A Farewell to Astrid

Yahoo Acquires Astrid, Hints at Shutdown (But We've Got Alternatives)

I’ve been using Astrid, a to-do list manager, for a while but it’s gonna be shut down in a bit, no thanks to Yahoo!’s acquisition of the app.

I’ve been searching for a new task management app to use but I haven’t found anything as user-friendly and as intuitive as Astrid.

Seriously, Astrid is one of the best apps I’ve ever used, which is why I’m pretty pissed with Yahoo! for making such a stupid decision to take-over the app.

Why it was a stupid decision:

  • Bad PR for Yahoo!.
    Astrid users are pissed that Yahoo! has gone and killed a good thing (check out Astrid’s Facebook Page).

    There’s quite a bit of unhappy murmuring going on, so the bad press means no one’s gonna be inclined to use Yahoo! products now.
     
  • No one’s using Yahoo!.
    Furthermore – and I’m calling this right here and now – Yahoo! is going and will go the way of the dinosaur.

    Even if Yahoo! develops its own task-management app based on Astrid, no one’s going to use it because there isn’t any faith in Yahoo’s continuity and longevity.
     
  • Customers won’t return.
    Even if Yahoo! reverses its decision i.e. it keeps Astrid alive, no one is going to use it!

    Everyone has migrated to other platforms in droves; even I’ve moved to Todoist, after a long and lengthy search for an Astrid replacement.

    So users will need damn good reason to return – either that, or a miracle.

Anyway, if I had the skills, I’d build an app to manage my tasks the way Astrid has been doing so, and as a bonus, design it such that it can be synced with Google Calendar to help me organise my schedule.

Castle Yonder

“I can’t tell you how to get to the Castle Yonder because I don’t know where it is. But if you ever come this way, look for me”.

— Maurice Sendak, Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More To Life.

The advantage of being useless

山木自寇也,
膏火自煎也。
桂可食,故伐之;
漆可用,故割之。
人皆知有用之用,
而莫知無用之用也。

Mountain trees self-destruct,
Lamp tallow self-immolates.
Cinnamon is edible, so it is cleaved;
Varnish is useful, so it is cut.
All men know the advantage of being useful,
but none know the advantage of being useless.

— 莊子 [Zhuang Zi], Zhuang Zi, “Transactions in the World of Men” (“人間世”).