My first commercial software product was ThinkTank.

We called it an idea processor -- to differentiate it from the production tools of the day -- word processors, spreadsheets, databases. Places where you did your work. ThinkTank was for your ideas.

It really worked. I use a descendent of ThinkTank to this day to organize. I couldn't do anything very complex without it.

I've just been using pngWriter on my main Twitter account for a couple of days. I'm no longer using it to test the functionality. It works. I'm using it to test utility. That is, is it useful, and if so, how?

It's turning Twitter into an idea processor for me. A very different kind of idea processor from ThinkTank. This is not an outline. I don't even worry about holding on to posts. Because they're like Twitter things. Quick, stream of consciousness. Not much if any editing. That's a lot like the initial mode of outlining. Just get your ideas down, don't worry about how they relate. That comes later.

What's different about Twitter is all the other people.

If they get turned on by an idea you get feedback right away. And because I get a chance to fully express an idea where 140 chars would never have been enough, their feedback actually means something other than the usual grunts and snorts. It'll be interesting to see what happens when some of them have pngWriter too.

BTW, you can only use pngWriter for original posts, not replies. I wonder if that's a feature or a bug. :cat:

PS: This post began as a pngWriter post.