tewha.net

Times, a newspaper-style RSS reader. But my advice? Skip it, unless you want demonstration of how not to do a product roll-out. Despite being a great idea, it feels extremely buggy. Worse, the application nags you so constantly to buy it — starting on the first day — that it’s hard to take what’s there seriously.

It’s difficult to explain how annoying this is, or why it would even be a problem. The best analogy I can come up with is this: Imagine a first job interview where every third sentence from the candidate is “So, are you going to hire me now?” So how long would the interview go on before you showed the candidate the door (or, in this case, the Trash)?

I’m leaving this post as is for posterity and because I think the point is valid… but the target definitely isn’t! Check out Ken Chase’s excellent reply below. If you look at this discount as a bonus for beta testers, it becomes really reasonable. I wasn’t aware that OmniFocus’s beta was that wide-spread. So this goes from a “Suck eggs, Omni!” to a “Well done, Omni!”

I remember years ago asking The Omni Group about a feature that was critical to me in OmniWeb. I’d heard they were adding it soon, so I asked them for details.

The guy who replied¹ told me something very simple: “If it doesn’t do what you want, wait. Don’t buy anything that doesn’t already do what you want.”Over the years since, I’ve really appreciated this advice, and wished every customer would live by that rule, and every software company would advocate the same rule. It’s simple honesty, really. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like The Omni Group still lives by this rule, because OmniFocus is now available with introductory pricing that goes away as soon as the final release ships, pressuring people to buy now. How could beta software possibly deliver?²

Maybe it was a Wil Shipley philosophy that Omni has left behind. I must admit, I’m not sure that Delicious Monster lives by this rule, but I strongly suspect they do. Whatever the cause, it’s a shame Omni lost it. I like honest companies; they’re refreshing.³

1. It’s been too long for me to still have the names, and at the time I wouldn’t have recognized an Omni Group Name (in the capital letter sense) anyway. [↩]
2. Annoying sales push? Check. The only thing missing is a good sprinkle of starburst dust. [↩]
3. Note that, for the record, I’m not calling Omni dishonest here. I just found the old policy aggressively honest. [↩]