ZuluPad

ZuluPad is a notepad on crack. It's a place to jot down class notes, appointments, to-do lists, favorite websites, pretty much anything you can think of.

The great thing about ZuluPad is that it combines the best parts of a notepad with the best parts of a wiki, a concept made popular by Wikipedia. The basic idea has been called a personal wiki or a desktop wiki. Say for instance, you're a music major, and you're studying Bach. You've taken notes on Bach in ZuluPad, and after a long 16 weeks have finally completed the semester. Sometime after the summer breaks, you're taking notes on Beethoven, and your teacher mentions a way in which Beethoven was influenced by Bach. As soon as you type "Bach" into your notes, it's underlined as a hyperlink. You think to yourself, "oh yeah, I know a few things about Bach". So you click the link, and you can read all of your Bach notes. While you're reading your Bach notes, you happen to notice a link to a page about Henry Purcell, and you can refresh your memory about him, too.

Or, for instance, imagine that you're a salesman with 100+ clients. You recognize them all when you see them, but it's hard to keep their names straight. You've jotted down an appointment to meet with John Smith in ZuluPad, and "John Smith" is immediately highlighted. You click the link, and you're reminded that John hates fish, loves golf, tends to annoy you, but always orders a lot.

Why ZuluPad?

For one, it's the only cross-platform personal Wiki. It's also Opensource under the GPL. Downloads are currently available for Windows and OS X, and a Linux port is in the works. All of the really important features are in place, but ZuluPad is still being developed, so you can make suggestions about how to make it better in the ZuluPad Forum .