[brademcee]

First I must thank OmniFocus (or Omni Group).

Without discovering OmniFocus and the GTD model, I would still be posting my tasks in my calendar. I have used OmniFocus religiously over the past two years on my iMac, Macbook and iPhone. I have enjoyed the syncing feature among these 3 devices.

However, I have decided to move to Android and ditch my iPhone (finally). As I am a small business owner, i find that I need access to my GTD application throughout the day and many times I am away from my computer. I tried for the last year to cope without my favorite GTD on my mobile device but I am finding this is causing me to limit my use of the GTD model. Thus, I am seriously trying Toodledo over the next week. I am finding it's almost more important to be able to access and interact with my GTD application across many platforms then stick with what I have used for the past few years.

While I understand that Omni Group has limited resources, I seriously hope they are working towards making Omnifocus cross platform. I was also very disturbed when I saw that they wanted to charge $40 for their iPad version.
In this day, I would be more willing to pay a couple of dollars a month (subscription model) for an application than fork over $40 just to get it on my iPad. Thanks again for a terrific MAC OSX application but I think the time has come to allow syncing with a service like Toodeldo (Spootnik does not seem to have a client app on any platform) or create an Android version.

[policarpo]

Why would you completely abandon a system that was working for you?

Was it because of poor AT&T service? Heck man, just continue to use OF on the iMac and iPhone over wifi and bonjour...

[schollguin]

Sadly, I'm moving on as well. OmniFocus is fantastic and perfect in every way except that it's not the best solution for folks who need access from a non Apple device or from a browser. (And it doesn't pretend to be..so this is in no way a put down of the Omni team.) It does what it has been designed to do very, very well. Unfortunately, my work day is now dominated by Windows and Android. I use a Mac at home and tried dozens and dozens of tools before deciding on OF. I kept convincing myself that using OF was worth maintaining separate tools for personal and work domains. After trying so many tools I can say without a doubt, that every other tool (at least for me) falls short of OF. I've finally settled on using a cloud-based solution (Nirvana)...I think I can make it work for my needs. I've been struggling with the decision, and despite that fact that Nirvana is missing many extremely useful features which OF has, based on my devices and access methods, it makes more sense for me to adjust my GTD routine, and figure out how to make it work at this point. I envy all of you that are able to remain Mac/iPad/iPhone pure...you definitely have the best GTD tool on the market today. stay productive!

[kidtreo]

I'm a big fan of OF but I've had nothing but endless problems trying to sync and CAN'T STAND IT ANY LONGER. Anyone want buy a Mac OF and / iOF license?

Sheesh guys...I'm not a technophobe and I can't even get the work around for your broken Bonjour sync to work any longer.

Lesser apps from lesser developers work fine. Get it together! Please!

[Ken Case]

Originally Posted by kidtreo

Sheesh guys...I'm not a technophobe and I can't even get the work around for your broken Bonjour sync to work any longer.

Sorry to hear you've been having trouble with Bonjour syncing! It works well for us with our Bonjour networks—but when Bonjour fails it can be very difficult to figure out why (for you and for us).

Have you tried using our free Omni Sync Server instead?

[kidtreo]

Thanks for the response Ken.

Out of pure frustration, even though I've been through >2< other web dav hosted solutions as a work around to bonjour fail (when I really didn't want to use either) I did try sync server. Then - amazingly after trying bonjour one last time it "shook loose" and started working. huzzah!

Then after a day or two of this working, i got a failure on my iphone saying server couldn't be found. I went to look at the settings in OF mac - and just clicking on the advanced tab erased my sync settings!

I would suggest making sync changes in the pref panel update only after a deliberate button press and not simply from looking at a different set of options. Hope this makes sense. Thanks again.

[kidtreo]

Hey Ken,

Now I'm back in can't sync land :(

I am truly a big fan of what you guys do...and have invested in your tools, but if I may, please consider my suggestion to put additional resources into making sync more bullet proof...even if it means less features and slower release times on new apps as there is >nothing< more upsetting to some one trying to_Get Things Done_ than having their productivity come to a grinding halt because their GTD app isn't working properly.

I know you have to code around issues in OSX etc, but the end user simply doesn't care how it's done...they just need reliability.

It's like having an awesome car that breaks down without warning and regularly.

Thank you for listening.


***

I am back syncing - and with Bonjour as originally desired.

Again, thanks for listening.

[mas]

I think one answer to some of these concerns from those that wish to leave would be an omnifocus web interface that can also be mobile friendly (iPhone/Android/etc.). A simple interface, but one where users can select specific OF projects to sync, add, edit, all online and in perfect sync with the app (Mac, iPhone or iPad). Like that of mobileme.

Spootnik while useful is lacking (lack of security, inability to flag items, inability to add notes, need to subscribe to basecamp to sync specific OF projects, etc).

If the Omni group came up with one, I think that a minimal annual/monthly subscription service would be well received. Since this has apparently been in the works for about 3 years now (dating back to 2007 based on the Omni responses from these forums), I think active efforts to revitalize the project are well overdue.

It certainly would be of great benefit to the thousands of users (like that of schollguin here) who have the iPhone app and cannot use the Mac (or do not have a Mac) at work/home, or to those that live in a Windows world and do not have the iPhone, but would like to use OF on their PC/Android, etc.

Let's look at the toodledo model as an example. Great web-based capabilities which has resulted in a very large user fan-base that multiple iPhone apps have been developed to sync to it. The things that I can think of that Toodledo lacks (and those that Omni can try to take advantage of) include:
i) a desktop application (which is already in place: OF)
ii) a better simplistic online interface
iii) subprojects, subfolders and subcategories (which is already in place: OF)..
Toodledo only offers a one-level subtasks feature
iv) textual notes (which is already in place: OF).. Toodledo only offers a task description option which does not sync to apps.

I can think of several different other advantages. Given the revenue opportunity available here, I'm honestly surprised that Omni has not capitalized on this yet.

[ksrhee]

Originally Posted by kidtreo

Hey Ken,

Now I'm back in can't sync land :(

I know it's frustrating when things don't work, but I have used MobileMe for a long time w/o any problem, and for the last 6 months or so, Omni Server w/o any problem. Omni Server is free as well; so, I don't see why you would not want to use it since it's available everywhere where you have the connection.

[Schnack]

I too am giving Toodledo a whirl. I have loved Omnifocus but find that I have also hated it, and the lack of key features inevitably causes me to stop using it every 2 months or so. The key features that are missing for me are collaborative sharing of tasks/projects, better options for printing task lists or reports and the ability to email tasks/reminders to myself or colleagues. If new features are available for the iPad then it shouldn't take too much to get them to the users who have already invested in the desktop and iPhone apps. If funding is the problem then Omni should consider a model like Evernote's, with an annual subscription. I fear that OF is being lapped by other players out there on the market.