Omnigroup Commits to Bring Five Productivity Apps to iPad

[Westside guy]

It's too bad some people on both sides of this discussion seem unable to defend their opinions with some degree of thought and reason rather than trying to turn this into a "you stink!" "no, YOU stink!" marathon.

I already can use my 1G iPod Touch for a number of "computer" style tasks, like ssh/vnc access. It's an incredibly useful gadget. So when people call the iPad just an iPod Touch writ large, I don't see it as the slam they apparently believe it to be. I obviously fall into the camp that believes an iPod Touch-like interface makes a lot of sense for this device - although I agree with those folks that would like to be able to run programs like Pandora in the background, rather than limiting it to the Apple software that currently has that ability.

It makes sense, though, that some people would prefer the equivalent of a Tablet PC that runs OS X in the same manner that current Mac computers do. The problem (meaning the reason it's not likely to happen) is likely the lukewarm reception those Tablet PCs received - they just never broke out of niche status. Of the two people I knew that owned one, neither ended up finding them all that compelling (I say that because when they updated their laptops, neither guy bought another tablet). But just because an OS X tablet is not likely to happen doesn't make wanting it unreasonable - especially when the only real option open to them (the ModBook) is horribly expensive.

 

[Eidorian]

The Mac is not going away. It's Apple's bread-and-butter.

Uh, sure. I'd have to wipe the keynote from my memory too.

 

[boss1]

I started noticing this later on in the Flash thread. Web sites will just bend over from the lack of Flash and just start making application versions of their websites instead. That's somehow the "new" internet with Apple as the gatekeeper.

I just think that's just part of the whole Apple hates Flash for their devices so I hate it too group. I'm not fond of Flash but for something Apple promotes as the best browsing experience it's kind of a necessity.

I was only joking...

I'm just upset about flash as the next man (check my posts) and this isn't really directed at your comment but...I don't get why there's confusion as to why Apple doesn't get along with Adobe.

Every other article I read, say's " apple's unexplained angst towards flash" .

Doesn't anyone remember Adobe had so much invested in video editing software in Mac OS .... and then Apple just went ahead and pulled the rug out from under them... releasing iMovie, Final Cut etc ..... just pummeling Adobe's investments and efforts. That was the start of it.

 

[elessar120]

Yes to print.

I imagine emailing files will be just like emailing photos now. Hold finger on file image within app and a list of options including email will come up.

I really feel like Apple was holding a lot back from the keynote. I mean Steve didnt even say one more thing. Really? I predicted that price would be the one more thing, but he didnt even say it. Probably because it wasnt big enough to warrant the catch phrase. They are going to have big announcements at the iphone OS 4.0 release. They just didnt want to tip their hand.

Let the other tablet makers react then bury them!

I mentioned in another thread that the home screen must be a placeholder until iPhone OS 4.0 come out. Then we will get to see the true home screen. I find it very hard to believe that the Apple design team put zero effort into figuring out how to adapt the iPhone home screen to a screen the size of the iPad especially considering what they did with other applications. Who knows what else they held back so as not to take away from the OS 4.0 announcement.

 

[DonSqueak]

While it's a nice thing to have when remotely controlling a "traditional" PC/Mac, I think it would be unacceptable to have to use this method on the iPad OS itself.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s what I meant.

 

[Rocketman]

That's somehow the "new" internet with Apple as the gatekeeper.

Apple wants to be in charge of Disney World NOT Disney Land (secret reference).

OSX was a "development environment" for the iPad. Have a somewhat open world where all comers share their ideas and services. Then make a closed system more like Lisa than Mac or NeXT or OSX, for iPad. Hence iPhone. Put it on crippled hardware first so people do not notice why a closed environment might annoy them.

iPad is still crippled hardware in relative terms, but the breadth of services and the depth of apps, and future apps is astounding. Add a few future hardware features, I/O options, and form factors, and you have YA ecosystem, but one that approximates "magic."

Rocketman

General Magic indeed. It's a device. A product. Get a life if at all possible.

 

[miknos]

Nice nice nice

I'll buy one

 

[batchtaster]

Uh, sure. I'd have to wipe the keynote from my memory too.

And that random thead is supposed to mean and prove.... what?

 

[zap2]

Apple needs to open up mutli-tasking and flash..then it can be the next step in computers

 

[Friscohoya]

I mentioned in another thread that the home screen must be a placeholder until iPhone OS 4.0 come out. Then we will get to see the true home screen. I find it very hard to believe that the Apple design team put zero effort into figuring out how to adapt the iPhone home screen to a screen the size of the iPad especially considering what they did with other applications. Who knows what else they held back so as not to take away from the OS 4.0 announcement.

I both think and hope you're right in equal parts. On second thought its mostly hope. Apple has broken my heart before. But I love the pain.

 

[Eidorian]

I'm just upset about flash as the next man (check my posts) and this isn't really directed at your comment but...I don't get why there's confusion as to why Apple doesn't get along with Adobe.

Every other article I read, say's " apple's unexplained angst towards flash" .

Doesn't anyone remember Adobe had so much invested in video editing software in Mac OS .... and then Apple just went ahead and pulled the rug out from under them... releasing iMovie, Final Cut etc ..... just pummeling Adobe's investments and efforts. That was the start of it.

I wasn't as well versed as others but I have noticed quite a few posts detailing how Apple effectively kicked Adobe off of OS X in the past decade.

I think they last time they played nice was at WWDC 2005.

 

[Schlotkins]

Now, if I could remote desktop into my work machine just to handle a few things, I would be VERY interested. I know - it's criminal to want to do this, but at that point it's easy to justify getting an iPad for light duty trips and a 17" MBP for home/work oriented trips rather than compromise and get a 15" MBP.

Chris

 

[lord patton]

This is where it starts getting very interesting. Full featured apps like this are going to be far more possible, and I'd expect Omni Group will do a good job making them multi-touch appropriate.

arn

This is great news. I re-watched the entire Keynote once more, especially the iWork demo, its impressive. If major developers are behind this platform, its going to take off.

Yes. The iWork demo was the most impressive. Watching touch-manipulation of a spreadsheet, I realized Steve Jobs was right. They really did make a in-between device that does what it does better than a desktop. Not in the most extreme cases—and not everyone, I know—but in many, many situations.

Arn, yes exactly, and the iPad's OS/UI combined with this form factor is a key to overall usability of these apps.

Once again, it will be the UI and the form factor that beat absolute hardware specifications or shear quantity of features packed into a form factor.

This is what the Laptop junkies fail to imagine.

I agree. On paper, this new device is evolutionary. It is a larger, faster iPhone. In practice, the device's size and UI will be revolutionary. Many people just don't see it yet.

And to those speaking loudly and forcefully that this new product is pointless, go read the comments on the Omni Group blog.

 

[bowecho]

I use both Omniplan and Omnifocus and like them quite a bit. I had a feeling they'd bring Omnifocus to it, but I was surprised about Omniplan. It has a pretty good learning curve (for me at least) and can be complex. It will be really interesting to see how the iPad version will work. Can't wait to see it. I hope they do trial/demo versions, that's what got me to buy them on Mac.

I'm hoping we continue to hear software announcements like this one for iPad, I think that what developers do with the iPad will really be the thing that makes or breaks it.

 

[backdraft]

Pogo Stylus
http://tenonedesign.com/stylus.php

If not go for a ModBook to run the real Mac OS X not some watered down version that is the iPhone/iPad OS

Benefits to the ModBook include multitasking, webcam, USB, Wacom Stylus with pressure sensitivity (with the modbook pro you get multitouch as well), 720p resolution and up (1024 x 768 serious?), bigger screen, Higher storage capacity and ram, seperate multicore CPU and GPU etc...

The iPad will run the full Mac OS X, through VNC clients (those already exist for the iPhone).

And then people like you may at last realize how hard and clumsy it is to control Mac OS X apps designed to be used with a mouse, using a finger on a 9.7" screen.

 

[breeze]

Stuff like this might actually make the iPad more useful. (Then again, I don't use their apps on OS X, either...but still. )

Hopefully, stuff like this keeps happening. I'm waiting for that killer app that will convince me to buy it.

This is the beginning of an avalanche. Software manufacturers will start porting their software over to iPad and the rest will be history. 1 year max to ubiquity

 

[HLdan]

Oh the iPad is so "useless"! /s

Exactly, that's why in less than a week big companies like Omni are already committing to creating software for it. . Funny, I haven't heard of any companies committing to making exclusive softwares for any of those "USELESS" Tablets that Steve Ballmer presented at CES. Or did he present any? Can't remember, there wasn't anything worth talking about after he showed it.
The iPad is still creating a big buzz on TV and the internet and that's exactly what creates sales. Nobody's boasting about HP's new Tablet, or do they have one? Can't remember.

 

[Eidorian]

The iPad is still creating a big buzz on TV and the internet and that's exactly what creates sales.

On MacRumors or /g/?

 

[DrStrange]

The iPad will run the full Mac OS X, through VNC clients (those already exist for the iPhone).

And then people like you may at last realize how hard and clumsy it is to control Mac OS X apps designed to be used with a mouse, using a finger on a 9.7" screen.

exactly. VNC will let you login remotely to Mac OS X/Windows/Linux/etc.


Citrix also has an iPad app that will let you run Windows 7 sessions.

http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobilize...essions-361?source=rss_infoworld_top_stories_


Another interesting app I'd like to see is a vmware/parallels app that will enable me to run Mac OS X/Linux/Windows on the iPad.

 

[marksman]

This is great news. I'm relying more and more on OmniFocus. I have both the Mac app and the iPhone app.

I rarely use the iPhone app, however, and for reasons that aren't entirely assuaged by the iPad.

For one, I'm rockin' the original iPhone, and OF is slow to load. It would be better on the the 3GS, certainly, and faster still on the iPad.

But without multitasking, I don't think it could ever be fast enough. On the Mac I use the global shortcut to invoke the quick entry window. For those who don't know, it's almost like spotlight, in that wherever you are, whatever you're doing you can just press a keystroke and up pops a window for entering a, well, whatever... an idea, an to-do, a note. It's incredibly quick, and I love catching thoughts and throwing them into my "trusted system" just as fast as they enter my head.

I don't care how fast the iPad is. If I have to 1) quit an application 2) navigate to a new page on the home screen 3) launch omnifocus 4) tap the button to enter new inbox item 5) enter my idea 6) quit the app 7) navigate the home screen and 8) launch the app I had been in, then I wouldn't even bother. I'd write it down on a scrap of paper.

And that's something I wish Apple would figure out. That the lack of multitasking would cause me—with iPhone and iPad in hand—to choose a piece of paper and a pen rather than deal with their interface *that gets in my way.*

If I had a iPhone 3GS I'd just jailbreak and run OF in the background. I may just do that if I get the next iPhone. Or, if I can jailbreak and background an iPad, I may get that and just keep my old slow iPhone Edge to, you know, make calls with.

Just a quick suggestion, but why don't you make it one of your bottom line apps? That is what I do with the program I use to keep notes. So I just home out and enter it. I don't have to find it because it is on every page.

 

[boss1]

this is my forecast: iPad nay sayers will slowly change their minds as software initiatives such as Omni's start flourishing.

Why? this is the exact same cycle iPhone went through, for those of you have have short term memories. When iPhone came out there was a slew of complaints.. "the iphone can't do to do's ... the apps are limited ... etc etc .

Baby steps. Remember the real value of the product isn't in the hardware or in the infant form of release software. It's in software initiatives like Omni.


Enterprise and consumers aren't going to have great demand and use for an iPad until the software is appealing. And the software incoming is inevitable.

remember steve jobs said, the iphone is really about great software, encased in beautiful hardware.

 

[sushi]

This is good news. Happy to see it.

Currently have OmniFocus. May purchase some additional apps from them.

 

[batchtaster]

Please. Wanting a non-crippled OS is hardly non-forward-thinking.

Whether it's "crippled" or not is entirely your singular opinion, not a fact, since it hinges on the subjectivity of what is most important in an OS.

 

[HLdan]

On MacRumors or /g/?

It's not my fault if all YOU do is lurk around internet forums. I get out a lot and I hear people talking about the iPad, plus I watch a few tech shows weekly and they talk about it a lot. I don't hear them talking about other announced released Tablets from CES. Wonder why?

 

[jclardy]

Looking at my laptop screen right now, there are very few operations that would be more complicated using fingers than a keyboard. Most would be far simpler. A few would need some clarifications. Just a few.

That is not the point, the problem is that OS X is designed for precise mouse input, not finger input. With fingers you can be fairly accurate, but not pixel accurate as with a mouse. All applications with scroll bars would have to be redesigned, apps with list boxes such as Cyberduck would have to be reconfigured because the items in the lists are too small for fingers.

Sure they could change some stuff at the OS level to make OS X more finger friendly, but in the end it would be a hack. iPhone OS was designed for finger input and I think the next update may bring some form of multitasking.