I’ve been trying to find the perfect task management software for almost three years.  There are so many offerings but the main problem has been lack of universal access except via web browser.

Web-Based vs. Client-Based

Usually we think of web apps as being great because you can access the service anywhere through just a browser.  I agree that this is really important; however, a truly universal application should have native clients on as many platforms as possible, with users “falling back” to the browser if there is no client available.

That’s why I like Evernote and Remember the Milk.  If I’m on a PC, I can use the quick, native Evernote application to post to my online collection, allowing me much more power and flexibility than any web app.  Same for the Mac.

Similar to Evernote is RTM, which with its release of both an iPhone application and a Google Gadget (and Gmail’s new “Add a Gadget” feature) just became significantly more useful to me.  I just paid the $25/year to upgrade to Pro and I’m so happy I did.

Conclusion

Hybrid applications (desktop/device and web-based) are the wave of the future.  That could mean RIA with a common runtime, or it could mean just multiple versions of native code for different platforms.  Either way, it’s won me over.

Discussed in this post » evernote, google, iphone, productivity, rtm, task management