Filed under: Software
Manage your projects: iTaskX 2.5
Techno-Grafik and Zisser Software have taken a step towards making life a little easier for Mac users with iTaskX 2.5. It's an update to their €80 (US$106.25) Mac OS X project management tool. Their press release notes that the big change to the new release is better support of Microsoft Project files. Users can now open native MS Project files or exchange data using the XML and MPX support of Project.
iTaskX 2.5 is now a Universal Binary app, and schedule information can be exported to iCal. Registered users of iTaskX can download the update for free. Note that the iTaskX website still shows version 2.5 as beta-ware.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MoonMan said 11:16AM on 8-16-2008
Office 2008 for Mac has Microsoft Project. I've looked at it briefly, but haven't used it, so I can't say if it's line with the Windows version, but it's there and appears to be a Project manager...
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Steve said 11:54AM on 8-16-2008
I think you're thinking of something else moonman. MS hasn't made Projoct for the mac since 1994.
Shawn said 1:52PM on 8-16-2008
Actually Moonman is right.
Open up the Office 2008 folder in applications, go to the folder labeled office, and you'll find "Microsoft Project Gallery," which you can use to work between different office programs and also manage projects.
oZ said 4:36PM on 8-17-2008
MoonMan, Shawn: Not even close to the same thing. The Project Manager in Office 2008 is just to be able to start and open Office documents, and organize them properly. Microsoft Project is a work Project Management tool that allows a project manager or other supervisor to plan out tasks in a project by resource and time in an effective manner.
Eric Beavers said 12:06PM on 8-16-2008
Don't forget about Omniplan by Omnigroup. Great Mac-only project manager. http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniplan. And no, I don't work for the company. They just make great products!
Go go gadget Omnifocus! Get Things Done!
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aj_robins said 11:44AM on 8-16-2008
How does this compare to OpenProj?: http://openproj.org/openproj
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Ben said 12:54PM on 8-16-2008
Nice! I didn't know about OpenProj. Just tried it out. I've used Microsoft Project in the past on windows and I'm not a power user so perhaps I didn't use all the features but for making a Gantt chart, OpenProj seems to be exactly the same.
Bryan said 11:48AM on 8-16-2008
Geez...could this app have a more generic name than iTaskX?
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Kelmon said 12:24PM on 8-16-2008
It's hard to say how this release rates but I've been very happy with Merlin 2 as a project management application and that works very nicely with MS Project files. It's just a shame that no Mac application will work nicely with MS Project Server and I need to resort to VMWare to access the one used by my current project team in the US.
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HC said 3:49PM on 8-16-2008
I just wish Apple would make an iWork integrated and updated MacProject. Leverage the program with the iPhone and MobileMe and the end result would be excellent for most project management types.
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Rutherford said 4:14PM on 8-16-2008
Also, don't forget about Concept Draw Project (http://www.conceptdraw.com/en/products/project/main.php)
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Frank said 6:07PM on 8-16-2008
Actually, Moonman and Shawn, I believe you are confusing MS Project (a program for project management, where managers use things like Gantt and PERT charts to manage progress of things like the development of a software program by a team of coders) with something else.
Shawn, what you see in MS Office for Mac 2008 called "Microsoft Project Gallery.app", if you fire it up, is that it lets you manage "projects" of work, as in collections of files composed of Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Nothing more. It does absolutely NOTHING in relation to project management as it's known in the industry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management
True, the word "project" is pretty generic, and so is "management". So that sure doesn't help. But "project management" as it's generally understood isn't about Susie or Joey keeping all their files together for that history report in high school. It's about someone typically in management in the business world keeping track of resources from people's time to raw materials, and making sure to make maximum use of time by scheduling tasks that do not depend on each other to run concurrently, while those where step #3 can't be done before step #2 are also defined so they know to focus on getting that #2 done so they can move on to #3 (e.g., can't put walls up on house 'til foundation is done, etc.).
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Steven Sande said 9:23PM on 8-17-2008
Excellent answer and explanation, Frank!
TUAW Steve
Ethan said 11:52PM on 8-16-2008
I have to give our app, OmniPlan, another plug... I came to it as a noob a couple months ago and it's both pretty and pretty amazing. Great looking UI, powerful features, etc. I know, I know. I work for Omni. But I don't need to use OmniPlan. This is me as a Mac user talking about an app I love.
And inside baseball... I think OmniFocus OmniPlan interaction would be really cool ;)
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Map said 5:55AM on 8-17-2008
We use liquidplanner.com, its excellent and its cross platform.
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