[Usability] improving alarm productivity

["Matthew Nuzum" <mattnuzum gmail com>]

bug #409805 http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=409805

I filled this bug, but I can't help but wonder if it is a bug or a
design decision. In MS Outlook 2003 and some earlier versions, when
you get a reminder, you have the option to postpone it or to dismiss
it. A reminder isn't really gone until its dismissed. So if you close
Outlook and reboot your computer, next time you open the program, your
reminders come back.

I have come to rely on this feature over the years of using Outlook. I
use my calendar as a todo list, in a sense, using reminders to keep me
appraised of deadlines.

For a while now I've been using Evolution as my PIM and I've noticed a
distinction between its alarms and Outlook's reminders. It seems there
is no concept of dismissing alarms. You can snooze them, but as the
bug above explains, if you reboot your computer, the alarms never come
back. You can close the alarm dialog, which in a sense,
single-handedly dismisses all of the alarms. However you don't exactly
get to operate on individual alarms.

I frequently find myself in the situation of either:
a: leaving the alarm dialog open, which is bothersome since it always
stays on top
b: repeatedly snoozing alarms, which is what did with Outlook, but
hoping and praying that I don't have to reboot my computer (and, by
the way, if I snooze an alarm for 1 hour, the next time it pops up,
it's default snooze time is set back to 5 min, where as in Outlook,
the default time would be 1 hour, so I can continually post-pone my
reminders in Outlook 1 hour at a time with just one click)
c: making many lists on a notepad next to my computer or setting
alarms on my cell phone for events that I fear I'll forget

The net result is that I've actually suffered a severe loss of
productivity by switching to Evolution from Outlook.

I try and file bugs for things like this, but I get frustrated when my
bugs languish, marked as unconfirmed. I'm a web application developer
and am passionate about usability. I feel powerless to do much more
than file bugs, though, as gnome/evolution hacking is far beyond my
coding skills. I thought that maybe if I discussed my reasoning here,
someone would would either confirm or refute my logic and the status
of this bug might quickly get changed.

I'd love to hear other's thoughts on the matter.

--
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode