[garrsmith]

I am looking forward to this product. Is there a more definitive time line surrounding its release? If I can how to I become a beta tester?

[propofol]

Hopefully soon. The wannabes are starting to appear in the app store. For example: http://www.timeliapp.com/

[Brian]

Still planned, but we're going to finish version 2 of the Mac app first.

[garrsmith]

I can understand wanting to finish one project before starting another. What is your timeline to complete version 2? Then when will a timeline for an IPad app be defined? Please don't say 2011. I will not buy a Mac App until here is a correlating IPad App.

Mobile Patform Domination:

FYI- I am a Mac user, a Project Manager for a large Airline, and since I bought my IPad I use my Mac half as much as I use to. I check face book and run VMWare to use MS Project. I bought OmniGraffle for Mac after the IPad app came out for consistency. My Visio use has dropped. However still need those capabilities on the IPad to open that type of lie since 90% of the enterprise business still use Microsoft.

Customer Requirements:

Just to make sure going forward I would like to see the capability to import a MS Project file and export an omniplan file as a MS Project file. Then the ability to export to a dropbox folder. The possibility to demonstrate critical path. Assign resources to tasks if possible as well as manage multiple Projects with Folder Support.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by garrsmith

I can understand wanting to finish one project before starting another. What is your timeline to complete version 2?

I quote Omni's CEO, Ken Case, who answered a very similar question today at Macworld with "we work on our apps until they are ready."

Then when will a timeline for an IPad app be defined? Please don't say 2011. I will not buy a Mac App until here is a correlating IPad App.

The graphics at the show said 2011. Looked like a neater version of the graphic you'll see at http://www.omnigroup.com/blog/entry/...e_or_bust_too/

[garrsmith]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

I quote Omni's CEO, Ken Case, who answered a very similar question today at Macworld with "we work on our apps until they are ready."

Which is CEO speak for I will not commit to a timeline. 2011 is 12 months, thats a long time. Apple will have created a second version of the IPAD and released it to the public before this app will be available.

I guess what I can't understand is: If you have a product in the market that takes care of one platform (Mac). Then you have a platform without a product (IPAD). Then you choose to continue in your development of an existing product that you just updated to version 1.7 in June??? I didn't go to Harvard or MIT, but I know this isn't smart business.

[garrsmith]

SG Project Pro is out. I guess OmniGroup won't be first to market.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by garrsmith

I guess what I can't understand is: If you have a product in the market that takes care of one platform (Mac). Then you have a platform without a product (IPAD). Then you choose to continue in your development of an existing product that you just updated to version 1.7 in June??? I didn't go to Harvard or MIT, but I know this isn't smart business.

The development of OP 2 has been ongoing for years; it isn't something they started after finishing 1.7. The feature set in OP 2 is also very important to making OP for iPad a useful product.

[garrsmith]

I understand. However, OmniGraffle for IPad can stand alone. So should Omniplan. The years is what has me concerned. What if it takes another 12-24 months to develop omniplan 2.0 for Mac?

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by garrsmith

I understand. However, OmniGraffle for IPad can stand alone.

It's a completely different animal, not used in anything resembling the same way that a project planning tool is used.

So should Omniplan.

Again, a different animal. While I am reasonably sure that it will be possible to use OmniPlan for iPad as a standalone app, just like OmniFocus, it will most likely be the case that it is a much more powerful tool when used in conjunction with the desktop app, just like OmniFocus.

The years is what has me concerned. What if it takes another 12-24 months to develop omniplan 2.0 for Mac?

That would mean that they had it in beta for at least 15 months. It's also the case that OmniPlan 2.0 for Mac is much closer than OmniPlan for iPad; there are bugs that need fixing, and some features that still need to be implemented or completed, but the bulk of the work has been done. They haven't even started mocking up an iPad UI for OmniPlan; it can't even display an existing plan, much less edit or create! If they were to drop everything related to OmniPlan 2 and concentrate on getting some sort of OmniPlan iPad app out, we'd probably be talking sometime this summer, based on the efforts involved in OmniGraffle, OmniGraphSketcher, and OmniFocus for iPad. My estimation is that it would be a less compelling product for many buyers than OmniPlan 2.0 because the only truly new functionality would be the ability to run on the iPad, unlike OmniPlan 2.0's raft of collaboration features which make it useful to a whole new set of people.

Here's a question for you: what possible upside is there for Omni in publicly committing to a timeline? Does that somehow help them deliver a better product? No. Does it make you happier if they give a date and it isn't the date you want to hear? No. Does it make people purchase the software in advance? No. Does it make you happier if they give a date (whether you like it or not) and they significantly miss it? No. Omni's stated viewpoint has been (for as long as I can remember) that if you need something now, and they can't sell that something to you now, you should buy something else that works for you, rather than waiting until when they think they'll have something. They are confident that they are building something good, and that sufficient numbers of copies will sell to make the project worthwhile, even if they aren't the first on the market. Some of the buyers will be people who bought something else first. That confidence is a good thing, because it gives them the ability to work until they think it is a product worth its price tag instead of rushing something out the door.