Quote:
Originally Posted by eddyb64
One thing I enjoy in the Mac world is the supportive community, but that's no excuse for foisting unfinished s/ware on us, and also no excuse for others to defend unprofessional practice.
Sorry if that seems harsh but, Omni, you do need to be aware of how some people feel about this.
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That does seem overly harsh. Not everyone has been experiencing these problems. I've been using the OmniFocus 1.1 alpha on my Mac since early July and OmniFocus on my iPhone since its release around the 11th and I've had nothing more than a few minor hiccups. The software is
clearly working in my situation. I'm not saying it's perfect, but if everybody waited for perfect software to ship, we wouldn't have any software.
Don't get me wrong, I sympathize with anyone running into problems. Really, I know it sucks. The Omni Group should do their best to smooth things out and get those people up and running again as soon as possible. And everything I've seen so far suggests that's
exactly what the Omni Group is doing.
In a perfect world, all of these issues would have been foreseen and avoided before the app went public. But the reality of the situation is much different:
- The iPhone is a very new platform
- The iTunes App Store is a new (and restrictive) delivery medium
- Open testing of iPhone apps is very difficult
- Updates delivered through the iTunes App Store are delayed by Apple's meticulous procedures (for better or worse)
- Development was up against tight deadlines (for everyone, not just Omni Group)
- Two-way syncing is deceptively complex
- Many WebDAV implementations fail to follow the spec. If 60% of the WebDAV implementations are getting it wrong (based on mickey's admittedly anecdotal evidence), that's a pretty serious obstacle, arguably far worse than having to deal with WinIE6 in web development (then again, WinIE is pretty awful :-).
Are these just excuses? Maybe, maybe not. But I haven't seen any other development house deal with the situation any better, and most far worse. Are
any other GTD apps even attempting to do syncing yet? Forget GTD apps, are any other apps, regardless of category, doing flawless syncing? Even Apple's own apps (iCal and Contacts) are facing issues with syncing; and Apple owns the freakin' framework!
So yes, it's unfortunate, but certainly not unprofessional. If anything, I've been impressed with the Omni Group's dedication to working through all of these issues. Adversity is the true test of one's mettle.
-Dennis