OmniFocus Sneak Peek

I mentioned back in February that the Omni Group is hard at work on a successor to the kGTD (aka “Kinkless”) system many Mac users (myself included) use to keep track of what needs to get done in their day-to-day lives. Kinkless is actually OmniOutliner Pro plus a set of AppleScripts, so it has some quirks. The first is that it must by synched in order for changes to take effect. Dates have to be entered manually. There are other elements of Kinkless that are rough around the edges. Don’t get me wrong – I still find Kinkless to be a fundamentally solid system, and I haven’t found anything yet that beats it.

But now the Omni Group folks are showing some of what they’ll be including in OmniFocus, their replacement for kGTD. The application is being developed with the involvement of Ethan Schoonover, the man who generously gave us all kGTD for free. Productivity expert Merlin Mann is also on board, so I’ll admit up front that my hopes for this product are high. If we’re lucky, it will come out of the gate as a polished replacement for Kinkless that adds to its strengths while eliminating its weaknesses.

If you’re on the OmniFocus teaser page and have a few minutes (and are, like me, geeky enough to want to watch a video of pre-beta software being demonstrated), check out Schoonover’s video demonstration of how OmniFocus works. It’s looking great so far. You can also sign up for the OmniFocus mailing list if you’re interested in beta testing the product.

The plan is for OmniFocus to cost $39.95, but an educational discount will be available. There will also be a limited-time discount available for owners of OmniOutliner Pro.