[Brian]

Originally Posted by mcoad

Those of us asking for a timeline are always recommended to go to OmniPlan or similar. Our point is that these are total overkill for what we need, which is the simple ability to see tasks and dates set out graphically in a basic timeline to see at a glance how they all jive together and thus organize time better (ie get things done). We don’t need the bells and whistles of a full-scale, multi-person project planner (never mind the far bigger bucks for the myriad other features we would never use). This feature would be a natural addition to the app, fully in keeping with its lean style and philosophy, and far from bloat.

A couple things that bear mentioning:
As I mention here, the only feature requests that are guaranteed to make it into our bug tracking system are the ones that come to omnifocus@omnigroup.com.

Our bug system currently has over 150 open feature requests with more user votes attached than the one for Gantt charting has. The #1 request is machine-to-machine synching. It has over 20 times as many emails attached to it.

If we add stripped-down gantt charting to OmniFocus, folks will inevitably want 'just this one feature that OmniPlan has' added to OmniFocus. Except every person will want a different one feature. Interested readers may want to check this article out:
Bloatware and the 80/20 Myth
It explains the phenomenon I'm describing in more detail. You start with stripped-down Gantt charts in OmniFocus, but it will not end there. I promise you.

'Bloat' is a very pejorative term, but the features being discussed here involve adding completely new view modes to the app. It's a lot of code, and you can't just copy and paste it over from OmniPlan or iCal, even to do the stripped-down charting or calendaring which is just the first step down either road.

Assuming the features I mentioned in my last post - remember, OmniFocus/OmniPlan 2 at the earliest - it is more than likely that we'll stick with a 'export data from OmniFocus to OmniPlan' approach.

Remember - even without an OmniPlan license, you can open an OP document of any size. You just can't edit the document. So, if you really don't need the features of OmniPlan enough to make a license for both apps worth it, you could still edit in OmniFocus, export to OmniPlan, and use that info to make further edits back in OmniFocus.

Is it ideal for you guys? No. But given the demand we're seeing for this feature, the ideal solution requires a lot more work to make a small portion of our user base happier.

An additional problem with this: how it would affect folks that are new to our product line. We have a minor problem now with folks not understanding how OmniOutliner, OmniFocus, and OmniPlan differ from each other. Adding Gantt charts to OmniFocus would muddy that water even further.

So, to be very clear: is the specific solution being requested here possible? Yes.

Is it likely to be implemented in the way this thread requests? No, for the reasons I've explained.

Is it likely that we'll do something to satisfy folks that want this? Yes, because we have existing work planned that covers most of the request. We want to make our users as happy as we can possibly make them.