Interesting discussion over there. And yes, Fantastical seems to have set us on edge a bit; we even opened this discussion with a complaint about subscriptions Omni doesn’t offer!
I would also like better keyboard shortcuts for iPad, mostly so I can bang out complete project outlines a lot faster. But if I had to weigh shortcuts against the other priorities they mentioned, they‘re not first or second. They’d come in ahead of OF for Web, but that’s obviously high priority regardless of my personal use case.
I suppose what we all want is for the Omni developers to magically get more done in the same amount of time so they can get to all our pet needs.
I’m also stoked about OmniPlan getting better, even if I don’t use it, because it just makes the world a better place (I’m sure it’s used by a few EvilCorps too, but JPL uses it to get to Mars!)
I just want their stuff to be easier to use. Less friction. Less tapping to get around. Don’t fill OO templates with text to delete. OF feels like piloting a submarine vs things 3 which feels like piloting an ultralight.
That’s what keeps me stuck in this cursed place between both apps. Things is so much more fun and easy to use for day to day stuff, but OF is so much more capable. Or at least it seems like it.
This will always happen every year when Omni published their annual road map.
Why didn’t they finish feature X which was published in last year’s road map?
Why aren’t they working on my wish list? I don’t really care about all the other features they’ve successfully finished.
Why aren’t they working on this other feature request that’s available in {insert competitor’s app here}? It’s an obvious feature request and should be pushed to the top of the list.
WWDC rolls around and Omni (as well as other app developers) have to reprioritize their road map to work on updating their apps to take advantage of the new OS features. Multi-window support in OmniFocus on iPadOS has been a blessing that I’m glad that Omni got out the door. It wasn’t on the roadmap but I’m grateful. If Omni didn’t update their apps for Catalina, iOS, and iPadOS, it would appear that they’re behind the times and everyone would be complaining about Omni not being responsive enough to the newest OS developments.
We know we will see the same post about “Omni” not being responsive enough or ignoring the market when next year’s road map comes out. The same can be said with just about any app developer that introduces radical changes such as the switch to subscription or post-WWDC when apps haven’t been updated on Day 1 of new OS releases.
My comment was sarcastic of course. The other places being the podcasts that have nothing but praise for their sponsors.
And before I get hammered again… I really feel especially the Apple podcasts have a too close relationship with their sponsors. I listen to many other podcasts too, all being sponsored. But their " commercial breaks" are all like a regular radio commercial. They never get personal about the products being promoted.
I was a long time OmniFocus user who switched to Things a few years ago. The Things interface, and the fact I didn’t need to many OF features, made it a decent switch. However, shifts in my work responsibilities made me take another look at OF. I started to use some more features, but surely not nearly as many that are offered. I’ve got everything up and running how I need (not necessarily how I want) and things are generally fine, except for one thing: sync across devices. I’ve asked about this in the OF forums and Slack channel and there is never a good response.
I can check something off at say 3:00 pm on my Mac that had a time of say 5:00 pm associated with it. Close OF, shut down my Mac and head home. Without fail, come 5:00 pm, I’m getting notifications on my phone/watch. Happens all the time and I remembered this is one of the positives about Things - the sync seemed to work better.
No mention of adding collaboration features for OmniFocus… I like the app a lot, but its potential is untapped because I can’t effectively use it with my team.
Ken Case discusses collaboration on the latest episode of the Omnishow. This should drop you in at the right place https://overcast.fm/+K3-TOC7HY/12:01
In addition to the podcast, he does mention collaboration. Just not the kind I am guessing you would like (team accounts, etc.)
Specifically, we will continue our work on sharing linked tasks in OmniFocus, and on improving integration both between our own apps (such as linking tasks between OmniFocus and OmniPlan) and between our apps and others (such as OmniGraffle’s import and export of Visio and SVG files).
