I'm battling the "DevonTHINK-I-want-it-but-the-cost" problem right now too, and I'm looking at Mori as a possible alternative.

I'm actually about to post a question related to that very issue, right now.

As I mentioned to Casey's question: it took me about a year before DEVONthink became more than just a fancy scrapbook app to me. But now, I consider it a secret weapon. Seriously.

Do I sound like a goofy fanboy? I may be. I just finished a M.A. thesis and it made a significant difference in my research and writing. Considering the cost of other tools (the computer, my word processor, etc), DEVONthink is a reasonable expense. And, for me (since I use the AI heavily) there's really no replacement.

Again, I'm just a user who's recently had an excellent experience with the product.

Terceiro- can you give us some examples as to how DEVONthink really helped? I'm intrigued by these types of programs, but the amount of data entry places things in the rough to use category- i.e., only until you feed DEVONthink tons of stuff, does it really become a huge tool... the more you feed it, the more it gives out me thinks...

So, when did things start to click for you with DEVONthink, and how did it click?

I'd be interested to hear that too. DevonTHINK's AI is pretty cool, but I'm still not clear on how it helps in the real world. I mean, if I'm searching for documents that contain, say, "iPod" and "music", can't I get pretty far just searching for those terms, without the fancy AI?

(Not trying to diss on DevonTHINK here -- I really want to know. I've come within about an inch of buying it several times.)

DEVON-technologies has just release DEVONacademy for just this purpose - to help people get over the somewhat steep learning curve. It's pretty new so they don't have everything they want up there but it's helpful anyway.

That's still more of a manual than a use-case, though. I mean, I get that you put documents in it, organize them into groups, look for "similar" documents, etc.

The only real standout feature seems to be the concordance stuff, and my (possibly wrong) feeling is that a decent search utility will get you at least 80% of the way there. Yea? Nay?

Was there a "defining moment" for any of the hardcore DT users that would explain what I'm missing out on?

(I'm still not trying to be snarky, I just want to be enlightened!)

I suppose the video's that they will eventually have on there will answer some of that for you, I just like the program and am still learning usages of it. The template databases they provide helps a bit and gave me some more ideas about usage. They even had a GTD one.

I've only checked out one or two of the sample databases... I should probably look at them all.

You made me think of another question, though! Do you tend to keep one big uber-database, or break things down by subject? It seems like if you had a giant monolithic database, it might find some interesting connections, but could get unwieldy...

I only have one database but I'm no super power user either. Emory, who uses it probably a lot more than I do, could weigh in here with a better opinion.

I could see how having multiple databases vice one large catchall might aid you if you're dropping lots and lots of information in there.

Tell you what: I'll do a write up of my experience and post it in a day or two. Deal? It will take me that long to unpack and get my thoughts compiled, but I'll post it to this thread.