Visio Equivalent?

[Kentlad]

Hello,

Just decided to jump ship and ordered by 1st 17" Macbook Pro. I can pretty much put a tick in every software requirement I have from the PC world. However I am still missing a Visio type of software for OS X.

I have a need to create network diagrams for my clients, basic PC, firewall, server type of icons needed. I currently use MS Visio 2003 on PC, looking for something similar. A big bonus would be able to save as Visio file types for sending to clients / PC users.

Thanks for any advice..

Kentlad.

 

[Applespider]

Omnigraffle is what you need from the Omnigroup.

It can read some Visio files and export to Visio too. They have an excellent trial version which basically allows you full access for a day (or repeated days) so you can check everything out.

 

[robbieduncan]

To get full Visio compatability (multiple page docs) etc you need the Pro version....

 

[Applespider]

Good point... I forgot there were two versions.

Incidentally, when I got my Powerbook, it came with a version of Omnigraffle (from which you could upgrade to Omnigraffle Pro for a discounted rate) - are they still bundling that with Macbook Pros?

 

[robbieduncan]

Good point... I forgot there were two versions.

Incidentally, when I got my Powerbook, it came with a version of Omnigraffle (from which you could upgrade to Omnigraffle Pro for a discounted rate) - are they still bundling that with Macbook Pros?

Nope, just Omni Outliner...

 

[jsw]

I wholeheartedly endorse OmniGraffle Pro 4 as well.

Visio support isn't 100% in terms of import/export, but pretty darned good, and much better, for example, than Pages' support of Word.

Plus it can export to SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). Not a big deal now, but I'm convinced you'll appreciate it enormously in a year or so with Leopard and the SVG support coming in (or to be enhanced beyond the basic support now in) the major browsers.

 

[barddzen]

It's good, but not great...

It's good for a lot of what you would do in Visio, but really drops off when you need things like ERD, UML, etc. It does it, but not without a lot of workarounds, custom objects, etc. Even the Pro version doesn't add a whole lot in this regard.

Don't get me wrong, it's a really great product, but dig a little into some more professional level tasks and it simply doesn't support it.