Crazy Idea: OF web client using MobileMe?
 

This is off the top of my head so bear with me...

First of all, I have to give props to the OmniGroup for what they have done with OmniFocus. I use the Mac client and iPhone client using the MobileMe iDisk as a syncing point. I've had it working flawlessly for the most part since OF for the iPhone was released. So what OmniGroup has right now is awesome and I love it.

Problem Statement: I, like others on this forum, use the Mac OS at home and a Windows OS at work. I use OF for all of my tasks (work included) so that all my tasks are in one place. Yes, I [I]could[/I] use Outlook as a task manager at work, but it requires a separate place for work tasks and I've tried this and inevitably the Outlook tasks become stale from lack of use. Also, my workplace blocks a lot of websites and services so MobileMe won't sync with my Outlook (I wouldn't want this anyway as then my personal data would be on a work machine).

Proposed Solution: Since I'm already using MobileMe's iDisk and I'm assuming a nice collection of users are as well, what if MobileMe's services could be used to provide a web client for OF? I am able to access MobileMe from work (except for iDisk, which work blocks the URL). Would it be possible for a webpage to run from the MobileMe web hosting portion that had access to the OF file on iDisk?

I'm not a web developer or programmer so how this could be accomplished is beyond me. It just seems feasible for a webpage to be hosted on my MobileMe account that can access (via a secure method) my OF file on iDisk.

Security would be a concern here since a webpage would be accessing the OF database, but maybe it could work...

Thoughts?


I've [URL="http://tweader.com/conversation.php?id=1599240753"]heard Omni has something in the works[/URL] as a proposed solution my problem. Looking forward to see what's coming down the pipe.

MobileMe doesn't allow the running of software on the Apple End (you'd need to implement some software on Apple's servers...and apple doesn't allow that sort of hosting.)

I can see two different possibilities from OmniGroup.

1) They make their own web client (with or without a charge) that uses your data on MobileMe.
2) They make a Windows app of OF.

[QUOTE=filmgeek;60677]I can see two different possibilities from OmniGroup.

1) They make their own web client (with or without a charge) that uses your data on MobileMe.
2) They make a Windows app of OF.[/QUOTE]

Just to clarify something I believe filmgeek intended in point #1 but might not be clear: I'm pretty sure the OmniFocus web client would have to live somewhere other than on MobileMe (your own web server or hosting service with PHP/Ruby/Python support or on an Omni-supported server).

But, like filmgeek points out, the web client could still access your OmniFocus database stored on MobileMe.

-Dennis

I was wondering about the Omni webserver idea.
Could have a domain like myomnifocus.com or myof.com or a sub-domain of omnigroup.com.

Hopefully the solution is coming down the pipe soon from Omni.
Heck, I'd even be willing to beta test the thing...

I have to agree with this. OF needs a web based way of accessing the databases. I would even be willing to pay a reasonable subscription fee to have this kind of access.

I have the iPhone version and the Mac version, but I need to figure out a solution to get access on a Windows machine (unfortunately, the company I work at has this unreasonable policy of being a Windows only shop).

It is nice having the iPhone application, but it can get tedious entering in tons of tasks at work on the little keyboard. A web application would be the best solution.

Anyone figured out the best work-around solution for getting access? How does the Google tools work with OF? Or is there a better solution?

EDIT:
BTW, having the "in the cloud" solution would also make Push Notifications for the iPhone client much easier as well.

[QUOTE=txaggie90;62180]I have to agree with this. OF needs a web based way of accessing the databases. I would even be willing to pay a reasonable subscription fee to have this kind of access.[/QUOTE]

Rumor has it that Omni is working on some kind of web client. So we may be in luck!

[QUOTE=txaggie90;62180]unfortunately, the company I work at has this unreasonable policy of being a Windows only shop[/QUOTE]

Ugh, I totally sympathize with you there. What's wrong with these people?! :-)

[QUOTE=txaggie90;62180]BTW, having the "in the cloud" solution would also make Push Notifications for the iPhone client much easier as well.[/QUOTE]

Unfortunately, I don't think so. Or at least there'd still be some significant problems. As you may know, web apps typically only run on a user-initiated request. So they're not well-suited for sending scheduled notifications.

So we'd need to use cron or similar scheduling facility. But that makes system requirements steeper if you run it on a user-provided host. And if Omni hosted the service, they'd need to start managing other people's data, which is also a dicey proposition.

Even if these problems are solved, there's still the need for a constant network connection for the notifications to work, which isn't really very good for a large portion of users (i.e. iPod touch owners).

As Omni stated in another thread, what they really need is on-device notifications. So OmniFocus can independently display a scheduled message at any time, even when the app is not running and no network connection is available.

I may be missing something, but these are the issues as I understand them. Maybe Apple is listening and Omni will eventually get the system support it needs.

-Dennis

Oh, one more thing about notifications: I read somewhere (Twitter maybe?) that Omni is working on a way to schedule notifications with iCal, which of course will also sync to the iPhone/iPod touch and work without a constant network connection.

So maybe it's not a perfect solution, but might provide most of the functionality people are looking for now without having to wait for Apple to add some kind of dedicated support for on-device notifications.

Unfortunately, I haven't heard anything on a release date, so no idea when it's coming.

-Dennis