There may be hope after all! The outliner Opal seems to be on the right track.
http://a-sharp.com/opal/
What is most encouraging, is that David Dunham (Opal's software designer), has already sent me two emails regarding his product and as a bonus - owns IN CONTROL too, so he knows what I'm talking about! I'm hoping David adds columns soon as they're absence makes Opal difficult to want to use. Ideally, I hope over time he can incorporate the best features of IN CONTROL into Opal. If he does, I'm confident he'll have a great product.
-Bob