[wilsonng]

I've already agreed that there are deficiencies in OmniFocus as it exists today. It has outgrown its roots as an outliner-based program and grown into its own monster. With an ever-evolving world, I'm betting that Omni Group is not standing still. They're taking small steps towards the future. iOS versions of OmniFocus and Omni Sync server were laid out as pieces of the puzzle that will eventually inform us of the bigger picture.




Here is an article with Ken Case with a quote from him about the future direction of OmniFocus and OmniPlan:

http://www.macstories.net/news/omni-...iner-for-ipad/

The new syncing back-end is also designed to work with OmniFocus, which will let individual team members sync tasks assigned to them with either the desktop, iPhone, or iPad versions. “All three versions use the same underlying engine, so once we have that update in place, we’ll be able to roll out OmniPlan syncing to all versions of OmniFocus,” Case told Ars.

The current version of OmniPlan allows syncing via CalDAV, but the new engine will offer much better integration with OmniFocus. For project team members who don’t need to see what all other team members are working on, they’ll be able to see just the tasks assigned to them. When tasks are marked as complete in OmniFocus, the project manager will get a notification of the change in OmniPlan.

This gives a hint at the possible future direction for OmniFocus and OmniPlan.


This is another article:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/01...ur-fingertips/

When OmniPlan for iPad ships, it will complete Case's original 2010 plan to bring five unique apps to the platform. With that line item crossed off of his OmniFocus task list, full attention will go back to Omni's Mac software. Specifically, Omni developers have been hard at work planning OmniFocus 2 and OmniOutline 4. Updating those apps will become the top priority of the development team once OmniPlan for iPad is launched on the App Store, according to Case

I didn't say anything about a multi-user OmniFocus. This is what I have tried to surmise from the two articles:

OmniFocus is a great tool for the single user and will probably remain a single user program. This is the client program and is used by most folks who don't need collaboration facilities. Some of us won't be using the multi-user capabilities. So that would be one layer of complexity that single users won't have to deal with.

OmniPlan will be the server software. It gives everybody an overview of complex projects, timelines, goals, resources, and tasks. This is a whole other ballpark for people who need collaborative facilities. It will probably send tasks to your OmniFocus database and start to appear in your task list as needed. Start Dates will most likely be used for this. Or it might appear in your user account in your copy of OmniPlan.

Ramping up to a multi-user version of a program does take make considerable care than one can imagine. It's not as simple as "record locking." There's a lot more work to be done because Omni Group probably wants to get OmniPlan to play nicely with OmniFocus. That may not be the direction you may want. It is what it is.

Besides, I think people may want to share more than a single-action list.

I personally use OmniFocus on my iOS devices and my Mac. I knew my sister wouldn't want to spend time figuring things out. So I got Things for her and it works for her.

I would love OmniFocus with multi-user project sharing to share tasks with others. But only if the user interface and/or workflow were changed significantly to the point where I can let my sister use it.

I'm not buying OmniPlan for iPad either but I am looking forward to OmniOutliner 4 and OmniFocus when it finally gets finished.

We are all just eager to see the next generation of OmniFocus. But for now, we can all chug along with OmniFocus, The Hit List, Wunderlist, Things, or whatever program we are using.