I have been using the Task application created by Paul Beckingham for about 5 months to keep track of my todo list. Before that I was a big fan of the Todotxt.com method. Then I found out about Paul’s app and got it to build on Cygwin (which I run at work on XP). Both Task and Todotxt use a no-nonsense command line interface to create, modify and keep track of tasks. I found Task to be very much like the Todotxt system on steroids - still dead nuts simple but very powerful. If you want to see a good demo of what the program can do, check out this screencast demo.

Just a day or two ago, I finally installed Dropbox on both my home and work machines mostly as a glorified file transfer system between home and work. But the next day a light bulb clicked on and I realized that by keeping my task list file in the Dropbox folder, I could have syncronized access to my task list from home or work. Awesome.

Task keeps your task data in a hidden directory called, unsurprisingly .task (nifty how simple and straightforward FOSS programs can be). And the .taskrc configuration file in your home directory contains the path to that folder. So I simply moved the .task folder into my Dropbox folder on my XP machine at work and modified the path in the .taskrc files on both machines and Voila! instant gratification.

Now I know all you Linux tech-heads will think this is much ado about nothing (which it is) but damn it, I’m quite proud of myself! ;) I know I *should* set up a proper system and ssh into my system.. blah blah blah.. but this was dead simple and accomplishes exactly what I want. I’m willing to give up a couple of geek cred points for the sake of simplicity.

ps. A bit of a disclaimer here. I’ve also been creating .deb packaged versions for Paul ever since v1.1.0 (it’s now at 1.4.2). Task was good enough for me to want to learn Debian packaging, so that must say something!