[Toadling]

Originally Posted by JohnJ80

Even if it were notifications done locally on the mac and then badges on the iPhone that would be a great improvement.

I don't understand. Would the badges on the iPhone represent waiting notifications? How would they be triggered at the proper time? And what's the point of notifications if they don't occur in a timely fashion?

-Dennis

[JohnJ80]

Think about it a bit, it'll come to you. Not great but better.

J.

[Toadling]

Originally Posted by JohnJ80

Think about it a bit, it'll come to you.

You give me the impression that you really don't know yourself. Perhaps you should think about it a bit more.

-Dennis

[JohnJ80]

Actually, I'm finding this ongoing discussion with you tiresome, if you must know and since you seem to want to drag it out of me. So, I'm working on more productive things.

J.

[Toadling]

Originally Posted by JohnJ80

Actually, I'm finding this ongoing discussion with you tiresome, if you must know and since you seem to want to drag it out of me. So, I'm working on more productive things.

Sigh. That's fine. But I really did have a sincere interest in trying to understand your ideas. I wasn't trying to be snarky (Well, maybe a little after your snide response; I couldn't help it).

But we clearly both want to see a good product made better, right? We're really working towards the same goal. This is just a conversation about how that goal should be accomplished. So why the animosity?

You seem to have some strong opinions and ideas. That's great. That's one of the reasons these forums are here. But when pressed for details, you've been intractable and defensive, flaunt your credentials, and then walk out of the room. I really don't understand. Are you interested in discussing your ideas or not? If not, why post here in the first place?

-Dennis

[JohnJ80]

Re-read my last post and then re-read your last one. I'll leave the psycho analysis to you and defer to your expertise in that subject. I found a better solution to my problem. Thanks for your help.

J.

[Toadling]

Originally Posted by JohnJ80

I found a better solution to my problem. Thanks for your help.

That's good to hear. Sometimes talking out the kinks in your system leads to a completely different but better solution. Glad I could be of help.

-Dennis

[paulduv]

Well I just cannot get on with my day without commenting on the devolution of this thread. If there's anyone at OmniFocus reading this, I apologize for adding a few inches to a thread that's already kind of "cooked".

I'm always struck by how rarely a forum like Ask Metafilter has comments to the effect of, "That's not actually not that great a question. Here's why."

Below their message field, they note: Ask MetaFilter is as useful as you make it. Please limit comments to answers or help in finding an answer. Wisecracks don't help people find answers. Thanks.

The comments in this thread that sent things the "wrong" way were certainly not wisecracks, but I think they're every bit as frustrating (and in some ways, more so) as wisecracks, spam, or rude comments. I wonder if there's some way of encouraging people to curb rebuttals and countering views that are really not of any substance, or so generic and self-evident as to be, in effect, off topic.

____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____

Toadling, each and every time someone expresses a need for a more elegant iCal integration, and/or a reminder system, someone like you says something like,

"Unfortunately, things are rarily that simple. Every added feature consumes finite engineering resources -- resources that might be better spent elsewhere.

So, by all means, send in your feature requests so Omni can evaluate them and plan accordingly. But don't expect other users to just accept your pet feature or ignore it if they don't see a pressing need for it."

That's your post – didn't have to paraphrase. As well, they also say,

"OmniFocus is not "meant" to do that".

The fact is, you could lob out either of the two above comments about virtually any feature, existing or proposed.

So at best, it's inane to read through those countervailing comments, because because they're an obvious generic consideration about any particular feature. It's particularly frustrating to see so many people go out of their way to comment about this need, and end up having a vacuous discussion.

About the tone of this thread, here's my answer to your question, "So why the animosity?".

You write: "But when pressed for details, you've been intractable and defensive, flaunt your credentials..."

This was your comment at the beginning of the thread:
"Maybe. But unless you've got the source code, it's hard to be certain. Either way, I'd still rather see the resources invested elsewhere. But that's just my personal opinion."

You should be aware that your post looks a heck of a lot like credentials flaunting to those who don't feel compelled to write posts like yours. To give you an idea of why they're so vexing, they read something like this:

"Even though I'm saying I don't personally need the thing that you think you need, I'm going to insert comments into this discussion whose subtext signal my pretty impressive insight into "source code", and into "the investment of resources" of a complex product, and the successful organization that designed it."

So yeah. Maybe the solution would be something like this: start a discussion entitled, "Where I think OmniFocus should invest their resources", and it'll be both easier to seek out your opinion on the matter, and easier to avoid it when looking for substantive replies to a post about alarms and calendars.

About the topic, it looks like Brian is aware of the interest – and of course, the technical issues. Hopefully someday we'll see little alarm check-boxes next to the words "Start" and "Due" in the inspector!

[JohnJ80]

well said and I agree.

J.

[curt.clifton]

paulduv,

Thanks for your thoughtful, and thought provoking, post. (And I apologize for prolonging this thread, but I think the meta-issues that you raise are important for the community and worth spilling some "ink" over.)

I think the forums here provide a somewhat different service than something like Ask Metafilter. These forums serve both as a place to find solutions to problems and as a community of people passionate about a product. Those two purposes generally reinforce each other—if there weren't passionate, knowledgeable users here, then questions would go unanswered—but sometimes the two purposes are at odds. This seems to happen most often when someone posts something that reads more like a demand than a question. There's a natural tendency for some of us to want to defend a product of which we are passionate advocates. I think you're correct to point out that such defensive reactions don't typically further the discussion.

I disagree with your assertion in the following:

Originally Posted by paulduv

Toadling, each and every time someone expresses a need for a more elegant iCal integration, and/or a reminder system, someone like you says something like,

"Unfortunately, things are rarily that simple. Every added feature consumes finite engineering resources -- resources that might be better spent elsewhere..."

You're omitting a key step in these (admittedly tedious) exchanges. That step is the one where someone claims that their desired feature must be implemented immediately, or that it is clearly trivial to implement. Like you, I've recognized that the right response is to simply not take such bait, so I've tried to avoid posting in such threads. I'm confident that the good folks at Omni can sort out the costs and benefits of implementing particular features. (And, like you, I suspect that we'll eventually see some more robust reminder features in OF.)