I took Microsoft OneNote 2007 for a spin around the block today. The Microsoft page offered me a "free trial" of this "little" application.

The Free Trial activity took me one hour to complete, harbouring on my computer 195MB dowload. First of all I had to sign-on with my Windows Live ID. Then, after getting that done I was sent to an MSN page that had nothing to do with the download I was seeking. After redirecting myself to the OneNote page again, this time I was now asked to "Register".

Registration and download of the "Free Trial" is only open to those who have a US address. People in the rest of the world cannot get past this registration, unless you have a valid US address.

The 195MB download was downloaded in two parts. Then installation took another 15 minutes of time before I could get to trying the program. A product key then had to be inserted. I retrieved that from an email and then settled to start trying this program.

This is quite a complex program to use. Microsoft provide page after page explaining how to use it. If I want to use it across two computers, I can provided that I choose somewhere that is available to both my computers on which to save my text. AND I need a copy of OneNote there too.

I thought Microsoft OneNote 2007 might just be the place to do a lot of savings notes and working with ideas before publishing. After trying to learn how to use OneNote for an hour, I must say this is a way too complex program to learn in that short time. I will have to revert to Google Notebook; Google Notebook is far more practical and can allow me the space to try ideas out and publish my notes for the world to see when I want to do so.

The payback on time invested in OneNote is too small in comparison with the learning curve to capture the best parts of OneNote and use it in practice.