Right after i downloaded and installed OG 5.0 Beta, i clicked on the Help Menu, then clicked on "What's New in 5"–just to point me in the right direction about where the coolest new features are.
Well, when you do that, you are sent to a Page on the Omni Site that says, in striking bold 22 pt Grey Helvetica: "Something Has Gone Horribly Awry."
Not just 'Awry" but "Horribly Awry."
These Omni folks are a modest bunch.
My expectations sufficiently constrained, i had a look. (I had no choice actually, i had already deleted 4.2.2.–obviously before i had read the "horribly awry" thing.)
This is actually beautiful upgrade–already it seems so superior to the prior version, which in turn was so superior to anything else out there (Windows or Mac).
Some highlights i particularly like (i.e., features which for me will make my OG documents better immediately): The canvas/layer model is vastly improved (in implementation at least)--i never quite grasped the previous versions' division of Master Canvas and Layers; Layers and "Shared Layers," i get right away. Another one: many of my OG docs were nested (e.g., one box in the first layer was in turn the root node of a separate graph, for which i used another layer–you had to be in the presentation mode to enable that interaction but even then you couldn't see both at the same time (at least i didn't know how)–now you can. How? Imagine the key feature of Outliner built into Graffle–so analogous to collapsing/expanding children of a row, you can expand and collapse subgraphs on the same layer–nice one. Also, check out the Presentation Mode. If this functionality was in 4.2.2, i couldn't find it, but what i'm pretty sure is new is the Navigation Controls at bottom (they appear like for the Quicktime Player)–this is enough for me to no longer feel like i need to put my OG diagrams into KeyNote. There's a lot more, but the only other thing i'll mention is the new aesthetic–slick, like James Bond slick. It reminds me of when i was a University student and first saw a NeXT box (they were sold in the Student Center, not sure why because only professional athletes could afford to buy one)--the applications all looked about half a dozen generations ahead of anything else at the time–all ultra high-res and greyscale).
And fidelity to that aesthetic extends right down to the icon–it's a slick black/silver thing, which in principle i like–still, i just wish they would have checked with me first before doing something drastic like changing the App's Icon. I probably would have given my ok, but still.
Well, when you do that, you are sent to a Page on the Omni Site that says, in striking bold 22 pt Grey Helvetica: "Something Has Gone Horribly Awry."
Not just 'Awry" but "Horribly Awry."
These Omni folks are a modest bunch.
My expectations sufficiently constrained, i had a look. (I had no choice actually, i had already deleted 4.2.2.–obviously before i had read the "horribly awry" thing.)
This is actually beautiful upgrade–already it seems so superior to the prior version, which in turn was so superior to anything else out there (Windows or Mac).
Some highlights i particularly like (i.e., features which for me will make my OG documents better immediately): The canvas/layer model is vastly improved (in implementation at least)--i never quite grasped the previous versions' division of Master Canvas and Layers; Layers and "Shared Layers," i get right away. Another one: many of my OG docs were nested (e.g., one box in the first layer was in turn the root node of a separate graph, for which i used another layer–you had to be in the presentation mode to enable that interaction but even then you couldn't see both at the same time (at least i didn't know how)–now you can. How? Imagine the key feature of Outliner built into Graffle–so analogous to collapsing/expanding children of a row, you can expand and collapse subgraphs on the same layer–nice one. Also, check out the Presentation Mode. If this functionality was in 4.2.2, i couldn't find it, but what i'm pretty sure is new is the Navigation Controls at bottom (they appear like for the Quicktime Player)–this is enough for me to no longer feel like i need to put my OG diagrams into KeyNote. There's a lot more, but the only other thing i'll mention is the new aesthetic–slick, like James Bond slick. It reminds me of when i was a University student and first saw a NeXT box (they were sold in the Student Center, not sure why because only professional athletes could afford to buy one)--the applications all looked about half a dozen generations ahead of anything else at the time–all ultra high-res and greyscale).
And fidelity to that aesthetic extends right down to the icon–it's a slick black/silver thing, which in principle i like–still, i just wish they would have checked with me first before doing something drastic like changing the App's Icon. I probably would have given my ok, but still.
Linear Mode
