The Omni Group has announced that OmniGraffle 5 is final and available for download and purchase. OmniGraffle is a brilliant template-based diagramming application that makes it a snap to draw up a flow-chart or schematic. As we noted when the first beta of version 5 was released, the latest OmniGraffle adds many important new features including support for Visio formats, a new layout engine, support for Bézier lines and shapes and much more.

OmniGraffle comes in two versions, a standard version for $99.95 and a Professional version for $199.95 with an extended feature set (e.g. greater Visio support, subgraphs and more). Upgrades from previous versions are $39.95 (Standard) and $139.95 (Pro), with other options available for family pack licenses.

Update: To upgrade from a previous Pro version to version 5 Pro it's $74.95; it's $139.95 to upgrade to version 5 Pro from any previous version of Standard.

The guys over at Omni are on a roll, they just released a beta of the highly anticipated GTD application OmniFocus and today they announced the availability of the OmniGraffle 5 beta. The new test release is Leopard-only and has a bunch new features, headlined by a completely new layout engine, with new tools (including a Quick Look plugin), and native support for the Microsoft Visio file format (VSD) as well as stencils (VSS) and tools (VST).

OmniGraffle 5.0b1 is available for download from Omni. Pricing and final availability have not yet been announced.

Earlier today, The Omni Group released OmniGraffle 4.2 (we've written about OmniGraffle before). If you're unfamiliar, it's a diagramming and organizational tool that can be used with almost any project - from mapping out you servers and routers to creating a flow chart for next weekend's yard sale.

Changes in version 4.2 include:

• Updates to Microsoft Office Visio import/export
• Updated shape combinations
• Localizations for Japanese, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, and Simplified Chinese

OmniGraffle requires Mac OS 10.4 or later and starts at $79.95US.

[Via MacMinute]

It's things like the iChat Theater page at Apple's Developer site that make me just fine with the delay of Mac OS X Leopard. They say 'good things come to those who wait,' but from what I'm reading at the iChat Theater page, that phrase is more like 'fantastic, amazing and mind-blowing things come to those who wait' when applied to the new technologies coming in Leopard. While most of that page is geared towards developers, offering things like code snippets to get them excited and motivated to build their apps to work with Leopard's iChat, the first two paragraphs are enough for 'the rest of us' to get a mouth-watering glimpse of just how much the new iChat could change the way we work and play once Leopard does arrive.

In short, iChat Theater is a new feature that will allow the broadcast of, and collaboration on, just about anything we do on our Mac. Of course, a developer will have to design their app specifically to incorporate these new features (hint: submitting feedback and feature requests is a good thing), but just consider the possibilities: instead of having to jam pack all your tech support calls into that once-or-twice-a-year family holiday trip, you can fire up Leopard's iChat and show mom and dad how to make a slideshow in iPhoto over the web, with both video and audio of yourself and iPhoto. Now expand a little: is your job on the verge of granting you telecommuting privileges? Or perhaps you're a teacher or a technology scout for an educational organization? This new Leopard feature opens doors much larger than the one for mom and pop; with iChat Theater, teachers and businessmen alike will be able to work their magic in entirely new ways, and not just with the tools Apple provides. The beauty of iChat Theater is that it's an open platform, so to speak; want to brainstorm in OmniGraffle with a colleague on the opposite side of the country? Need to teach a last-minute digital art class in Lineform for a friend halfway across the world? No sweat. Although I have no idea whether The Omni Group or Freeverse have already hopped on the iChat Theater bandwagon, plenty of comments and requests from their users could probably ensure they do.

iChat Theater is gonna be a big'un boys and girls, and I already have a couple handfuls of reasons as to why I can wait for Apple to take their time and (hopefully) get it right.

OmniGraffle is fantastic. Its useful, shiny, and it allows me to show people what my thoughts look like visually, even if it scares them a bit. Perhaps one of the most useful applications of OmniGraffle is for plotting out infrastructure of some kind; network maps; flow charts; company hierarchies. The only issue with OmniGraffle out of the box is that it comes with a fairly paltry selection of symbols and shapes to use when creating your masterpiece. Is that purple square the Executive VP of Finance, or is it the refrigerator in the break room?

Lucky for those of us too lazy to go looking for images on our own, Patrick Crowley of iCalShare has setup Graffletopia, as site dedicated to OmniGraffle stencils. (A stencil is a collection of reusable images or symbols.) Some of the stencils available are amazingly well done, and include such specific categories as Cisco network switches and Sun server hardware.

All stencils are provided free of charge, and users are encouraged to submit their own.

The Omni Group has begun hinting at a new product on their blog by offering clues on their blog as to what it is not. In posts like A trickling of inklings, they have let us know things like the product's sub-$20 price, that it is not a replacement for Mail and that it has nothing to do with the iPod. They also have plainly stated that they have other new products and updates for existing products planned for 2006. This should be good news for those of you who (like me) are fans of their excellent offerings like OmniGiraffe OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner. Here's hoping they don't keep us in suspense for too long.

Not to be out done by Panic, the Omni Group has decided to enter the tshirt fray. They are offering three different designs (my favorite is WWOGD?) each for $24.95. Not only that, but the blog post announcing the shirts hints at a new Omni product that will be available shortly.

I hope it is pants.

Thanks, Dan.

The Omni Group has an Omni Mouth - their new blog, that is. Developers of such fantastic apps as OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle, The Omni Group is joining the ranks of software houses with blogs who want to offer up some insight into being developers, as well as thoughts on the more humorous side of their business. One post dated yesterday presents a statement from their CEO on the ground-breaking Boot Camp announcement and what it means to their app development, while another post transcribes some of the more unusual phrases heard from their support room such as: “Bananaphone," “OMG I’M IN UR BASE KILLING UR DOODZ” and, of course, “There’s a new Strong Bad email.”

While it probably won't be the hottest place to find the latest Mac-related news and juicy tidbits (*ahem*), it should be a good blog to add to your newsreader if you're curious about the inner workings of one of Mac OS X's most prominent and well-known developers.

Hot on the heels of yesterday's announcements, The Omnigroup has released free universal binary updates for registered users of the majority of their applications, including OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, OmniDiskSweeper, OmniObjectMeter and OmniDictionary. These will all run natively on the new Intel-based iMac and the MacBook Pro. Grab your copies now for that sweet new MacBook Pro you just ordered.

Another day, another slick new tool for graphically viewing artists in your iTunes library. OGMT (OmniGraffle Musical Taste) is an applescript that will generate an OmniGraffle file containing a graphical map of all of your artists, emphasizing the ones you play most.

For those who aren't familiar with OmniGraffle: it's a really popular and powerful app for diagramming and flow-charts. Using OGMT to create a functional, graphical map of your iTunes library sounds like a great way to gain a unique perspective on the music at the top of your list. Too bad I didn't bring any of my music home with me on the PowerBook over the break. Anyone care to give OGMT a try and post some thoughts?

[via Ranchero blog, image via DrunkenBlog]