I’ve been a database programmer since 1987, and have
written contact management applications with database programs such as dBASE III+,
Clipper Summer 87, Alpha Five for Windows and MySQL and Perl. I’ve tested many
other contact management utilities over the years.
Although I now write database programs for the web, with
MySQL, Perl and PHP, I’ve found that nothing really replaces the convenience of
a stand alone desktop utility when it comes to contact management. I don’t want
to have to be connected to the Internet in order to pull up a phone number or
address.
They say that the children of cobblers sometimes don’t
have good shoes, and so it has been with me. Since I felt reluctant to dump all
of my contacts into a web database, and since my other desktop database
programs seemed to be overkill, I’ve been living without a good contact
management database for a number of years. The last ones I had used were a
dBASE/Clipper utility, and an Alpha Five for Windows data app that I had
written ages ago.
Having reached an untenable level of dissatisfaction with
this state of affairs, I went a hunting for a contact management program that
would fit my needs. My list of attributes was short, and included simple,
common sense things like:
a) very
fast startup (when one needs a phone number, one doesn’t want to wait)
b)
individual fields for name and address (I saw one that put everything in one
field!)
c) custom
fields
d) good
searching
e) import
and export with csv
f) an
attractive interface
g) good
support, i.e. a company or author that seemed relatively solid
After searching on the web, and installing a few programs,
only to immediately rip them out, I was fortunate enough to run across “Efficient
Address Book” by Efficient Software, at:
http://www.efficientaddressbook.com
It installed quickly (I installed the free version first,
and then the Pro version). It fit every one of the criteria mentioned above,
including a fast startup, with an even faster opening from the system tray.
I was quite pleasantly surprised by the program, and have
decided to use it for my contact list. I’m very, very picky about software, and
tend to shop around and look at everything, because I’ve had many, many
experiences where the very last one I tried was so much better than the
ones that went before. Efficient Address Book is exactly what I need to quickly
enter, edit and search for contacts. It has nested groups that contacts can be
assigned to. It allows one to include photos of the contacts, which is very
nice. Searching is fast, and data entry is intuitive. One cool option is that
you can click on a contact and it will open a new email in your default
emailer.
The program comes in a free version, and a Pro version for
$29.95, with a license for 3 computers, which is a very smart way to license
it, in my opinion.
At this point, I would give it an A. It’s not perfect, but
what software is? My initial reaction is that I highly recommend it.
Since I’m now entering my contact data into the program, I’ll
be able to call my friends and tell them that they should use it too.
