[Andrew]

EJToll, that's certainly a possibility, though it has some drawbacks such as guaranteeing completeness, restricting our development schedule in order to keep things in sync (or to have out-of-sync development paths), etc. Still, anyone wanting a Windows version is encouraged to send feedback to the OmniFocus address, as it will help determine future priorities.

[homer3018]

hi there,

i'm really interested by a windows version, because like others before, i'm working on a PC...

pleasssssseeeeeeeee :)

it's a wonderful app, and with the iphone it's better...

[atreinke]

Originally Posted by mikey

For my purposes, I'm not looking for a full PC desktop, but just a way to capture stuff at work. If there was an equivalent to the quick entry window that I could have on my PC at work, this would let me send things into the Inbox for processing on the Mac or IPhone.

I'm a brand new user, so there's lots I haven't tried yet. I suspect that using the email-in feature will be the way that I do this (capture actions in an email throughout the day, and mail it to myself before I leave), but the quick entry window would be nicer.

I just use the email function to add stuff from my PC at work (before the iPad). I just set up an email contact (myname+omnifocus@myemailaddress), then whenever I wanted to add an action I would just pull up that contact, put the task in the subject and send it along. I use Mobile Me so it would show up on my iPhone and Mac with just a sync.

[RobFredette]

Some day I may come back from the dark side. But for now, my main machine is a Windows machine and I am more or less forced into that by all of the programs that I need to run to support the network.

OK,ok, I know I could run Fusion on a Mac and have my windows machine running in a window. But although I was a Mac user for years I was forced by job changes to switch to Windows and have not used a Mac daily since OS 9 (dating myself there a bit...).

Anyway, my vote is in. And I am willing, very willing, to be a beta tester of the Windows release.

- Rob Fredette

[bullseye]

hey folks,

i am a long time lover of omni products... i have all of them in my arsenal, with omni focus at the top of the list!

unfortunately stuck on PCs at work and have just started using this web service that syncs Basecamp and Omnifocus, plus provides a rudimentary web interface for OF:

www.spootnik.net

it ain't free, but sure beats Outlook to-dos!!!

pete

[thom]

I LOVE the idea of a web front end. I wish Omni would survey their customers to find out just how many of us there are in this boat.

Needless to say - I am very interested in the Spootnik product (Mac at home, Windows at work, web front end sounds awesome, I'm mildly curious about the Basecamp thing) but am hesitant to make the switch until I know a few more things about it.

1. Even if Omni is not officially supporting this product, are they at least 'cool' with it? In other words: If they're planning major upgrades or improvements for future versions of OF, will there be opportunities for Buzzard (Lars Steiger) to stay abreast of them? Or will we someday be faced with a situation where a major OF update drops, and Lars has to play catch-up for some weeks/months before everything plays nicely again together?
   
   
2. I am guessing I have to switch from syncing my data using MobileMe to using Lars' server, which I know nothing about, nor whether I can trust it. (Both from a privacy standpoint as well as a data redundancy standpoint.)
   
   
3. Even if I felt that Lars' sync server was bulletproof and trustable, I wish I could still sync my personal life via MobileMe and just my work projects via this product. In other words, I wish that top-level projects or folders could be synced via different means or to different database files.
   
   
4. Even if I felt that Lars' sync server was bulletproof and trustable, would my company also be willing to trust that our sensitive client information would be safe? It's enough convincing them to use Basecamp.

But wait, there's more. Here's a hypothetical real-world use case for the product:

1. Let's say that I have bought OF for Mac OS X, iPhone and iPad. All money well spent. (But still, $140 total.) I use MobileMe, which I pay a yearly subscription for ($99), but if I wanted to nerd out, I could host my own WebDAV server and sync there. The point is, there are cheap or free options already available, and Omni is also beta-testing their own sync services at the present time.
   
   
2. Now let's say that I convince my boss that it's worth spending $49/month for Basecamp, which would get us 35 active projects, 15 GB of online storage, unlimited users, and time tracking. So the company pays that bill. In my line of work, each of those projects would correlate to a proposal or job that's in the pipeline, that a number of people from our company need to collaborate on.
   
   
3. There is a matching Spootnik plan, 'Premium' for $15 more per month, that syncs those 35 basecamp projects with OF, as well as provides me with that web front end to OF. But who pays for Spootnik? My company is probably going to say, "Well, WE pay for Basecamp, and you're perfectly capable of using the web interface like everyone else." Okay, so that's on me.
   
   
4. Furthermore, since I am presuming that Spootnik has to sync my data (all of it - work and personal) in order to do its thing, does that mean that anyone else at my company who also wants to use Spootnik to sync against those same 35 Basecamp projects, has to pay another $15 for their own Premium Spootnik account, to accomplish the same thing? In other words, how many times does Spootnik have to be licensed in order to sync those same 35 Basecamp projects between each of us? I'm guessing the answer is, "as many times as you have individual OF users."

If the product does the web interface for OF really well, and protects my data appropriately, then it's worth $3 / month. I'm just not sure about the Basecamp integration, especially when you scale it across multiple users.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by thom

In other words: If they're planning major upgrades or improvements for future versions of OF, will there be opportunities for Buzzard (Lars Steiger) to stay abreast of them? Or will we someday be faced with a situation where a major OF update drops, and Lars has to play catch-up for some weeks/months before everything plays nicely again together?

To quote SJ: "not a big deal" :)

Look, if your infrastructure depends on using the Spootnik stuff, then obviously you don't roll out something incompatible before Lars has something that matches. It's not like your existing OmniFocus setup is going to be switched off against your will when OF 2.0 finally ships. I think the bigger worry would be that Lars decides he's not interested any longer and moves on to other things.

[lars.steiger]

Hi Thom,

1) I can't speak for Omni. But to me they seem to be cool with it. Spootnik is now running since two years and I asked them back then if they're fine with my integration. And they were. We're in contact from now and then and their updates have been pretty conservative so far. And as whpalmer4 already mentioned, you're free to decide when to upgrade to a new OmniFocus version.

2) Transparency and privacy is very important for me as without it would work. Your OmniFocus data sits on the same server as the Basecamp synchronization runs. All communication is secured by SSL (https with a trusted certificate). If you enable SSL communication on your Basecamp account the communication between Spootnik and Basecamp will be encrypted by SSL, too. The server is monitored by myself (exclusively) and only accessible over ssh (no password, just Public/Private keys) and http/https. All administration work happens over ssh using the command line (not a vulnerable web interface). Your data is only accessible with special access permission and I restrict myself not to access your data without your explicit permission. And I do everything to make sure no one else gets access to that data. See also http://www.spootnik.net/faq.html#basecamp_ssl and http://www.spootnik.net/privacy_policy.html#security

3) If you just want to synchronize your OmniFocus devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac) you can sign up for free. Go to http://www.spootnik.net/signup.html and select "Free plan". Exclusive OmniFocus synchronization out of the box without the hassle to find a free WebDAV provider.

4) Yes, everyone who wants to synchronize its OmniFocus database with Basecamp needs a Spootnik account. Your Spootnik account can contain private stuff as well as business stuff. Usually the business stuff gets synchronized with Basecamp as that's the best way to collaborate with others. But not everyone at a company needs Spootnik. Those who are fine with Basecamp's front-end and don't want to collect all to-do items (e.g. private and business) in a single bucket won't need a Spootnik account.

Don't hesitate to write me (lars@spootnik.net) if you have any further questions.

Best regards,
Lars

[GeoffAirey]

Originally Posted by belizardi

As a side note, is there anyway to automate this printing as a pdf for my weekly review? I.e. set OmniFocus to create a pdf at a set time?

Or to set it up as a task in Calendar to run automatically and email the PDf to your work account?

[gfarrar]

Love OmniFocus - but have to have windows at work.. would love to have OmniFocus on the PC.

Make it a kickstarter project - get everyone who is interested to pledge $80 (or whatever) and set a goal of $35k (or whatever you need to fund the development) and when it hits the goal get'r done!

Graham