I just got a beta invite for Evernote a couple of days ago and have been playing with it since. I think it does something which is important enough to pay attention to whatever you think of the rest of the features. And that is that it synchronises instantly between desktop software (even several instances running on different computers) and a web version. So, I installed it twice on my MacBook - once within OS X and once within Vista, running on a Fusion / Boot Camp partition. And anything I add or delete in either place shows up within minutes on the other version and on the website, where there is a full copy of everything that is in either place on the computer. This includes both text, screenshots from the web, pictures taken with the MacBook’s built-in iSight camera - whatever.

I think this is a feature we’re going to see more and more in future, because we still want to mix our online and offline worlds. On the whole, I’m going to be creating most of the notes through the online software, likely in OS X. But from time to time I’ll be logged in using the Boot Camp Vista partition and will want to use the software there, and at other times I’ll be away from my computer entirely and will want the convenience of the web version. The desktop versions are both more functional than the web version, but the web version is fine for checking on what’s been created elsewhere and also for creating more basic content.

Other online applications aim to get around this problem by adding offline functionality through Google Gears or similar technology, and this is fine in some respects. But it rarely gives you full functionality in offline mode and you’re tied to a browser in most cases, rather than more fully-featured desktop software. Whereas the Evernote approach really does give you the best of both worlds - full functionality when offline and online (even most of that functionality when not at the home computer), the Google Gears approach only provides the best the online world can offer and a sub-par subset when offline.

There are frustrations with Evernote. The two desktop versions are just different enough to require time spent learning the idiosyncracies of each, something I hope will be fixed when it comes out of Beta. The note editor itself is fairly basic for text editing (no bullets or numbered lists, for example, and I miss the auto-formatting that comes with Microsoft OneNote, which has been my main note-taking program to date). And there is no way (at least that I can find using the limited help function) to mix images and text in a single note.

It does other clever things too - you can take pictures of objects using your webcam or even cellphone and the program will then use text recognition to read and index any text in those images so that it can be searched later. Some people are apparently using this for business cards, plane tickets and other items.

I think the multiple syncing technology is pretty cool in its own right, but the Evernote folks have done enough to make it an exciting product all around too. If anyone wants an invite to the closed beta, leave a comment below.

Oh, and by the way, it’s all completely free, at least at this point.