3 ms·

Unfortunately Omni's software is pretty old and bloated at this point, although I've only used OmniFocus and OmniGraffle. The former is very powerful but this i

Unfortunately Omni's software is pretty old and bloated at this point, although I've only used OmniFocus and OmniGraffle. The former is very powerful but this is a blessing and a curse, in that the UX is very cluttered and quite intimidating. I honestly think that Things has exceeded it now, being less customisable but also capturing the essence of what makes OmniFocus good without getting bogged down in too much customisation and verbosity. OmniFocus is the opposite of a productivity tool to me, it keeps you in the app for too long configuring and setting things up just right, instead of getting out of the way OmniGraffle is great, and probably the best diagramming tool I've used, however it feels like it hasn't had a really significant update in a very long time and it's starting to show frankly

gurkendoktor 7y ago
The flip side of it is that OmniFocus needs to be so customizable because the defaults are not great. (I feel the same about the default styles in OmniGraffle.) I was a die-hard OF1 user, but they've completely lost me with the OF2 redesign. Large checkboxes on the right stress me out on mobile (that's where my scrolling finger rests), and it took months before there were layouts in OF2 for Mac that had the same information density as in OF1. I haven't even tried OF3.
- ubermonkey 7y ago
  Hard same. The redesign for OF2 drove me away completely; I eventually landed in orgmode, where I control everything and don't have to worry about seasonal / fashion oriented redesigns.
- ken 7y ago
  Planning and scheduling tools are weird. Everybody has their own system already. So software is either simple (and doesn’t work for most people) or incredibly complex (and requires massive customization). Or they say “just redesign your whole life around our app!” I’m not even sure which one OmniFocus is trying to be.
- m463 7y ago
  I had the same experience with OF2, but honestly think it wasn't entirely their fault as ios 7 sort of pulled the rug out from under the world. that said, even with stupid round checkboxes of2 runs my life, which would be much more chaotic without it.
techybuddha 7y ago
We will all be old and bloated one day. Hopefully society treats us as well as Omni has treated their employees over the last decade.
ken 7y ago
15 years ago I loved Omni software. I hate the term “bloated” for software but I agree it’s gotten massively more complex for no benefit to me. I’d use my old version of OmniOutliner if I could (there’s no way to run PowerPC applications on a modern Mac). It was nearly perfect, with only one or two obvious flaws. Sadly, instead of fixing those, they seem to have added a million word processor styling options. They’re not the only ones. 1Password was also nearly perfect, and then instead of fixing the couple of minor flaws/limitations, they took it in a completely different direction. I don’t have a great solution to this, but they certainly make me hesitant to pay for (proprietary) software. I now assume that whatever state the application is in now is the best it’s ever going to be.
- ubermonkey 7y ago
  Right there with you. I'm still on an old build of 1P; I feel like eventually I'll have to migrate to something else, because I don't want their new version AT ALL. I eventually quit using all the Omni tools for the same reasons -- OO was PERFECT and now is a mess, OF got a terrible redesign, etc.
lonelappde 7y ago
It doesn't take 30 years to write a diagramming app. It's basically done. They should really slash the prices and profit from the margin. Well, they should have before the web destroyed the low end market.

gurkendoktor 7y ago

The flip side of it is that OmniFocus needs to be so customizable because the defaults are not great. (I feel the same about the default styles in OmniGraffle.) I was a die-hard OF1 user, but they've completely lost me with the OF2 redesign. Large checkboxes on the right stress me out on mobile (that's where my scrolling finger rests), and it took months before there were layouts in OF2 for Mac that had the same information density as in OF1. I haven't even tried OF3.

ubermonkey 7y ago
Hard same. The redesign for OF2 drove me away completely; I eventually landed in orgmode, where I control everything and don't have to worry about seasonal / fashion oriented redesigns.
ken 7y ago
Planning and scheduling tools are weird. Everybody has their own system already. So software is either simple (and doesn’t work for most people) or incredibly complex (and requires massive customization). Or they say “just redesign your whole life around our app!” I’m not even sure which one OmniFocus is trying to be.
m463 7y ago
I had the same experience with OF2, but honestly think it wasn't entirely their fault as ios 7 sort of pulled the rug out from under the world. that said, even with stupid round checkboxes of2 runs my life, which would be much more chaotic without it.

techybuddha 7y ago

We will all be old and bloated one day. Hopefully society treats us as well as Omni has treated their employees over the last decade.

ken 7y ago

15 years ago I loved Omni software. I hate the term “bloated” for software but I agree it’s gotten massively more complex for no benefit to me. I’d use my old version of OmniOutliner if I could (there’s no way to run PowerPC applications on a modern Mac). It was nearly perfect, with only one or two obvious flaws. Sadly, instead of fixing those, they seem to have added a million word processor styling options. They’re not the only ones. 1Password was also nearly perfect, and then instead of fixing the couple of minor flaws/limitations, they took it in a completely different direction. I don’t have a great solution to this, but they certainly make me hesitant to pay for (proprietary) software. I now assume that whatever state the application is in now is the best it’s ever going to be.

ubermonkey 7y ago
Right there with you. I'm still on an old build of 1P; I feel like eventually I'll have to migrate to something else, because I don't want their new version AT ALL. I eventually quit using all the Omni tools for the same reasons -- OO was PERFECT and now is a mess, OF got a terrible redesign, etc.

lonelappde 7y ago

It doesn't take 30 years to write a diagramming app. It's basically done. They should really slash the prices and profit from the margin. Well, they should have before the web destroyed the low end market.