable to a specific time is huge for me.

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problems
One of my biggest asks from todo apps like this is that my todos be kept
private. I need encrypted sync so that the authors can't just go and read
them... so I'm basically left with todotxt and emacs org-mode as options and
then using SyncThing to get todos to my server.

Not that those are poor or anything, org-mode is probably the richest tool
around, just that I lose out on a lot of nice UI to get it.

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russellbeattie
To do lists need less "simplicity" and more artifical intelligence. Imagine
that you were jotting down things to do for a personal assistant to organize
and clarify for you.

* Text entry should be free form. I want to scribble a note to myself, or mumble something into my phone as it crosses my mind - I'm ADD, any step, however minute, between the thought crossing my mind and being recorded risks it being lost forever.

* Repeated tasks should be noticed and auto entered (always go food shopping, and do laundry on Sunday?)

* Tasks should be grouped automatically. Lots of "buy this" or "pick up that" and "meet there" can be organized pretty easily.

* Things to remember are different from tasks. I have to go food shopping - that's a task. Each item in that shopping list isn't a separate task.

* Tasks don't live by themselves. Phone numbers, email addresses, directions, instructions all need to be recorded, used and _not lost_ because that tasks was marked as complete.

* Some to do items are never complete: Exercise, regular checkups, eating right, going to sleep on time. Your personal assistant would remind you about these things.

* Automatically breakdown to-dos into steps. You write down, "get coffee filters", your task assistant adds in "open Amazon.com, log in, search for coffee filters, hit buy now."

* Reminders and alerts and other ways of getting in your face is the principal 80% of tasks. Writing it down is simple and easy. Actually remembering, then doing the tasks suck.

* Done lists are great as well - don't just hide tasks once they're done, show a daily list of things accomplished. Get a seinfeldesque checkbox for completing all your tasks.

~~~
roryisok
I built a list app with some of those features, but I ended up favouring
simpler things.

Although I would love a smarter shopping list that tracks my purchasing
patterns and makes suggestions based on what it thinks I'm likely to need

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lootsauce
I must be dense or something but never in my life have I ever found todo apps
useful. Note taking apps, yes. The odd shopping list on the back of an
envelope, sure. The odd text document now and then while I work, sometimes.
But taking time out to make a list of things to check off and then going back
and checking them off. Sorry I have better things to do, and no I have not
made a list.

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manigandham
A simple text file has always been far faster and more useful to me than any
of these to-do apps. Lately it's migrated to a text file on dropbox, or using
google docs or box notes for cloud sync.

There's also TaskPaper which is nice but only on Mac
[https://www.taskpaper.com/](https://www.taskpaper.com/)

~~~
Pxtl
I've been using Google Keep - it has a list of checkboxes for this, they hide
when checked. The upside is that you can drag-drop reorder then and you can
add to the list from voice on the homescreen ("okay Google add book my
vacation time to the Todo list").

But it fails one power of plain text rule - I can't copy and paste into and
out of it. Sucks when I want to send snippets of my shopping list to my wife
over sms.

~~~
manigandham
I do use Keep for notes. For todo's though, the web UI is nice but too slow
and annoying to use. Nothing is faster than a text file.

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alphadevx
Looks nice, and reassures me that if MS is spending money building a to-do app
I wasn't so crazy after all for building my own :-)
[https://five.today/](https://five.today/)

~~~
dorian-graph
Have not people forever been building to-do apps, and will continue on doing
so regardless of Microsoft and others? It's like a rite of passage.

~~~
roryisok
When you learn a new language, invariably you'll find a tutorial for how to
make a todo app. It's the next step up from hello world.

I'm not immune from it. I'm making my third todo list app at the moment.

Maybe all the options out there highlight the fact that there's no perfect
combination of features for everyone - you'll always find one feature in app X
which is not in ap Y or available on platform Z. In my case, I wanted an auto-
sorting todo list app on Windows Phone (Listage, in case anyone is interested
- though admittedly I don't even use it myself anymore).

~~~
dorian-graph
> When you learn a new language, invariably you'll find a tutorial for how to
> make a todo app. It's the next step up from hello world.

Very true—see: [http://todomvc.com/](http://todomvc.com/)

I agree, everyone has a slightly different style of working, myself included.

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MrVitaliy
My Documents, My Downloads, My Computer... and now My Day.

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rewrew
I've found that nothing works for me like a written list -- it's the act of
writing out the to-do that helps me remember it for some reason (I usually
don't have to look at it again if I've written it, but I won't remember if
I've typed it -- I've tried a bunch of different formats). Plus I take a weird
pleasure in manually crossing items off.

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lighttower
The requirement that Wunderlist never met is the ability to VERY QUICKLY from
ANY screen add a to-do without CONTEXT SWITCHING. Todoist was the only one
that provided this 3 years ago with a sticky notification in Android. I was a
paid user for 1 out of 3 years (not currently paying). I would pay if the
price was closer to the LastPass pro price, $1 per month, $12 per year

~~~
WorldMaker
I used the Cortana integration with Wunderlist for that. (It was Cortana that
suggested Wunderlist in the first place.) If there is one thing that the
speech recognition assistants can do very well, it's be a thing I can yell
TODO items at and have track for me.

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partycoder
My todo app of choice is asana ([http://asana.com](http://asana.com)).

You can start from a simple todo list... but each task can have sub-tasks,
dates, attachments, etc. Meaning that you can add hierarchy and additional
information if you need it.

It also has mobile apps, at least for iOS and Android.

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samdoidge
I switched to Trello from Wunderlist a long time ago - The syncing was much
faster, and the usability is brilliant. Creating new lists to work use a new
system (currently 4 quadrant matrix) makes it very flexible.

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joelbugarini
Excellent! But being a Microsoft Launch, I would expect a Windows Phone
version!

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feborges
Does it have a public API?

~~~
mpweiher
Yes. More specifically, it uses the Exchange backend, which has several public
APIs and is also supported by various vendors.

So for example your to dos show up in Apple Reminders and in BusyCal.

And of course in Outlook ;)

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mrmondo
Howdy, Is the source available somewhere we can inspect it?

~~~
mrmondo
Sorry if I was somehow disrespectful - I'm unsure how my question warranted a
downvote, I'm quite genuinely interested why - so happy for critical feedback.

