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Omni Group starts shipping OmniOutliner 4
Omni Group announced today the availability of OmniOutliner 4. The outlining app helps you organize your to-do list, keep track of your expenses and log your notes. Like most Omni Group updates, the latest version of the app is a significant improvement over earlier iterations. OmniOutliner 4 has a bucket list of new items that are too numerous to mention. On the UI side of things, OmniOutliner 4 has been overhauled with a new UI. The biggest change you'll notice is the new sidebar, which replaces the old-style drawer from OmniOutliner 3. There's also an improvement in the way the app handles styles and themes, which brings some consistency when you are working on documents that are shuttled between the OS X and iOS app. Other smaller features include zooming, a new Resource Browser and redesigned Inspector window. The functional highlights include the inclusion of Smart Match technology, which is also present in OmniFocus. This feature will offer predictions as you type text into a pop-up List. An attachments option now allows you to append images, video, audio and even other OmniOutliner files to any Outliner document. For convenience, URLs are now clickable and will open in your default browser. If you don't like this auto-open, you can turn off this feature in the preferences. OmniOutliner 4 is available now from Omni Group's storefront and from the Mac App Store in the coming weeks. OmniOutliner will be available for US$49 for the standard version and $99 for the Pro version. Anyone who purchased OmniOutliner 3 since January 2011 will get a free upgrade. Customers who purchased OmniOutliner outside of this window will get 50 percent off the list price of $49.99 for the standard version and $99.99 for the Pro.
OmniGraffle 6 lands today in the Mac App Store
Omni Group recently updated OmniGraffle, its workflow diagramming app, to version 6.0. It was a major update that included a brand-new UI, Retina display support and a ton of new features. When it launched, version 6 was only available on Omni Group's online storefront. Omni Group announced that starting today, a Mac App Store version will be available for you to purchase and download. The Mac App Store app has all the features of the store-bought version. It even includes upgrade pricing via an in-app purchase. Omni Group is selling the standard version of OmniGraffle 6 in the Mac App Store for US$99, with an in-app purchase to unlock Pro features like AppleScript, Visio import/export and more. The amount of this in-app purchase will vary based upon whether you own a previous Mac App Store version of OmniGraffle. To receive the upgrade pricing to the Pro version, current Mac App Store customers must install OmniGraffle 5 from the App Store. Once version 5 is installed, you need to purchase version 6 from the Mac App Store for $99. Then open the newly installed OmniGraffle 6 app and select "Upgrade to Professional" from the menu. The app will ask you to locate your OmniGraffle 5 install. If you own the standard version of OmniGraffle 5, then you'll be prompted to spend $50 to upgrade to the Pro version. If you already own the pro version of OmniGraffle 5, the in-app upgrade to enable to the pro features of OmniGraffle 6 will be free. You can download OmniGraffle 6 from the Mac App Store starting today. A trial version is available from Omni Group's website.
It's time for an App Store pricing revolution
Loyalty is a powerful factor in consumer choice, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a company that has benefited more from customer loyalty than Apple. That's what makes the company's lack of support for software upgrade pricing so puzzling. Offering a discount on a new product (or more fleshed-out version of an existing product) to thank those who are already using your software is good business, and the lack of such an option on the App Store is, at this point, baffling. Remember how things worked before we had a one-stop shop like the App Store for our software needs? When a new or vastly improved version of an application was released, it would be offered at two different pricing tiers: Full price for new customers and a discounted price for those who already owned the previous version. This ensured that brand-new users paid their entry fee while giving returning customers more of a reason to upgrade, along with a pleasant feeling of being rewarded for their allegiance. The App Store has no such option, requiring updates either be applied to an existing product for free or be sold separately as an entirely new app with one price for all users. This structure works just fine for Apple's OS X upgrades, which are now priced cheaper than a trip to the gas pump, but Apple isn't relying solely on the revenue from each new version of OS X to pay its bills. Many of the App Store's developers, on the other hand, live or die by the sales of their software alone. When it comes to launching a new and improved version of an existing app, developers are already working from a disadvantage, and to not be able to offer a lower price to loyal users can be painful. "How much is the new version worth to me? I can already use the older app to do many of the same things, so the value of the upgrade is much lower to me: I can't justify the cost of making a full investment in the app all over again," Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group, tells us. "As someone who has already invested in the previous version, what will make the investment worthwhile would be discounted upgrade pricing based on the relative increase in value of the new version, rather than having to pay for the full value of the app all over again. Otherwise, it may not be worth purchasing." The Omni Group -- developers of business and productivity software such as OmniGraffle and OmniFocus -- believes so strongly in the upgrade pricing strategy that it went so far as to create an OS X app called OmniKeyMaster that scanned for existing purchases and then offered customers discounts on upgrades from its own online shop. This is a fantastic solution, or at least it was for the few days between the announcement of OmniKeyMaster and the blog post by Omni detailing why the app would no longer be available. But can you really blame Omni for trying? Apple has left developers little choice but to attempt to sneak through loopholes in order to offer a pricing structure that has been an industry standard for decades. Apple is in love with simplicity, and a one-price-fits-all model is certainly simple. Unfortunately that simplicity comes at a cost to both developers and consumers, not to mention Apple itself. By not providing a paid upgrade option, developers are unable to offer loyal customers a break -- thus driving sales. Customers are hurt by not being able to take advantage of these would-be discounts, sometimes forcing them to purchase two different versions of a single product at each app's full price. Meanwhile, by incentivizing non-App Store purchases and forcing developers like Omni to promote upgrade pricing through their own online shops, Apple is missing its cut of the sales. Newer developers -- the ones that need a marketplace like the App Store the most -- are left with few options. What we end up with is an App Store filled with paid "Pro" versions of each app struggling for footing alongside free, stripped-down skeleton versions of the same apps. If the free iteration of the app in question offers an adequate experience, many customers won't see the value in the paid version. At the same time, if the freebie fall short, there's virtually no chance of getting a user to throw down the money for the real app. Some developers have found a way to promote new paid versions of their products -- such as offering limited-time launch discounts -- but this is a bandage on a hatchet wound. Sure, users who catch wind of huge launch discounts on new apps can benefit, but should those who happen to miss the chatter be punished? This strategy might work for apps that only cost a few bucks, but when these price cuts could have a noticeable effect on your bank account, like in the Mac App Store where software can run hundreds of dollars, it can often be the deciding factor when determining whether or not to upgrade. For its part, Apple hasn't officially come out for or against upgrade pricing as a practice, but if the company does indeed support the idea, it's clearly not very high on the priority list. Whether we can ever expect to see such an option is anyone's guess, but in the meantime we're missing out on a better version of the App Store that we should have had all along.
Apple stops Omni Group from offering upgrade pricing for Mac App Store apps
Last week we told you how The Omni Group released OmniKeyMaster, an app that works by searching your Mac for Omni apps from the Mac App Store and then lets you purchase the newest version from the web at upgrade pricing. At the time, I said OmniKeyMaster was a "clever way to get around the fact that the Mac App Store doesn't offer upgrade pricing -- something Apple will hopefully change in the future." As of today, OmniKeyMaster is no more. The company announced that OmniKeyMaster violates Apple's Mac App Store policies. Writing in a blog post, the company said: My apologies: I'm afraid we will not be able to offer upgrade pricing to our Mac App Store customers after all. So long as we continue to sell our apps through the Mac App Store, we are not allowed to distribute updates through other channels to apps which were purchased from the App Store. We still feel upgrade pricing is important for customers purchasing serious productivity software, since the initial value received from purchasing an app like OmniGraffle or OmniPlan is much different from the incremental value of upgrading that app from version 5.0 to version 6.0. We will continue to ask Apple to support upgrade pricing in the App Store, and I would encourage others to do the same, but until that happens, upgrade pricing will only be available to customers who buy our apps direct from our online store. This move will be sure to generate a lot of outrage -- particularly since Apple was no doubt behind the cessation of OmniKeyMaster. Hopefully the Cupertino company will one day allow app upgrade pricing in the Mac App Store -- something both users and developers want.
Omni Group releases OmniKeyMaster OS X app for discounted upgrades of apps bought in the Mac App Store
The Omni Group, makers of popular productivity apps like OmniFocus, OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner and OmniPlan have released a small, free OS X app that allows users who have previously purchased versions of its software through the Mac App Store to qualify for upgrade purchasing through the company's web store for the next version of its apps. Called OmniKeyMaster, the app works by searching your hard drive for Omni apps from the Mac App Store. It then lets you purchase the newest version of the app at upgrade pricing. As Omni Group explains on their website: OmniKeyMaster is a simple app that finds App Store copies of Omni apps installed on your Mac, then generates equivalent licenses from our store -- for free. This gives Mac App Store customers access to discounted pricing when upgrading from the Standard edition to Professional, or when upgrading from one major version to the next. Another benefit: since they don't have to wait in an approval queue, our direct releases sometimes get earlier access to new features and bug fixes. OmniKeyMaster lets App Store customers access those builds, as well. OmniKeyMaster is a clever way to get around the fact that the Mac App Store doesn't offer upgrade pricing -- something Apple will hopefully change in the future.
DevJuice: Sneaking a peek at Bill Van Hecke's upcoming book
If the name William Van Hecke doesn't ring a bell, he's the User Experience Lead for The Omni Group. He's the guy behind those beautiful interfaces, or as he puts it, "I try to make Omni Group software look presentable and behave politely." When my editor at Pearson said I could get a sneak peak at his Learning iOS Design manuscript, I jumped at the opportunity. I've heard Bill speak several times at conferences, and am a big fan of his practical design approach. Learning iOS Design is basically design porn for developers. It offers chapter after chapter of advice, tips and explanations. From a tour of system-supplied classes to the essence of visual and functional simplicity, this book provides an in-depth dive of app design and the user experience. My favorite of the chapters I was able to preview were Chapters 8 and 9, "The Graceful Interface" and "The Gracious Interface," which describe how apps accommodate user tasks in both beautiful and user-centered ways. Other chapters discussed the design tension between richness and plainness, goal-centered design (with a big section on removing features that distract from an app's focus), prototyping and developing cross platform. After my initial taste of this book, I can't wait to read it in its final form. You can preview the table of contents here and a pre-order page is already live. The book should ship in June.
Omni Group's Ken Case on OmniFocus 2 and the origins of the app
One of the true joys of attending Macworld is getting to talk to some of the best developers in the world. Among the best of the best in the Apple world is Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group. Today the company officially announced OmniFocus 2, the next generation of its flagship task management / GTD (Getting Things Done) app. On Thursday, I had the opportunity to sit down with Ken to discuss the upgraded app and see it in action. I was interested in finding out more about the history of OmniFocus, and Ken noted that the app was an outgrowth of users with OmniOutliner using it with a set of AppleScripts called "Kinkless GTD" by Ethan Schoonover. It made a rather good GTD tool, and added to Merlin Mann's efforts at proselytizing the Mac community to do GTD, the seeds of OmniFocus were planted. When The Omni Group decided to develop a dedicated GTD app, they invited Merlin and Ethan to come in and talk about their thoughts on what a Mac app should contain. That first meeting expanded into a long series of two-hour conference calls with the pair to iron out the initial generation of the app. As Case noted, the design goal was to "make a GTD app that didn't require a degree to use." OmniFocus 2 is an outgrowth of the highly successful app and the iOS version that came later, building on the power of the initial app and the UI of the iOS version. OmniFocus was a bit too intimidating for new users, and the reinvention of the app for iPad made it simpler tool to use. Some of the new features of OmniFocus 2 include a forecast mode, which gives users an idea of exactly what work is coming up in the near future and a UI that combines all navigation into one sidebar encompassing the project list, context list and the forecast view. Of course, OmniFocus 2 can be synced to iPhone and iPad. The new OmniPresence service will be published as open source, allowing synchronization of documents and data through virtually any WebDAV server. After the debut of OmniFocus 2 last night, Omni Group expects to go into a private test sometime this month with more than 10,000 people already signed up to give the app a try. After the private testing is complete, a "wide open" public test will gather further feedback. As Case mentioned, Omni Group will "ship no app before its time." The app will come in two configurations: a US$39.99 Standard Edition and a $79.99 Pro Edition. The Pro edition adds the option of designing and building custom workflows (available in OmniFocus 1 now), and support Perspectives and AppleScript. For more information, pop on over to Omni Group's blog and read the post from Ken Case unveiling OmniFocus 2 to the world.
OmniFocus for Mac goes free until OmniFocus 2's debut
The Omni Group has come up with a novel approach to dealing with the question of "should I buy OmniFocus now, or wait until I know what the next version is going to be like?" Since the company has already announced that the next major Mac version of its popular GTD-ready task manager will be unveiled on January 31 during Macworld 2013, it's making the current version of OmniFocus for Mac free to use until then. In order to start your test drive, you need to download OmniFocus for Mac from the Omni Group's website and register it with the following information: License Owner: Waiting for OmniFocus 2 License Key: KXKN-ZJDB-EJCX-LZHW-CFBF-QFC OmniFocus will continue to function until January 31 after that. Note that the free trial only works if you've downloaded OmniFocus from the site; it's still full price via the Mac App Store. The Omni Group has confirmed that it's working on a way to offer discounted upgrades from the Mac version of OmniFocus to OmniFocus 2 purchased via the MAS once the latter goes on sale. There's still no firm on sale date for OmniFocus 2, but those interested in beta testing the software can do so by signing up on the OmniGroup site.
Omni Group teases OmniFocus 2, OmniPresence and more for 2013
Those planning to make a New Year's resolution to (yet again!) get more organized should be glad to hear that Omni Group is planning a major update to its popular Mac-based task management software, OmniFocus, in 2013. The developer intends to take the wraps off OmniFocus 2 for Mac at an event on January 31 during Macworld in San Francisco. Omni's Ken Case took to the company's blog today to offer up some advance details on the app, the design of which will be informed by the iPad version of OmniFocus, including Forecast and Review modes. Case also revealed that OmniOutliner for Mac, the firm's organization tool, will finally see a fourth version released in 2013 (version 3.0 was introduced way back in 2005). Omni is working on a way for those who've purchased OmniFocus and its other products from the Mac App Store to register them and receive discounted upgrades from their site. Finally, Case announced OmniPresence, the company's new automatic document sync offering that will work with all of its products and which it will make available for integration into apps from others. What's more, it will allow users to utilize multiple cloud services -- including its own -- to sync different types of documents, or even host their own private cloud servers. OmniFocus 2, OmniOutliner 4 and OmniPresence are all due in Q1 2013. We'll have more details on them this time next month.
The Omni Group's Ken Case talks with TUAW at Macworld iWorld 2012
One of the most innovative and longstanding software development firms in the Apple ecosystem is The Omni Group. The company originally developed software for Steve Jobs's NeXT in the 1990's, created some of the first OS X software in the 2000s, and has gracefully made the transition to iOS with the advent of the iPhone and iPad. On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of talking with Omni Group CEO Ken Case about the company's latest technical achievement -- building Siri capabilities into OmniFocus for iPhone -- and the history of this venerable favorite of Apple fans worldwide. Over the next week or so, TUAW will be posting a number of interviews with both established development firms like The Omni Group and new startups that are just beginning to make their presence known in the Apple world. Be sure to visit often to check out our video offerings. You can check out more of our Macworld|iWorld 2012 coverage here.
OmniFocus gains TUAW Best of 2011 award for iPad productivity app
"What? I thought you already named a winner for the TUAW Best of 2011 in the iPad productivity app category!" Yes, yes we did. But there were some nomination and voting irregularities, not to mention that a number of TUAW readers let us know that our previously named winner had some serious issues. As a result, we're doing the right thing and giving the crown to its rightful owner -- OmniFocus for iPad (US$39.99). Not only did OmniFocus for iPad capture 26.9 percent of the reader votes fair and square, but the app has garnered a 4.5 out of 5 star rating on the App Store with almost 1,100 ratings over several versions. It's been a favorite of many of our bloggers as well, and received a nice writeup by Erica Sadun when it first arrived on the scene in 2010. Belated congratulations to Omni Group for their win for a stellar product.
How to: Capturing iPad video with audio narration
Recently, Mike Rose asked me to check out an ongoing discussion over at the Telestream forums to see if I could assist one of the posters. Mike knew that Steve Sande and I were working on testing out a variety of iPad-to-computer screen capture solutions. He thought I might be able to help out Dr. J, host of the "Lighting the Lamp" podcast.
Omni Group commits to Mac App Store development
It should come as no surprise to anyone that the Omni Group has jumped aboard the Mac App Store train. Omni has long been a popular creator of Mac applications and has done pretty well for itself with the iOS apps that it has already released, with more on the way. On the day after the Back to the Mac event, Omni Group CEO Ken Case tweeted that the Mac OS X versions of all five of the company's Mac apps will also be available on the Mac App Store. That group includes the ever popular OmniOutliner, plus OmniFocus, OmniGraffle, OmniGraphSketcher, and OmniPlan. OmniFocus and OmniGraffle are already available for the iPad, with OmniGraphSketcher and the others promised soon. In all likelihood the vast majority of Mac developers will move into the App Store, with the likely exceptions of Adobe and Microsoft. For most developers, having an outlet built into the OS and avoiding the hassles of payment systems just seems like too good a deal to pass up. [via MacObserver]
Hands on with OmniGraffle for iPad
Long a Mac desktop staple, OmniGraffle for OS X offers an interactive editor for laying out charts and diagrams. It's a useful tool for planners, managers, and designers. I have not been a serious user of the product, nor do I own the latest OS X version, but I have used the software enough to recognize that it has made its own niche in the Mac ecosystem. The desktop versions I've used have been solid, robust and, most importantly, they've gotten the job done when the job is to lay out and edit organizational wiring diagrams. Hearing that OmniGraffle was coming to the iPad surprised me. It wasn't the kind of application that I'd expect to move smoothly to a touch based interface, given its reliance on a vast number of menus, palettes, and other tweaking elements that let you manipulate your creations just so. The Omni Group developers thought otherwise. They envisioned a "back of the napkin" style application that would let you create diagrams on the go, whether at a business meeting or sitting on an Airport shuttle. They created an iPad application that depended on fingers rather than mice or styluses, to allow users to create high-quality editable and manipulatable presentations. %Gallery-90847%
Low-tech testing on a high-tech iPad
Here's a little levity on the eve of the iPad launch chaos tomorrow. We're going through release after release today of all of these iPad apps, and after browsing page after page after page in the App Store, it's sometimes easy to forget just how much work went into each one of these things. The Omni Group has a nice writeup on their blog about how they designed the OmniGraphSketcher app, and while the iPad will be the center of attention tomorrow for its blend of technology and innovation, the Omni app was actually designed in a very low-tech way: with paper. They designed a same-size iPad mockup and cut out a bunch of paper menus and interfaces, and then did their testing with them that way, going with instinct on what goes where and how it all worked out. The iPad is an innovative device, to be sure, but the reason it's so innovative is because you can model it easily with much older technology like paper. Developers don't cut out a paper mouse and keyboard to design their desktop apps, but with the iPad, the interface has to be re-designed completely, and so cutting out colored paper is just as effective as testing out code. Very interesting, and something to keep in mind as we all touch and poke and prod our new devices tomorrow. [via 37Signals]
Things coming to iPad, updates to 1.3
At the end of his latest blog post, Cultured Code's Jürgen Schweizer revealed that the company is working on a version of Things for the iPad. The announcement isn't that surprising, especially given that The Omni Group announced at the beginning of February that its software suite, including Things' GTD rival OmniFocus, is also heading to the iPad. Things has also updated to version 1.3, which adds support for "mixed" projects (meaning that you're no longer limited to having action steps in your projects). Things Touch [iTunes link] for the iPhone/iPod Touch also updated to 1.3.14 in order to be compatible with the desktop release. We have some big fans of Things among TUAW staffers, and I actually tweeted yesterday -- prior to reading the Cultured Code blog -- that I plan to give up on the seemingly-abandoned The Hit List and pick up Things for myself. The iPad is well-suited for these productivity suites, and I'm eager to see how both Things and OmniFocus turn out on the iPad. Edit: The Hit List creator Andy Kim contacted me on Wednesday night, reassuring me that The Hit List has not been abandoned and that he is working on the iPhone version of the software. Thanks for checking in, Andy! [via Cult of Mac]
OmniFocus for iPhone finally has reminders, but implementation is awful
[Update] Ken Case comments below, addressing some of the concerns listed here. It looks like a future version of OmniFocus on the Mac will be able to directly update the OmniFocus reminders on the server, removing at least one of my complaints. Ken Case from The Omni Group has been twittering for awhile about the impending inclusion of alarm reminders for OmniFocus. The task management app's iPhone users have been pestering The Omni Group to implement reminders as push notifications, but OmniFocus refuses to do so. They say that reminders that rely on connectivity are not good enough, and they have instead chosen to implement reminders by exporting due dates and times into iCal. Once the time comes for a reminder, it pops up like a normal iCal appointment reminder. Well, OmniFocus 1.5.2 for iPhone was released, and now we get to see how this alternative reminder system works. If I had to choose a word to describe this implementation, that word would be "awful." Here's why: The Omni Group has taken great pains to point out that you do not need to be using the desktop version of OmniFocus to get use out of the iPhone version. But for users that only have the iPhone version and are not synchronizing it to either MobileMe (which has a yearly fee) or a WebDAV server (complicated for non-techies), they can't use this implementation of reminders. That's right; the way it works is that OmniFocus on the iPhone exports your reminders to your synchronization server, then points iCal on the iPhone to the server to import your reminders. That means that if you enter new due dates in OmniFocus for iPhone but don't happen to have connectivity, you won't get reminders. Wait, I thought it was implemented this way in the first place to guard against a lack of connectivity? Your OmniFocus reminders unnecessarily pollute your iPhone calendar with reminders. This is a visual problem when you need to glance at your calendars and see what actual appointments are coming up. On the iPhone you can either look at one specific calendar, or all calendars, so if like me you need to regularly stay on top of more than one calendar, you're forced to look at your OmniFocus reminders as well. Oh, and even when you complete them in OmniFocus and resync, they don't go away in your calendar. [Update] Stephen points out in the comments that this works as expected, and upon further testing I have to agree. Maybe I was being a bit too impatient. Since your OmniFocus reminders are actually just fake appointments, there is no way to audibly differentiate them from appointment reminders. They sound and look exactly the same. Remember the Milk, for example, uses push notifications on its iPhone app, and you can set the notification sound to a number of different options. That way you know that you're being reminded of a task rather than an appointment. Reminders are set based on Due time, rather than Available time, and in terms of flexibility you can set the reminder to be 5 to 60 minutes before the task is due. By the time a task is actually due, isn't it too late to be reminded about it? Finally, if you're a user of OmniFocus for the Mac, your reminders are not created on your iPhone until you think to launch OmniFocus on the iPhone and synchronize it. That means that if you work all day in OmniFocus on your Mac (like I do), then drive home and start doing other stuff and don't happen to open OmniFocus on your iPhone, you won't receive any reminders for tasks that you might have set for that night, or until you actually open and sync OmniFocus on your iPhone. So, what would I rather see? Push notifications, like the many other OmniFocus for iPhone users out there that have been providing their feedback to The Omni Group. As mentioned, Remember the Milk has implemented push notifications, and the ability to change the notification sound isn't the only trick it has up its sleeve. The Remember the Milk icon on my iPhone's screen shows how many due tasks I have that day, and the number changes almost instantly when I make changes on the web version. To see how many currently available and due tasks I have in OmniFocus, I again have to launch the app and wait for it to synchronize. While I love OmniFocus and I think The Omni Group does amazing work, this implementation of reminders for the iPhone version of OmniFocus is just full of an amazing amount of fail. It's a hacky workaround that still doesn't ensure that a lack of connectivity won't adversely affect the user's ability to receive reminder notifications. Omni folks, this is just meant to be tough love -- I wouldn't be saying all of this if I didn't truly care about OmniFocus.
OmniFocus 1.6 checks off bugs and adds new features
The Omni Group just released OmniFocus 1.6, and it's a big, big update. Current users are going to be pleased, even if they don't bother to page through the extensive list of new features and fixes in the release notes. I've never said anything to the contrary, but this is proof that Omni is listening carefully to users and working hard to evolve with user demands while still maintaining their original vision. For the uninitiated, OmniFocus is one of the top contenders for your task manager dollar. Among the commercial options -- along with Things and up-and-comer, The Hit List -- OmniFocus is considered to be the powerhouse, at least as far as features. It's been a bit too much power for a number of people looking for simplicity in both form and function, but for those who need the extra power, it's a solid choice. When I say "extra power", I'm talking about advanced sorting based on just about any criteria, saved filter sets called "Perspectives," AppleScript support, integration with Mail, iCal sync, iPhone sync (with separately purchased iPhone version) and some advanced capabilities to help you determine your "next action" with less input than some of the others. Things and The Hit List are still contending for my ultimate love, but I've used OmniFocus extensively and can honestly say that the only reason I tend to drift away from it is complexity -- both in the UI and in general functionality. As I mentioned, the 1.6 release notes are extensive, and the vast majority of the entries are of very similar importance, making "highlights" hard to do. There are changes and additions to the filtering options, a new "Flagged" collation type for Context view, a prodigious number of bug fixes and enhancements to existing functionality, UI improvements, AppleScript fixes and improvements ... seriously, it's a long list. If you're a current user, you should be notified of the update within the application (check your update settings in Preferences), and new users can download a free demo. OmniFocus will hit your pocketbook for $79.95US ... competitive in the GTD arena and fitting for the punch it packs.
OmniGraffle 5 shipping now
The Omni Group has announced that OmniGraffle 5 is final and available for download and purchase. OmniGraffle is a brilliant template-based diagramming application that makes it a snap to draw up a flow-chart or schematic. As we noted when the first beta of version 5 was released, the latest OmniGraffle adds many important new features including support for Visio formats, a new layout engine, support for Bézier lines and shapes and much more. OmniGraffle comes in two versions, a standard version for $99.95 and a Professional version for $199.95 with an extended feature set (e.g. greater Visio support, subgraphs and more). Upgrades from previous versions are $39.95 (Standard) and $139.95 (Pro), with other options available for family pack licenses.Update: To upgrade from a previous Pro version to version 5 Pro it's $74.95; it's $139.95 to upgrade to version 5 Pro from any previous version of Standard.
OmniFocus goes 1.0
OmniFocus 1.0 represents a long-awaited addition to the GTD offerings on the Mac. It's a GTD-compatible task manager that has been in beta (or vaportrail, as they call it) for a while now and has gained an active community of users. Today's release puts Omni ahead of several other developers, which may help make up the minds of the more impatient GTDers who have been watching the options grow more varied and the spread of features get more convoluted. Omni nailed a few things in this application, including a very powerful means of managing how tasks are viewed (focuses), recurring tasks and OS X integration that includes Spotlight indexing of tasks. The interface is unfamiliar to new users, but relatively intuitive. And, unlike some of the other up-and-comers, Omni made GTD standards a high priority. Whether that is a selling point depends entirely on the individual user's taste. OmniFocus has updated almost every day since I got my invitation to the beta some months back. If you like applications that have a quick and responsive development team, you'll enjoy the development pace. It's retailing at $79.95 now that the pre-order discount is finished. Visit the website for more information.
