The Mac platform has an embarrasment of riches with regards to Getting Things Done applications, but the grand-daddy of GTD on the Mac is Ethan Schoonover's Kinkless GTD, a set of AppleScripts built on top of Omni Software's OmniOutliner Pro. Omni finally seemed to realize the significance of this and sought out help from Ethan and other GTD-folk like Merlin Mann in developing their new GTD application OmniFocus. Now, a year later, they've actually hired Ethan. After an extended private beta and lots of teasing glimpses, Omni has finally announced the initial public beta and introductory pricing.

You can download the public beta now and if you like what you see you can pre-purchase it for 50% off the release price. So if you buy it before January 8, 2008 it's $39.95, afterwards it's $79.95. Given the many (cheaper) GTD applications out there it will be interesting to see how well received OmniFocus is. But given its pedigree, one would expect it to be a leading contender out of the box. If you want an introduction to OmniFocus they also have a 15 minute quick start video available on their main page.

I am known for many things amongst my circle of friends: my rapier-like wit, my roguish good-looks, and my humility. The one thing that I am assuredly not known for is being organized. I lose things all the time; I forget people's birthdays and I can never seem to recall what I need to do on a given day.

Good thing there is a whole cottage industry developing around the concept of "Getting Things Done." The idea behind GTD (as the Getting Things Done wonks call it) is to create a framework around your tasks which enables you to succeed in getting those things done. Sadly, it just doesn't work for me. I get so lost in the details of creating the "System" that will supposedly let me accomplish my goals, that I never spend any time actually doing anything, other than figuring out what I have to do. That's why, time after time, I return to the age old method: a handwritten To Do list. It works like a charm every time, and creating one (which I do in a hierarchical fashion with several To Do's each having multiple tiers of sub-To Do's under them) is simple enough that it takes mere minutes to set up, and is flexible enough that one can track any small to medium scale project with it (assuming, of course, that the project doesn't involve too many folks).

There have been a slew of GTD-focused apps introduced on the Mac in the last few years. I've looked at each with the hope that they would free me from my disorganized shackles, supplanting my paper for something more technologically advanced. Each has failed me. That's not to say they are bad apps, they are just too complicated for my rather simple needs. I thought all hope was lost, and that's when I met TaskPaper.

TaskPaper, from Hog Bay Software, is my favorite new app of 2007 (Skitch is also high up there, but it is still in beta. Shipping has its privileges). TaskPaper, as the name suggests, offers itself up as a replacement for pen and paper in your organizational world. Shockingly, it has convinced me to give up my paper based list once and for all. Read on to find out why.

Several of the TUAW bloggers are fans of David Allen's Getting Things Done. There are also a couple of Newton fans among our numbers (myself included), so it's inevitable that the two would come together.

Eckhart Köppen took it a step further and described the evolution of his Newton GTD system, from the very start to his detailed solution. With simple applications like DateMan, Super NotePad and More Folders, Eckhart has constructed a nice solution for his Newton.

Thanks for posting this, Eckhart! I'll try it myself.