[whpalmer4]

I use this approach for 50-100 tasks per week. It's been a supported part of the product for years. Mail doesn't have to be running all the time, you just have to run it when you sit down at the computer to incorporate any email you've sent in. Using this approach in no way hinders you from using Omni's server when it finally sees the light of day; you'll most likely be able to do both simultaneously. If you'd rather wait, my only conclusion is that it must not be a pressing need!

The send-to-omnifocus facility is most useful on mobile devices, especially those not running OmniFocus. You could also use it on desktops where you don't have OmniFocus installed, of course; the key is that you need to be able to send email from one of your accounts, because that's where the return message will go. You come across some web page or document you want injected into OmniFocus, compose a quick email with that content, and send it to the Omni address. You get a response back which you read when on your machine that runs OmniFocus, and when you click the Send to OmniFocus link in the message, OmniFocus is launched (if necessary) and the relevant material added to the Quick Entry form. I use a smart mailbox in Mail to collect all of these messages in one place to make it easy to process them at my convenience (I don't necessarily want all of them immediately added).