Mozilla Sunbird

I am not to most organized person in the world and have an unfortunate tendency to forget when things are due. Important things, like car insurance, electric and, the ultimate in importance, internet.

Having tried various programs like Quicken and Money and tiring of the over-the-top all-inclusive do-everything-but-clean-the-loo offered by such things, I downloaded Sunbird* and installed it.

To my surprise, I like it!

It has a very clean interface and is simple to use. It doesn't calculate my bank balance. Doesn't figure out mortgage payments (I don't have one anyway,) nor loan payments (only one of those is the last couple of hundred of Lar's college loans.) It doesn't do anything but present a calendar in whatever format the user likes. You can choose to show, or not show, all of your scheduled tasks or events. You can label them in various ways and include notes and pertinent links. (I can't think of a reason I would use a link but it's darned cool, anyway.)

I have been working my way through bills, getting them entered into the program and setting alarms for them. I finally figured out how to fool with XP so that the program will start every time I log on or restart. (It's not as easy as editing the autoexec.bat, not anymore. Now you have to use the MMC, management console, to change Group Options. Ugh. If I still wanted to be doing sys-admin work I'd be doing it. double ugh.) It's not top-heavy so doesn't slow boot or log on, either, unlike the previously mentioned monstrosities. It's nice to have the calendar pop up on the screen so I have a reminder of what is due tomorrow or if something is coming up on the calendar, like birthdays.**

Reminder options are nice, too. You can choose from three different things: screen pop-up, a sound, or the program will send an email. Is that cool or what?

All in all, Sunbird is easy to use, fast, flexible enough for my needs and.... IT'S FREE! Kudos to the Mozilla project for another great offering. Hooray for open source.





* Sunbird is a standalone application. There is another one called Lightning that integrates with Thunderbird. That would be neat for various types of scheduling but not what I need.
** I am notable for not remembering anybody's birthday. I know that Dudie's is coming up but please don't ask me when it is because I simply don't remember... I think towards the end of this month? duh.