[Toadling]

Originally Posted by frankly

Also, is the bar so low that we expect bugs in a 1.0 release?

No, I don't expect glaring bugs in a 1.0 release. But, in reality, a software developer such as yourself (and many others on these forums) should know that releases, particularly 1.0 releases, are often under enormous pressure in both time and resources. So while I don't like to see bugs, the simple fact of the matter is that it's not unusual to see a few in the first release. As a software developer, have any of your 1.0 releases been entirely bug-free? Heck, have any of your software releases been entirely bug-free? If so, you are truly a gifted developer and in the extreme minority.

Originally Posted by frankly

What are alpha and beta releases for if not to get rid of these things before releasing into production?

Having participated in the alpha and beta programs, it seems to me that the vast majority of reported major faults were fixed in those iterations. Others bugs still exist (with arguably minor impact), but at some point you just have to ship the product.

Originally Posted by frankly

I know that you can't get it perfect on the first try but when I developed software if a bug were found that was affecting the use of the application we didn't add it to a list of bugs and plan to release all the fixes at once. We fixed it, tested the fix, and deployed it. This idea that they have all of these bug fix releases planned tells me they know about a bunch of bugs and are taking a good amount of time to fix them.

You don't follow a planned release cycle for your products, where bug fixes and features are accumulated and released at periodic intervals? It sounds like you deploy a new release for each and every fix. Isn't that inefficient?

I think Omni's approach is more typical in the industry. I know it's certainly the process in my company, but then we're a much larger operation than OmniGroup with over 70 developers working on a single product.

As for having releases mapped out into the future, have you considered that some of the included fixes might just be very complicated and require more time to get right? Or maybe they're dependent on an OS-related bug that first needs to be fixed by Apple. In those cases, it makes sense to plan smaller releases in the interim to get at least some of the fixes out into the field, then release others later. I don't see a problem with this. In fact, it suggests that Omni is doing a good job prioritizing fixes and planning their release cycles - exactly what I'd expect from an organization of professional software engineers that follow a process.

Anyway, it's only a been a little over a month since OmniFocus 1.0 was released. A week or two of that time was surely consumed by Macworld. That leaves 4 weeks or less since the initial release. That doesn't seem like very long at all.

Originally Posted by frankly

Once people invest money in your product I think they deserve fast service. How about a reply from support within 24 hours at least?

And for the most part, I think Omni Group customers do get fast service. That's one of the things Omni Group's reputation has been built on. I'd dare say few consumer software companies offer better service on such a large scale.

But to expect 24 hour response times is pretty demanding. I can't think of any consumer software companies that guarantee 24 response times across multiple products without the customer having to pay for a special service agreement.

Originally Posted by frankly

I've only been using it for a few days and have found the following:

1) Checking the Show Soon and Overdue actions in the menu bar and Dock would not work. Then all of a sudden the next day they started working.

I haven't seen this problem, nor have I read any reports of it here before now. Are you able to reproduce it? If not, there's insufficient information here for Omni to even start thinking about a fix. Still, if you're interested in participating in the community, you could send feedback about it to Omni and then keep an eye open for the issue to reoccur in the future.

Originally Posted by frankly

2) Even though you tell it to sort things by due date they don't sort. I currently have items sorted by due date and OmniFocus has them ordered like this: 2/29, 2/21, 2/26. How in the heck can you get organized if you have items that are due today displayed below items that are due next week?

Are you sorting in Planning Mode or Context Mode? Note than sorting works on projects in Planning Mode and on actions in Context Mode.

FWIW, I haven't seen any sorting problems on my system. But if you still see this problem, I'd encourage you to discuss it openly on these forums (there are lots of smart people here with deep knowledge of OmniFocus) and send feedback to OmniGroup if you're convinced there's a bug.

Originally Posted by frankly

I'm sorry but things like this that make you waste your time trying to figure out why they don't work is ridiculous, especially from a piece of software whose main function is to help you save time and get things done!!!

I'm sorry you feel like you're wasting your time. And there's no doubt that OmniFocus is a sophisticated app that can sometimes be confusing if you aren't familiar with it. And I'm sure there are some bugs that have yet to be worked out or even revealed. But from the examples you've given here and my own experience, I don't really see a significant problem.