A Look Ahead at 2023 for the Omni Group
It’s time for another newsletter from the Omni Group, trumpeting forth from the dark of winter here in chilly Seattle. We’ve got just the thing to help you keep warm (or stay cool, for our dear readers south of the Equator): a look at the exciting developments we have in store for 2023! Read on to see what’s coming up, and to catch up on a few recent developments that you may have missed.
2022 In Review
As is tradition, Omni CEO Ken Case began the new year with a post on the Omni blog that looks back on the previous year and charts a course for the year ahead.
First, some highlights from the past year:
- The Omni Group celebrates its 30th Anniversary!
- The Omni Show celebrates 5 years and 100 episodes!
- Omni ships iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura app updates!
- OmniFocus becomes the first third-party app to add Voice Control support via Omni Automation!
These milestones came alongside plenty of ongoing development work on OmniFocus 4 and OmniGraffle 8 — read on to find out more.
OmniFocus 4 Dev Update
Moving on to current events, since the last newsletter we’ve made significant progress on the development of OmniFocus 4 for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. We’ve almost finished work on features and app design, and will work next on the Usability & Accessibility milestone. Most of the work is behind us, and the finish line is in sight. When will OmniFocus 4 ship? This year!
Since opening OmniFocus 4 for Mac for testing and feedback we’ve seen our group of active testers rise to near the limit allowed by TestFlight, but there are limited spaces available if you’re interested in experiencing the app in its pre-release state and contributing feedback in its final phases.
On the OmniFocus for the Web side of things, we’re working on an update that will bring compatibility with the new features of OmniFocus 4, and this will be arriving on the test website soon — watch the Omni Blog for details. If you’re a current user of OmniFocus for the Web, you can try the version on the test server at any time by logging in with your regular credentials.
Looking for Feedback on OmniGraffle 8
Another highlight of 2022 was the beginning of experimental testing for the next major version of OmniGraffle, as announced back in June. After gathering the great feedback from that initial group of testers (thank you!), we’re happy to share that we’re gradually expanding the scope of the OmniGraffle 8 for Mac test pool, and we’d love to hear what you think.
At this time the app is considerably earlier in its development than OmniFocus 4 is, and we’re keeping the scope of testing smaller to process your feedback effectively. We’ll be gradually adding people to the test over the coming days and weeks, so if you’re a passionate OmniGraffle user who’s interested in providing feedback in this formative period, you can sign up for the TestFlight here.
No matter what kind of OmniGraffler you are, we hope you’ll look forward to more news about OmniGraffle 8 as development continues through the year ahead.
Highlights from The Omni Show
In addition to recently celebrating the 100th episode of the podcast, here are some highlights from the amazing community surrounding the Omni Group’s award-winning products, as heard on The Omni Show:
- How Frank Denneman Uses OmniGraffle — Frank, a technologist for VMWare, chats with Andrew about using OmniGraffle to communicate visual ideas in their simplest forms.
- How Robby Burns Uses Omni Software — Robby, a music educator, chats with Andrew about his routine use of OmniFocus, OmniGraffle, and OmniOutliner to make the most of every day.
- How Mikell Taylor Uses OmniPlan — Mikell, a robotics geek and program manager, chats with Andrew about using OmniPlan to help her bring order to chaos and ensure positive outcomes for her team.
Also, be sure to check out the 2023 Omni Roadmap episode with Ken Case, fresh off the presses!
Recommitting to Our Values
As Omni heads into the new year, we want to take a moment to reaffirm the vision, priorities, and values that guide our company. We recently published an updated version of our mission page that outlines some of the through-lines that we hold most strongly as an organization, and we’d be honored if you would take a look.
If you’ve been with Omni for awhile, what you see here will be familiar; we hold steady in our desire to make great software, sustainably, always taking care to respect the people we work with — and you, our customers: those we ultimately work for.
We don’t take your patronage for granted, and we appreciate the relationships that we’ve cultivated with you over the years. We hope that the newest developments we have in store will excite you as much as they do us, and we’re always happy to hear your feedback.
Staying In Touch, Fediverse Style
Speaking of feedback, in closing for this issue of the newsletter, we’d like to announce a new way to reach out and stay up to date with all things Omni — the Omni Group has landed on Mastodon.
Our main account is @OmniGroup@omnigroup.com, where you’ll find links to individual accounts for each of our products, as well as Omni Automation and The Omni Show. Our CEO, Ken Case, is on Mastodon as well.
Feel free to follow us at any of these accounts, and don’t hesitate to reach out and say hi!
Until Next Time
We’re excited to get busy in 2023, and can’t wait to show you more from our ongoing projects as the year continues — this is going to be a big one! Until then, we’ll see you around the internet and, of course, on the Omni Blog.
Stay warm, stay safe, and we’ll see you next time.
Want to catch up on past newsletters? Check out the archive here.