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Omni Group Layoffs

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Re: Omni Group Layoffs

#81

Post by arvinsim »

chrisfrantz wrote: post #41

I used to love Omni Graffle. But after spending a bit of time reading about their current product lineup, I can’t stop wondering why they didn’t transition to web apps years ago. Notion, Figma and Whimsical are eating their lunch. They have a far less robust feature base, but they’re fast, built for teams, simple to use and the pricing scales well. On the other hand, Omni is almost entirely native apps, bloated featu…

Cross platform support is important to me.

Sure maybe Web is clunky. But I find that being able to access applications from anywhere just trumps that concern.

I moved from Bear to Notion and Sketch to Figma for that reason.

Re: Omni Group Layoffs

#82

Post by dman »

Nothing signals to me that the market for high quality software is utterly and completely broken than this piece of news. Sad to hear this - if the Omni folks are having difficulty what hope do other small shops have. I am always amazed at the creativity SW folks show when coming up with reasons/excuses for not paying for tools - the culture around this is very saddening. On the other hand my friends who are into electrical, woodworking or automotive take a deep pride in the tools they own. Many of these fields pay a fraction of what SW dev does.

I never fully understood why we do not have the "a good tool saves me x hours, and makes me happy while doing my work so I should pay for it" culture. SW engineers are pretty well paid and companies themselves have decent margins so this penny pinching tendency is upsetting.

Re: Omni Group Layoffs

#83

Post by Karunamon »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #65
thruhiker wrote: post #25

I'm sorry to hear this. In a subscription model world, Omni stand out in producing very high quality one time purchase software. I love OmniGraffle! Such a great product once you learn it.

They seem to be moving to a subscription model: https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/buy/

Not really moving, more providing the option. Given that iOS and desktop are two separate versions, with new licenses required for upgrades...

Re: Omni Group Layoffs

#84

Post by ac29 »

dman wrote: post #82

Nothing signals to me that the market for high quality software is utterly and completely broken than this piece of news. Sad to hear this - if the Omni folks are having difficulty what hope do other small shops have. I am always amazed at the creativity SW folks show when coming up with reasons/excuses for not paying for tools - the culture around this is very saddening. On the other hand my friends who are into ele…

> I never fully understood why we do not have the "a good tool saves me x hours, and makes me happy while doing my work so I should pay for it" culture. SW engineers are pretty well paid and companies themselves have decent margins so this penny pinching tendency is upsetting.

Don't we spend on software, though? Software spend is surely in the billions, if not tens or hundreds of billions a year. As consummate consumers of software, I'd think software engineers are more likely to spend money on software than the general public (and more likely to use open-source software as well).

Re: Omni Group Layoffs

#85

Post by DavideNL »

It's sad to see apps full of ads/tracking and ridiculous subscriptions thrive, while quality software like this gets into trouble.

I've been happily using Omnifocus for a long time;

- Single purchase, no subscription

- e2e encrypted syncing between devices (+ server storage)

- 0 tracking, ads etc.

Re: Omni Group Layoffs

#86

Post by dman »

ac29 wrote: post #84
dman wrote: post #82

Nothing signals to me that the market for high quality software is utterly and completely broken than this piece of news. Sad to hear this - if the Omni folks are having difficulty what hope do other small shops have. I am always amazed at the creativity SW folks show when coming up with reasons/excuses for not paying for tools - the culture around this is very saddening. On the other hand my friends who are into ele…

> I never fully understood why we do not have the "a good tool saves me x hours, and makes me happy while doing my work so I should pay for it" culture. SW engineers are pretty well paid and companies themselves have decent margins so this penny pinching tendency is upsetting. Don't we spend on software, though? Software spend is surely in the billions, if not tens or hundreds of billions a year. As consummate consum…

Worth thinking about the number of companies globally that make a living writing software in the following categories of development tools

a. Debuggers

b. IDEs

c. Querying Tools

d. Text editors

e. Source control tools

f. Build systems

The market for development tools does not look particularly vibrant based on the above.

Re: Omni Group Layoffs

#87

Post by rdslw »

I would, and I'm actually considering, to offer them $2000 just to compile me Omnifocus 1 (latest of v1 branch) as 64bit app, as it's currently 32bit and can't work due to CatalinaCurse.

Omnifocus 2 was a joke in any category, while I have mixed fealing about 3 (speed, ergonomics, features).

Anyone want to chip in? :)

Re: Omni Group Layoffs

#88

Post by e40 »

dman wrote: post #82

Nothing signals to me that the market for high quality software is utterly and completely broken than this piece of news. Sad to hear this - if the Omni folks are having difficulty what hope do other small shops have. I am always amazed at the creativity SW folks show when coming up with reasons/excuses for not paying for tools - the culture around this is very saddening. On the other hand my friends who are into ele…

Took a meeting with a potential customer years ago. He was high on our technology and seemed certain to purchase. At our last lunch he told us their software company's CEO had a policy, they only used FOSS software. The irony of it hurt. Still does.

Re: Omni Group Layoffs

#90

Post by dman »

e40 wrote: post #88
dman wrote: post #82

Nothing signals to me that the market for high quality software is utterly and completely broken than this piece of news. Sad to hear this - if the Omni folks are having difficulty what hope do other small shops have. I am always amazed at the creativity SW folks show when coming up with reasons/excuses for not paying for tools - the culture around this is very saddening. On the other hand my friends who are into ele…

Took a meeting with a potential customer years ago. He was high on our technology and seemed certain to purchase. At our last lunch he told us their software company's CEO had a policy, they only used FOSS software. The irony of it hurt. Still does.

I have seen this myself - every software startup feels that everything they build upon must be a commodity and the only value add should happen at their layer.
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