As always I find myself bouncing around the web and finding new and interesting tools. It’s no secret that I read a lot of news and blogs online, and I find a lot of interesting services that way. As a blogger it’s also the best way to find new tools to make blogging easier.

Bill at bill2me.com mentioned that he was using coComment which allows you to easily track all of the blog discussions you participate in. When new comments are posted to the threads you have been tracking, it also makes it easy to return there to continue the discussion. coComment also has a Firefox extension which makes automatically alerts you to new comments. Right now I am trying it out and I have to say that I enjoy using it. It allows you to keep up with the discussion in a timely manner and make comments when they are still relevant to the conversation. By following up on discussions you can also drive traffic to your blog.

I have problems with software. Sometimes it takes me several months to settle on one software package for a specific task. Even if I really like a software package and have used it for a long time, I eventually get bored and start looking for alternatives. That’s what is happening for me right now. I am currently looking for two solutions right now. I am looking for a good GTD implementation (which is FREE) and I am looking for good blogging software.

The GTD Software Dilemma:
There are a lot of web based solutions which are super quick and free (for the most part) but they’re not necessarily reliable. I have been using Tracks in a hosted environment (which shall remain nameless), and the one time I really needed it, it was down for the better part of a day (with no announcement about the incident from the people running the project). This is exactly what I fear. I can’t afford a paid solution right now, and every time I look at a free solution I am thoroughly disappointed. I have considered the Moleskine GTD Hack, but I type like lightning and taking the time to make notes in a little notebook about what I am working on seemed like a waste of time. I also have a Blackberry and it would be great if I could get some of those tasks from some sort of desktop or web based application into the Blackberry at some point in time. I like the idea of the Tracks system, but I have looked at the installation instructions and if they frustrate me before beginning the install (which I would do on the same site that hosts my blog), I don’t think it will get any better as I move through the install. Right now the best solution I’ve seen is Kinkless which is based on OmniOutliner Pro for Mac OS X. This would be extremely expensive since I don’t even have a Mac right now (:(). I’m leaning more towards the web solutions but I would prefer to install/maintain an open source one of my own. Anyone wanna set Tracks up to be installed from Fantastico in cPanel? If that would happen then I’d run Tracks all the time. Running it on a PC locally just doesn’t work for me but if I could install and admin it (with ease) I would use it every day.

The Desktop Blogging Software Dilemma:
I am a fickle software user. I am also more inclined to deal with a bug or two in an application which is more aesthetically pleasing than I am to use the rock solid solution. I also like to stray from all things Microsoft. I like Open Source applications but I don’t preach them. When a developer or small team of programmers come out with a good program, I don’t mind dropping some money on it assuming the price was right. A few years ago when I still had a pretty Mac, the price was right for me and I paid for an Ecto license. To this day I’m still madly in love with Ecto.. for the Mac. Since I am Macless right now, I have switched over to the Windows version of the software and it puts me to sleep. This is just one of the unfortunate side effects of de-mac-ifying software. When applications get ported from PC to Mac it usually works out well. When it goes the other way — not so much. I am bored and underwhelmed with Ecto for Windows and I have been looking for an alternate. I have played with Qmana and the only thing that stood out about it was all of the emphasis on Ads. I tried to Zoundry Blog Writer for about a day and got that creepy commercial feeling about it as well. BlogJet seems to have a following out there, but the price is a little steep considering there are better tools for less. Flock is no frills and great for when you’re on the road and need to get something on your blog quick, but if I’m going to open a browser I might as well type directly into the Wordpress editor. You could say the same about the Performancing plugin for Flock and Firefox. I am going to try blogging from Google’s Docs and Spreadsheets to see if it may be comfortable for me.

Right now I am using w.Bloggar and it’s pretty neat. It doesn’t get in the way of my blogging. It’s fast. It doesn’t choke when it downloads past entries. It’s intuitive. Best of all it’s free. I think I’ll stick with this for a while (at least until another Mac comes into my life).

Does anyone have another suggestion for with my GTD or Desktop Blogging Software issue? PLEASE leave suggestions in the comments!