They got me. Not hooked, but interested again.

When you download Qumana, you’re expected to fill in your email address. It’s not required and the use of the email address is explained on the download page. For those of us with good filters against unsolicited emails, it’s not too scary. Didn’t think too much of it.

Tried Qumana a little while ago, along with other blogging tools. Can’t remember what it was that didn’t really convince me at that point, but there must have been something. Been blogging in my blogging system‘s Web editor since then. And wasn’t really thinking about other solutions.

Just got an email from Qumana telling us about a new beta version of their blog editor. Though the new features don’t sound that compelling to me, it got me interested again. And here I am, trying Qumana again.

And, you know, it’s not bad at all. Quite comparable to ecto. But free.

What would be really, really nice is a del.icio.us-like way to add tags, labels, and categories. Qumana does have an "insert tags" button which lets you add comma-separated tags. But these are, AFAIK, not connected with WordPress categories or Blogger beta labels. And it’s not exactly as useful as it could be. First, it could be a field in the editing window instead of a button. And it could work like del.icio.us in providing you with a context-sensitive list of possibly-relevant tags. This might have been the deal-breaker with Qumana for me before. You can use your WordPress categories, but you can’t add any.

Qumana’s strategy, of sending a reminder email to those who downloaded the program, is pretty much what it should be. It’s not sneaky, it’s not pressure-selling, and it’s not begging. But it’s a good way to connect with users. These guys got a clue.

Tags: Qumana, ecto, blogging tools, email reminder, cluetrain, marketing, respect users, categories, labels, tags, del.icio.us, WordPress, Blogger beta