OmniGroup makes several apps freeware

OmniGroup has announced that they have decided to release several of their previously shareware applications as freeware. These are: OmniWeb, one of the first Mac web browsers with roots going back beyond even OS X; OmniDazzle, a fun screen effects application, potentially useful for presentations and screencasts; OmniDiskSweeper, a very useful utility for getting a handle on large files taking up disk space; and OmniObjectMeter, a developer tool for optimizing memory usage in OS X application development.

Apparently the reason behind the decision is simply that Omni wants to focus more on their other applications and these four were not worthy of as much attention. They don't rule out future updates, but it doesn't really look that likely.

For my own part, I can't help but think that OmniWeb's day has passed, but OmniDazzle and OmniDiskSweeper are still useful tools (not being a developer I don't have much to say about OmniObjectMeter). In any case, it's a nice gesture to the Mac community from one of its older members.

All four applications are free downloads from their respective pages: OmniWeb, OmniDazzle, OmniDiskSweeper, OmniObjectMeter.

[via Daring Fireball]