There are two ways to manage lists: flat with tags, or hierarchical with columns. Both topologies have their pros and cons, but the former is slightly easier to implement in a web browser from a user interface standpoint, hence has been used by most social bookmarking tools such as del.icio.us, Ma.gnolia, or Simpy. Nevertheless, for lists that are aimed at supporting task management or brainstorming activities, hierarchies have proven convenient, and I was glad to see the release of what might be the first Office 2.0 outliner: iOutliner.

iOutliner really is nothing more than a simple outliner running in your web browser, and as such lacks what makes a true Office 2.0 application, such as content syndication. As a result, it cannot be used as an alternative to a social bookmarking tool, which really is a shame, for the user interface is very clean and effective. A couple things are missing still. For example, it would be great if a column could be of the type URL, instead of just checkbox, text, and list. Also, I could not find any way to rename or delete an existing outline, which is a sign of an early beta release. Nevertheless, iOutliner demonstrates that building a simple outliner for Office 2.0 is possible, which is all that matters at this point.

Coming back to the discussion about tags vs. columns, I believe that both could be combined into a single tool, allowing the values of certains columns to be used as tags. There will be endless debate among theorists regarding the topological merits and flaws of such an approach, but from a practical point of view, I think that many users are not ready to abandon their neat little hierarchies yet, and combining both might be a good way to teach those about the inherent benefits of tags, in an incremental manner.

For me, the best social bookmarking tool would look very much like iOutliner, with the ability to natively support URL links, to syndicate, share and publish outlines, and to provide cells which values could be calculated from the values of other cells, in a spreadsheet like manner. The question then becomes: will this tool be called iOutliner or Zoho Sheet? In the meantime, I will dream about the time when a mind mapping tool such as the outstanding MindManager will be available as an Office 2.0 application, and patiently wait for Mindjet to release a Mac OS version of their application, hopefully sometime this year.

Many thanks to Emily Chang at eHub for pointing me to iOutliner.