# The Ubuntu Forum Community > Ubuntu Community Discussions > Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat >  Where is our OneNote alternative?

## djpemberton

I love Ubuntu/Kubuntu. There are only a couple of programs that I have to ever open Windows for. Those aren't likely to change, and I am stuck on them. However, I would love a well integrated OneNote alternative for Linux. It appears that Basket Note Pads (which showed real promise for me) has been dropped. A copy of it, Basqet, seems also to have been dropped. I know there are other note-taking apps out there, but none (that I know of) resemble the features of OneNote at all. I wonder why no one has picked this up? It seems that these projects rise up for a while and then just fall. Obviously a volunteer's time has a lot to do with it. This is something, if done well, that I would be perfectly willing to pay for.

Are there alternatives that I know not of -- outside of Tomboy and wiki-style apps?

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## Bucky Ball

I just had a bit of a look about and noticed Zim. Not having used OneNote have no idea how it compares. Big Zotero fan myself but that is probably not what you're after. 

PS: You're not really running 11.04, are you?  :Wink:

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## Copper Bezel

At a glance, Zim looked a lot like Tomboy Notes, but it does a lot of other stuff, too, like TeX support and images, that puts it a bit more in line with OneNote, even if it isn't spatial. Not bad - I'm going to have to play with this myself.

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## tgalati4

I've used _zim_ for years and I like its simple, fast interface.  Plus you can run it on multiple machines using one remote share file.  OneNote is pretty, takes a while to load and does audio recording within the notes--something that _zim_ does not do.  So there is no direct replacement for OneNote, but zotero, xjournal, evernote are other ways to take notes in linux.  It really depends on what your note requirements are.

I like OneNote, but there is no way I will wait for Windows to boot up (on a dual-boot system), just to use OneNote.  I presume OneNote works in wine, but you will have to research that.  Using OneNote in a virtual machine is another possibility, but I recall that audio recording doesn't work right, or there were other issues--again, some research is needed to verify.

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## djpemberton

Yeah. I don't think zim is the replacement I'm looking for. I really want something free-form/spacial. It helps me "see" my thinking. I use zotero heavily for bibliography and organizing my documents, but I need a OneNote alternative for a different stage of research. Evernote has been a fairly good possibility, but, again, it isn't free-form. Basket Note Pad remains the best alternative -- even if it isn't in active development. I hope that somebody picks it up before it becomes un-usable. OneNote does work in Wine, though it isn't really stable enough. I have Windows 7 in a VB. I can run it in there, as I have to run a couple of other things from time to time. However, a Linux alternative is what I really want. Something well integrated into the system (libreoffice, email, browser, etc.), free-form with some available structure, drag-and-drop, etc. I'll probably never get it, but I would pay for it!

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## su:bhatta

I was also stuck at this same point.. been usin RedNoteBook... does the job ok...

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## djpemberton

I had used RedNoteBook for journaling in the past. I don't think it is a really viable option for research, though it is great for normal journaling.

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## tgalati4

For freeform notes, I use mindmapping on an 11"x17" drawing pad.  There are several mindmapping tools (some in linux as well), but I find a drawing tablet works the best.  The computer-based tools are quite clumsy for mindmapping when you have a lot of stuff to dump in a short period of time.  Once I have a mindmap, then I can go to _zim_ or other journaling tool (yes, even _emacs_ org mode) to create a proper outline.

Omnifocus on the Mac perhaps came closest to freeform.  OneNote is OK for freeform, but it's hard to beat paper and pen for this type of capture.  I evaluated several tools (linux, mac, and windows) a few years ago, and I came to the conclusion that decent mindmapping on paper worked the best for me.

If you really want to go down that rabbit hole:  http://www.43folders.com/2006/09/17/mac-mind-mapping

Don't blame me if you never come out.

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## Bucky Ball

> ... decent mindmapping on paper worked the best for me.
> 
> If you really want to go down that rabbit hole:  http://www.43folders.com/2006/09/17/mac-mind-mapping
> 
> Don't blame me if you never come out.


Extreme and extremely limited if you are considering that is your only mind-mapping option (I've never seen it). There are a few options in Linux and in the repos, View Your Mind being my favourite (VYM). I have a bunch installed in another install. I'll report back when I'm in there. You need to do more digging. Mind-mapping in Ubuntu is most certainly not a hole from whence one will never return, although your suggested Mac link may be. I wouldn't know.  :Wink:

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## tgalati4

The entire blog/website is the black hole, not mindmapping or software tools in Ubuntu linux.  Sorry for the confusion.  I've used VYM, and it is OK, but perhaps not powerful enough for the OP.

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## Bucky Ball

> The entire blog/website is the black hole, not mindmapping or software tools in Ubuntu linux.  Sorry for the confusion.  I've used VYM, and it is OK, but perhaps not powerful enough for the OP.


Got ya. And yes, VYM is 'adequate' for simple things, a quick bash-together on the fly, say. Freemind was another. Haven't used 'em in awhile.

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## djpemberton

At any rate, I'm not sure that mind mapping software will do what I and others would get from BasKet--paper and pencil certainly won't do it. I need/want something that is not only optionally free-form, but in which I can link to or even place files of all types which are related to my current research. I need something that has those features plus some more. Like I said, BasKet is definitely the closest. I would feel comfortable using it instead of OneNote if I only had reasonable assurance of its continued development. Right now, as far as I know, there are no other comparable Linux alternatives that are in active development.

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## ianorlin

I never really understood what One Note did even when I was using windows.

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## Copper Bezel

I don't either, but I feel at least as much awe as puzzlement. It's an intriguing set of features. I guess the idea is to blend paper notes with hypertext, and that includes the ability to mark up existing documents as you could a printout or photocopy, and it'd be interesting to talk to someone who makes extensive use of it and find out how it works in practice. I'm guessing that it has its own Zen, like Tomboy and others, that only makes sense if you think that way.

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## DisappearingOak

The closest is Basket, but buggy on my system. But I like to use zNotes for very simple note-taking needs.

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## LaserWraith

> I never really understood what One Note did even when I was using windows.


I didn't use it extensively, but I did use it a fair amount for some of my classes last year. One thing I love about OneNote is the organization - You have notebooks, sections, and pages. I've always liked that setup compared to tags, which feel more disorganized.

Easy embedded screenshots and an equation editor that feels easy to use are also pluses. LaTeX can have a learning curve, but writing an equation in OneNote (or Word) is extremely easy.


And it looks beautiful (at least the most recent version). Most of the other minimalist alternatives make me cringe. Google Keep works for the little things, but I'm going to need to find some replacement (or see if wine works) for OneNote, now that I've moved to Ubuntu. 

Oh, and I think one person said OneNote was slow. I never experienced that - it loaded surprisingly fast for such a feature-rich program.

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## bushell-br

I am a medical student and I use OneNote for the notetaking I do in class at university. It's extremely useful for me because it allows me to place my powerpoint slides for the class on one portion of the page, and then type notes into the free space beside the slides on the other portion of the page. I can also draw arrows and highlight words and stuff using my digitizer pen on my laptop. It's a great system and very useful for a student, especially in modern university where all the profs now lecture purely from powerpoint slides. 

This one program is the only thing keeping me from using linux fulltime. Even if I had the ability to use powerpoint and just save notes into the notes section beneath the slides, I could foreseeably use linux all the time--but I can't do that either. Currently WINE will only allow up to office 2010 to be installed, and i'm using Office 365/2013. With Libreoffice powerpoint there isn't the same note-taking ability. You can make "notes pages" with the slide up at the top of the page, but then the slide is shrunk so small it becomes too difficult to see, and it is very awkward for trying to browse through the powerpoint to review.

I really wish there was a one-note alternative for linux. I know it would allow the conversion of many many more people just like me who want to use an OS other than wind0ze or mac, but can't do so because our school tools are only available there.

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## mastablasta

> I am a medical student and I use OneNote for the notetaking I do in class at university. It's extremely useful for me because it allows me to place my powerpoint slides for the class on one portion of the page, and then type notes into the free space beside the slides on the other portion of the page. I can also draw arrows and highlight words and stuff using my digitizer pen on my laptop. It's a great system and very useful for a student, especially in modern university where all the profs now lecture purely from powerpoint slides. 
> .


i still don't get it. you can do all this stuff in word since 2003, probably on one of libre office progs as well. the only difference is organsiation into folders and notes. but one can do that in folders on disk as well.

when i was studying this office stuff was at it's infancy. how on earth did we get by with those notebooks and folders....  :Smile:

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## djpemberton

mastablasta, I suppose you got by the same way that they did when using papyrus and parchment. You made the best us of the technology that was both available and familiar to you. Likely, you would have complained if they would have handed you some large rolls of material and a quill type pen....  :Smile: 

I agree that many/most of these things can be done with tools available for Ubuntu. Whether those things could all be done as efficiently is up for debate. Some of it simply has to do with how an individual feels that they think best. Some of it has to do with the technology that they are accostomed to. Some of my desires in this are related to free-form/spacial note-taking that is also arranged in pages or folders, etc. Integration into the OS/DE with Drag-and-drop capabilities with many file types is also a factor.

I still hope someone will create something to meet these desires, or pick up the development of Basket Notepad. My hopes are diminished, but, again, I'm willing to pay for such a product!

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## monkeybrain20122

> i still don't get it. you can do all this stuff in word since 2003, probably on one of libre office progs as well. the only difference is organsiation into folders and notes. but one can do that in folders on disk as well.
> 
> when i was studying this office stuff was at it's infancy. how on earth did we get by with those notebooks and folders....


I also don't get it. I would rather take notes with pen and paper.  :Smile:  A lot easier to set up and  honestly I don't see how using technology in taking notes improves the learning process. If there is any evidence that people using these gadgets learn better I would like to see it.

But then my subject is mathematics that may be relevant (which means I am not in the habit of keeping very organized notes, a lot of half baked ideas on loose scratch papers instead, I feel claustrophobic to have to structure myself according to things like office suit or note taking software) 

 There is another thread on software for writers, well, Tolstoy, Shakespeare et al  didn't use any software!

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## monkeybrain20122

> mastablasta, I suppose you got by the same way that they did when using papyrus and parchment. You made the best us of the technology that was both available and familiar to you. Likely, you would have complained if they would have handed you some large rolls of material and a quill type pen....


Sometimes I can't tell the difference of  "making best use of" and abusing technology, at least for some people.  :Smile:

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## mastablasta

> I still hope someone will create something to meet these desires, or pick up the development of Basket Notepad. My hopes are diminished, but, again, I'm willing to pay for such a product!


perhaps wps/kingsoft office will make something similar. or maybe caligra suite will have it, who knows....

i have one note at work and still haven't figured it out. 

i have post it notes all over my desk and i throw them away. maybe i could use it instead of those. i could try and see if it helps.

but seriously i haven't had much use in specific note taking applicaitons. maybe i am also not in that type of work...

for studies i would hate to type anything. i much rather listened, made a note here and there. i mean it's all in the books what they lecture here. maybe if i had books on e reader and then could do notes in that... that would be helpfull. but separate notes application... i still don't get it.

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## djpemberton

I have never used such an application for taking notes during a lecture either (I am in language school presently and have two other bachelor degrees--one humanities-related and the other science-related), but I do use one to organize research which uses various sources and media. I typically jot ideas and questions in a paper notepad, or I gather notes and quotes from Kindle or other study software. Then, I gather the most relevant of these into a software like Basket. The organizational and accessability value of this for me is immeasurable. I don't expect everyone to understand the need immediately. I didn't understand how it would help me until I had a good use for it (I also had looked at One Note in the past and was bewildered.). However, as I begin research projects of my own, I have found that such software helps tremendously. Let's not assume that everyone should think the same, or have the same application needs. I imagine that if a really good Linux application were created for this that many would find uses for one that they didn't perceive before. I agree, though, that any One Note alternative needs to be more accessible, as the relevance of One Note (and Basket) aren't perceived immediately enough.

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## Bucky Ball

For lectures I took notes with pen and paper then typed them up later (that day or before the next lecture). Great for retaining the information and learning. 

I've used Zotero throughout my degree. It could be adapted, but it would take a different mind-set and note-taking would be severely limiting. Stick to what works best and for the moment that doesn't seem to be anything Linux. ;(

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## bushell-br

The issue for me, and many of my classmates, is that the computer offers efficiency--and OneNote even more so. I used to take notes with a pen and paper when I was in my first year of university and this worked fine in chemistry and biology and so on--although I had to write frantically. But as classes got tougher and more and more material was presented in lecture it got to the point where the only way to keep pace with the prof and write down everything was to type. I can type far faster than I can handwrite. 

But then things changed again, and profs started simply putting up powerpoint slides with images or condensed abbreviated sentences and pretty soon it became necessary to write directly on the powerpoint file to keep track of things. Simply opening a word document and attempting to write down what you felt were the key points in a lecture became impossible because you wouldn't know which diagram or image or particular slide your notes correlated with. Granted you could write down the slide number, but that requires opening the powerpoint on your laptop and then switching back and forth between the powerpoint window and your word document to keep track. That would be fine, but the professors don't give you time for that, they just talk as quickly as if they're having a jolly conversation--and you scramble to keep up. 

One note sort of fixes this problem by allowing you to put the powerpoint slides and word document "writing area" side by side in the same document, so you can just type in along side the slides and circle important things and so on. Now yes I realize that you could achieve this by copying and pasting slides into a blank word document and then use text boxes beside the slides to get the same effect, but that would be very time consuming and once again--there is no time to do that during lecture. Why not before lecture? Most profs do not post their lectures for student download until the morning of the class, usually about 30 minutes before class. That could vary from school to school for sure, but still--the brute force approach of grafting a powerpoint into a word document is not ideal. With OneNote you simply open up powerpoint, hit print, and then print the powerpoint presentation into onenote where it is ready to be worked with. Voila. Takes about 15 seconds.

Maybe it seems like i'm complaining and using OneNote to make school as easy as possible, but consider this: our last exam consisted of 65 lecture hours and 4000 powerpoint slides. We learned that material in the space of 5 weeks while also taking 5 other courses that were slightly less intense. So in that kind of scenario a program like OneNote is a real boon to productivity. At second best is directly annotating the powerpoint slides themselves. Neither of these things are available in Linux to the same degree and it's a shame because it leaves me and others like me chained to microsoft  :Sad:

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## tgalati4

Take a lecture given in Powerpoint slides so you can get a job creating Powerpoint slides.  Yes, in this Use Case, OneNote is the tool to use.  We use to call it Viewgraph Engineering.  I've never seen a slide fail.  There is a reason that education and corporations are chained to Microsoft.  It is by design.

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## lykwydchykyn

I'm suddenly feeling very grateful that I went to college before Powerpoint was a thing.

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## monkeybrain20122

> The issue for me, and many of my classmates, is that the computer offers efficiency--and OneNote even more so. I used to take notes with a pen and paper when I was in my first year of university and this worked fine in chemistry and biology and so on--although I had to write frantically. But as classes got tougher and more and more material was presented in lecture it got to the point where the only way to keep pace with the prof and write down everything was to type. I can type far faster than I can handwrite.


How is this possible? The prof writes BY HAND on the backboard plus lecturing, no? I should add that writing on the blackboard vertically is a lot more tiring than writing on a note pad horizontally because of gravity, so the prof would likely slow down after a while. I don't believe that you can only keep up with typing. Besides, in Chemistry at least there are many formulas, equations and diagrams, I can't see how it would be "faster" by typing than using pen and paper.

The apparent "slowness" of writing most likely comes from the fact that most people do tend to pause and think when they write, but not necessary when they type because to be fast in typing you have to train yourself to do it mechanically. In this case I would think that "speed" in note taking (even if it is true) may actually work against the goal of learning.




> But then things changed again, and profs started simply putting up powerpoint slides with images or condensed abbreviated sentences and pretty soon it became necessary to write directly on the powerpoint file to keep track of things. Simply opening a word document and attempting to write down what you felt were the key points in a lecture became impossible because you wouldn't know which diagram or image or particular slide your notes correlated with. Granted you could write down the slide number, but that requires opening the powerpoint on your laptop and then switching back and forth between the powerpoint window and your word document to keep track. That would be fine, but the professors don't give you time for that, they just talk as quickly as if they're having a jolly conversation--and you scramble to keep up.


Only bad professors would use powerpoint for lecturing, at least in disciplines that require working out details like physics, chemistry and mathematics. Slide presentations are ok for seminars and short lectures where only main points are conveyed and the audience is not expected to interrupt the flow by asking questions very often, but not for undergraduate lectures. It is an abuse of technology really.

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## bushell-br

No, not necessarily bad professors. But this is (in my case) a different discipline. The profs have always used powerpoints for every class, from day one, in my university career. About the only classes that did not were math and physics due to their equation based nature. But particularily in physiology, pharmacology, and now in medicine, the profs use powerpoint slides filled with bullet-point lists of text and the occasional diagrams or illustrations. A typical lecture for me lasts 50 minutes, has 60 to 80 slides, and is 75% text.

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## mastablasta

> No, not necessarily bad professors. But this is (in my case) a different discipline. The profs have always used powerpoints for every class, from day one, in my university career. About the only classes that did not were math and physics due to their equation based nature. But particularily in physiology, pharmacology, and now in medicine, the profs use powerpoint slides filled with bullet-point lists of text and the occasional diagrams or illustrations. A typical lecture for me lasts 50 minutes, has 60 to 80 slides, and is 75% text.



that is true, they do use it everywhere (almost). and if you ask me your lectures really seem like an abuse of presentation tools. but it is also true that those bullet points can be found in books. which is why i didn't really write them all down but preferred to sit and listen and try to understand what they are saying. only writing down what i thought was interesting. i had colleagues writing down every word and ofcurse you get tired if you "study" like that. the aim is not to write it all down what is already written in books anyway. the aim of study is to think and to question the ideas, theories and even facts being thrown at you by the prof.

when i prepared for exams i would read the books, underlining the important stuff and memorizing it if necessary.

but the thing is i didn't need so many notes. i did took them a fair amoung. but nothing in the volume of some of my colleagues who really thought they have to write down "everything". they are still lost without their notes. while i can still remember certain theories, ideas, facs. not only that i also understand them, their background etc.

and oyu know what? best lectures i was on had no or very little bullet points or even a powerpoint presentation.

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## djpemberton

Wow. This has generated more discussion/debate than I anticipated. The universities I attended didn't make heavy use of powerpoint or other electronic technologies in the classroom--and this wasn't too long ago. I was quite content taking notes in a way similar to that described by mastablasta. That doesn't mean that I couldn't see the value of OneNote or an alternative for such a setting. Because of my preference for hand-writing class notes, I would likely now use such software _after_ the class, further distilling my notes by typing the most important ones, summarizing, etc. This would allow me to freely rearrange my notes, powerpoints, and so forth as my material grew. I think this would be very good for learning, as I would now think about the information multiple times in different contexts and interact with it further as I rearrange and link information later.

Again, though, my main personal concern is the gathering and organizing of a growing body of research in multiple media types for the end purpose of writing and teaching. It allows me to structure, link, and continually rearrange my thoughts and research in any way that helps me think and "see" clearly. In this, OneNote (or an alternative) offers a great staging area in the process. I make heavy use of Zotero in one stage, Basket Notepad (until it becomes to depreciated) in another, and then a word processor like LO Writer in another.

I would agree that the heavy use of Powerpoint by professors is not usually wise (especially since few use it well). However, I would contend that the type of software in question is not always an abuse of technology, and doesn't always hinder the learning or research processes, but can enhance them. Does that mean that it would never be abused (whatever that means)? Of course not. But I am grateful that man hasn't done away with every technology that has been abused!

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## Bucky Ball

> Because of my preference for hand-writing class notes, I would likely now use such software _after_ the class, further distilling my notes by typing the most important ones, summarizing, etc. This would allow me to freely rearrange my notes, powerpoints, and so forth as my material grew. I think this would be very good for learning, as _I would now think about the information multiple times in different contexts and interact with it further as I rearrange and link information later._


My point exactly. 'Later' gives a chance to further research what's been brought up in the lectures and add other information and learn how to think!

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## su:bhatta

Ah, the word 'abuse' have truly been abused ! 

Man, all i want to add is, "...the times they are a changin".

I never can think right looking at a screen, i need paper, but that's just me. & I only learnt PPT & Word for professional purposes, I am old !  :Wink:

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## bushell-br

Yes, the times are changing--quickly. Everyone has their own system that works best for them. For me and almost everyone i'm in school with this involves transcribing lecturer notes on a laptop via typing during class, then re-typing out their own notes with additional reading and research at home, then review of this material before exams. My point in all of this though, is that OneNote and powerpoint are tools that many many many students are chained to because of their indispensable role with in-class note taking. If we had a linux-based tool that was similar, allowing us to view a powerpoint slide and record notes alongside it, then we'd see much higher movement of young people over to linux OS.

Think about it--what do tech-savy intelligent people between teenage and about age 30 spend their time on? They (as a generalization) play computer games and go to school. Steam is working on the gaming aspect of linux, but no one is working on the school aspect it seems. If those two things became easily available on linux (school work and gaming) then it would take off even further. And I don't mean just 'possible on linux' because that's where we currently are. I mean parity with windows. If people could play all their games on linux, and do all the same things they can do with the ENTIRE office suite, then there'd be no contest--linux would really take off.

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## lykwydchykyn

> If people could play all their games on linux, and do all the same things they can do with the ENTIRE office suite, then there'd be no contest--linux would really take off.


LibreOffice / OpenOffice have spent the last decade or so trying to be the answer to MS Office on free platforms.  It's a constant game of catch-up and at best people tend to consider it a pale imitation. 

The funny thing is, most of the non-Linux fans I talk to are far more excited about the prospects of Google docs, despite the fact that it has far fewer features than even LibreOffice.  But unlike LibreOffice, it has two *killer features* that set it apart: realtime collaboration and being cloud-based.

Which maybe ought to be an object lesson for those promoting Linux adoption; it isn't about slavishly matching Microsoft products feature-for-feature.  It's about having a killer feature or two coupled with enough functionality that people are motivated to adapt their workflow.

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## orb9220

Man-O-Man! Times in education have changed since college for me was back in 84-85.
And just flabbergasted at the way learning is presented now. 
One Direction Quantity over questions and discussion of content.
Drive-by presentation vs. interaction with students.

Are my perceptions accurate?

Makes me sad as if that is the case? Then why doesn't the profs just post their lectures up on Youtube or the university servers?
Then people can pause the vid to finish notes and insert slides,graphs,etc... and be done with it. All from the comfort of their dorm room.
Better yet they don't even have to go to a campus and can stay home and get their degree. That way nobody has to be in class at all. 
I mean if it is just all about passively sitting there and just constant note-taking then what's the point?
Are there actual discussions and Q&A sessions? If there are how much of the overall session do they take?

And linux does have some great educational tools but yep seems to be behind on the note taking apps.
Like OneNote or Evernote (Everpad for linux) with less capable programs.
.

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## lykwydchykyn

> Makes me sad as if that is the case? Then why doesn't the profs just post their lectures up on Youtube or the university servers?
> Then people can pause the vid to finish notes and insert slides,graphs,etc... and be done with it. All from the comfort of their dorm room.
> Better yet they don't even have to go to a campus and can stay home and get their degree. That way nobody has to be in class at all. 
> I mean if it is just all about passively sitting there and just constant note-taking then what's the point?


They have this too; it's called online classes.  Maybe they want to water down the classroom lectures to match the quality of online lectures.

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## tgalati4

If the professors posted their Powerpoints and videotaped (youtubed) their lectures, then they would be out of a job.  That is why students are furiously taking notes.  It's absurd, but that is how current education institutions work.  They are slow to change.

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## orb9220

Yep should have expected such. As my twin daughters were on the Honor Roll in 3rd grade. And I came to find out they didn't even know their multiplication tables. Again was Flabbergasted which seems like a daily thing nowdays. I confronted their teacher and she sated they were more concerned with their Self-Esteem and empowering them to like themselves then actually educating them.

Man I was pissed. So got online and found a series of leassons from teachers and education sites and setup additional homework for them. And gave them extra rewards for completing them. This was ongoing the rest of their upbringing of adding lessons plans. Also relied heavily on Word Story problems for them to solve in mathematics,history,english,etc.. As knowing I hated them as a kid. But know now they were the best way to apply what was learned in real world situations. Now I find out they removed them from math books because they were too hard and took to much time.
Geeze!
.

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## monkeybrain20122

> If the professors posted their Powerpoints and videotaped (youtubed) their lectures, then they would be out of a job.  That is why students are furiously taking notes.  It's absurd, but that is how current education institutions work.  They are slow to change.


Professors are hired based on scholarship rather than teaching, so you  are flatly wrong to say that they would be out of a job if they don't  have a captive audience. I mean the real ones, not teachers in community colleges who just read you the textbook and misrepresent themselves as "professors" (kind of like shopping mall security guards impersonating senior police officers) In the U.S it is confusing because they call everything "college" from highschool to MIT and everything in between.

They get money, recognitions and promotions through publishing and research (not to mention a lot more interesting) and many see teaching as a distraction and a low priority, especially undergraduate teaching because it is also boring, That's why many would just use powerpoint and get it done with. I had profs who were horrible in undergraduate classes but turned into a totally different person in graduate classes, simply because the material interested them a lot more at senior level classes.

But a great scholar may not be a great teacher and vice versa (some people who teach well cannot do). An unfortunate side effect is that undergraduate education often suffers as a result, but not for the reason you said.

BTW, many professors do post their lectures, but probably not on Youtube because they are copyrighted, not by the professors, but by the universities so to access them you may need to pay the universities or otherwise get permissions.

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## bushell-br

Our teachers do post their powerpoints and record their lectures. Powerpoints are available for the students to download at the start of class, and the lecture recording is available on the university server. In theory you could stay home and simply work by reading the powerpoints, your books, and watching the recorded lectures. Indeed, last year I did this for about 75% of my classes and I finished with a >90% average. However, not all collages at my university do this, nor do all professors allow their powerpoints to be downloaded or their lectures recorded--so there are still some instances where students must attend class. I'm sure that there are other disciplines in which class discussion or slow progression through a lecture is the method of choice. But in the biomedical sciences (microbiology, immunology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, physiology, pharmacology, anatomy) the lecture style is powerpoints filled to the brim with information and flipped through at a quick pace while students type their thoughts or additions to the slides on their laptops. 

I know what you mean orb9220 about the false inflation of competency in public schools. It's widely know around my area that public schools award high marks with relative ease to everyone in order to make all the students pass and look good. As soon as these students get into first year univeristy their averages drop by 20-30% because the universities don't sugar coat things or spoon-feed the students.

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## tgalati4

It's interesting how this thread morphed from _Where is our OneNote alternative_ to _Where is our education alternative?_.

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## Bucky Ball

> It's interesting how this thread morphed from _Where is our OneNote alternative_ to _Where is our education alternative?_.


Well, it is in a chat/non-support area so all good, but if it were anywhere else it would be closed by now for veering wildly off-topic.  :Wink: 

It is also interesting how it was dormant for sometime until someone rattled the cage and there is more enthusiasm now than there was in the first place.

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## mastablasta

> I know what you mean orb9220 about the false inflation of competency in public schools. It's widely know around my area that public schools award high marks with relative ease to everyone in order to make all the students pass and look good. As soon as these students get into first year univeristy their averages drop by 20-30% because the universities don't sugar coat things or spoon-feed the students.


we have mostly public schools. i think only one is private. think about it! then remember that Chinese have some of the best students. i think public schools there mostly as well.

what does this have to do with one note / note taking software?

anyway - i think i might need a new mashcine to try this kind of softeare. it just takes too long to open on this old pile of garbage. by th etime it opens i already take a note with pen an paper.

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## Johan De Cauwer

> by th etime it opens i already take a note with pen an paper.


They already invented these machines - and call it tablets. Wake-up is immediate...  :Wink:  
And then we're back to the original discussion: what software?

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## monkeybrain20122

> They already invented these machines - and call it tablets. Wake-up is immediate...  
> And then we're back to the original discussion: what software?


I am sure a note book (I mean one made of paper) and a pen are a lot cheaper and lighter than a tablet, and don't have to worry being stolen, running out of battery and breaking etc. You don't really need fancy gadgets and software to learn and study, Einstein only had pen and paper.  :Wink:

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## djpemberton

> It's interesting how this thread morphed from _Where is our OneNote alternative_ to _Where is our education alternative?_.


I agree. I started the thread, and am still waiting for my alternative (to OneNote, that is). The education alternative discussion seems to have developed in response to some criticizing the felt need for such a tool. Oh well. Life goes on, as does my partial tie to Windows.

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## su:bhatta

& I am still using RedNoteBook  :Smile:

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## james.r.mcguiness

You know what I find frustrating.... is that onenote is just a nice a wysiwyg html editor with a nice tabbed file browser around the border. 

Well that's pretty much how I use it 90% of the time.

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## sir-marky

When on Windows, OneNote is a core product for me.  It's not just notes per say, it's more than that.
I use for project/task management.  Yes, you can do on paper but you can't share that easily with others in a team.  I create online notes based on list-based mind-mapping, my colleagues add their notes and subtasks.  We insert images, links, other office data such as small tables, etc.  It's a scrapbook, a notebook, a list manager, a shared resource and very useful for project management.
It's even possible to scribble written notes into the pages too.
Basket was the closest to this arrangement that Linux had but it appears dead now on development and there isn't anything, I can see, that can compare.
I thought I could create a fogger app for some cloud based solution but that's thin on the ground for options too.  OSX seems to have a few alternatives that work in a similar way, but OneNote seems to be a unique tool that has few equivalents.
This and a Linux version of Visio that doesn't suck is truly missed by me.

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