Vote for Omnifocus vs. Things (iPhone)
 

I notice that the O'Reilly site is running an online vote:

[URL="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/pq/223?aid=1200"]http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/pq/223?aid=1200[/URL]

Interesting result so far. Unfair for me to vote as I've been using Things on both iPhone and Mac for the last couple of months, but have never used OF: just watched the videos and been reading up here on the forum.

I wasn't expecting the result that is indicated so far...

I was using Things, but I've switched to Omnifocus. Things seems simpler (because it is), which ultimately makes it harder. Tags alone are not enough, and getting a good weekly review out of the thing is extremely difficult.

I'd guess if you're just downloading a to do list manager for the iPhone (no computer counterpart) I can see how people would probably vote for Things as well (although it has a very clunky input interface), but if you want more than that, Things may not be enough.

Never used Thinhs because I never needed to. I went from the OO solution to OF and have never looked back. Each release is better and better and I really believe OmniGroup is in this for the long haul and is dedicated to all it's products.

BZ

You know I don't think there'd be all this discussion, if OF just offered multiple contexts. Think about iPhoto and the keywords. You have to have it to manage the data. I use OF for sales and many tasks involve more than one contact. Would like to be able to view contexts (as in the person I'm talking with) and have all the tasks associated with them - viewable. OF claims multiple contexts is disloyal to GTD religion - bunk - just change this feature and you've got Things - done. Have Used OF for last 18 months - great product - almost perfect - thanks

[QUOTE=Westwinds;63084]You know I don't think there'd be all this discussion, if OF just offered multiple contexts. Think about iPhoto and the keywords. You have to have it to manage the data. I use OF for sales and many tasks involve more than one contact. Would like to be able to view contexts (as in the person I'm talking with) and have all the tasks associated with them - viewable. OF claims multiple contexts is disloyal to GTD religion - bunk - just change this feature and you've got Things - done. Have Used OF for last 18 months - great product - almost perfect - thanks[/QUOTE]

I believe there is an important distinction between 'Context', in the generally accepted GTD vernacular, and 'contextual information. Multiple 'Contexts' are generally inconsistent with GTD, as a 'Context' usually requires a specific physical location and/or specific tools/resources. Yes, there can be some overlap as some tasks can be done anywhere and some tasks, such as a task assigned to the 'Computer' context could also be done with an iPhone, which would more commonly be associated with tasks assigned to a 'Phone' context. However, in GTD most tasks have a primary 'Context' that best fit with working towards the completion of that task. In that regard, 'Contexts' in GTD are more similar to 'Places' in iPhoto than they are to 'Keywords'.

On the other hand, contextual information can crossover from task to task, as in the example you shared from your workflow. This metadata, at least in GTD discussions is more commonly associated with tagging and is consistent with 'Keywords' in iPhoto. Both 'Context' and contextual information are important and I'm in agreement with you on that, but they are not the same thing. Even in Things, many (most) users arrange tags into tag sub-groups for Context, Priorities, Energy, etc., to assign no more than one tag from each tag sub-group to a task. In any event, the Omni folks have stated that tagging through a user-defined metadata field will be coming, probably in OmniFocus 2.0. My understanding that his field will be an addition to complement the Context field, rather than a replacement for Context that does everything as is the case with Things.

I use both.

Things I use only for very simple, immediate lists. I barely use any of the fancy features. Things opens really fast, and its UI is actually better than any of the simpler apps for quickly adding an item.

OF is for real planning. It opens way too slowly to be useful for a quick on-the-go list. The feature set is fantastic for big-picture thinking, though. It's no good for planning an afternoon, but it's perfect for organizing a life.

Things vs OmniFocus
 

I saw the Things Apple-like advertisement and was intrigued so I downloaded it for my iPad and iPhone. I then learned that the two installations had no way of 'talking' to each other. Bummer!! Because of this inability for sharing data, Things was dead coming right out of the gate. Months later I found OmniFocus that shared data between iDevices. OmniFocus is a more useable system and it gets my vote.