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A retraction, an apology and a task management app you have to try.
Some time ago I wrote a post that called out an application for, at least in my opinion, completely replicating an extremely popular Mac task management app called Things.
This post is to officially retract what I’d originally said, make an official apology and introduce you to a todo list app you’ll find difficult not to love.
First off, the retraction, why? Well I’ve just received an invite to the service. My initial review was based solely on screenshots placed on the sites homepage and “features” page. Thanks to the wonders of the web – I have the power to do this, and I have deleted my original post and with any luck, the cached version will be unavailable before long too.
Secondly, a sincere apology. Despite the app I’m about to introduce you indeed being a web based take on Things, the team behind it have created a tool that in some respects outshines Things – at least for now. Design and UI are very similar, but it’s clear that the application developers have put a great deal of passion into creating something unique (at least in the online sphere), and the care and attention to detail is undeniable.
Finally, what I’m sure you’ve been waiting for, an introduction…
Nirvana is an elegant, web based task management app based on David Allen’s “getting things done“. Offering a great way to view and organize projects, its also a wonderfully simple way to tag, file and schedule tasks for the future.
Nirvana provides a wonderful number of keyboard shortcuts to make adding and navigating its interface possible without a mouse, that said I’d love to see a desktop app, if only to let me add tasks without needing to visit the site.
Nirvana’s most useful feature is it’s ability to manually reorder tasks place. Again, this is also possible with Things, but not on any other online task management app I’ve seen and for me personally, it’s a deal breaker. Being able to organise tasks due today is critical to my ability to get things done. I’m constantly changing the order of stuff I need to do, and being forced to change a todo “priority” (when ordering by priority) or having rename the todo to ensure it appears near the top of a todo list (when ordered alphabetically by name) is just too much trouble. With Nirvana it’s as simple as dragging and dropping.
Now, the missing ingredients. Aside from not being to assign tasks (something it does say you can do on its ‘features’ page) and no repeating tasks, the most notable missing ingredient is a decent mobile application. The tool does have a gorgeously designed iPhone (web) application with a great deal of functionality, but boy am I looking forward to something that stores my tasks locally and syncs them when I have an internet connection available.
Despite blatant comparisons with the likes of Things, Nirvana has managed to provide a feature many Things users have been craving for for some time – web based access.
From my perspective, this is now a race. Either Things creates a web based interface and/or cloud sync (they’ve publicly stated they are working on this), or Nirvana creates a splendid mobile app (iPhone, Android and ideally Blackberry and Windows Mobile too).
Nirvana is currently in private beta but bookmark this page because with any luck I’ll be back with invites shortly.
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Have you written about Action Method yet?
Previously you called Nirvana, “the biggest design ripoff I have ever seen,” and “the entire UI is a blatant and utter rip of [sic].”
You wrote, “unless NirvanaHQ hold back and make some drastic changes – its going to end up with a lawsuit on their hands.”
And you wrote, “Even its terminology has been stolen from Things … this is beyond uncanny, it’s nothing short of unbelievable.”
And now, you’re recommending that same ripped off, lawsuit-worthy, stolen app.
What changed?
Nice try to purge the web of your previous opinion but as the Next Web Editor in Chief (!) you should know it doesn’t quite work like that..
Without a better explanation of WHAT CHANGED, it is really hard to not question your credibility.
What changed? A web UI is nice, but do you no longer consider this software a blatant ripoff worthy of a lawsuit, the biggest ripoff you have ever seen?
What changed?
What changed was probably an invite to actually use the app. Although it has similarities to Things, it is not a blatant rip-off.
It is a great app and has much functionality that Things doesn’t offer.
I hope to see it extend to have a few things:
- Reminders via SMS/Email
- Ability to Email Tasks
- Subtasks
- Mobile optimized website
I think they are on to something great here!
apologies, i didn’t make that clear at all – yes, what changed is that i got an invite and managed to test the service first hand rather working with screenshots i’d seen
This is quite disturbing
count me in for an invite. I miss Things!
Have you tried getitdoneapp.com? It does all of these things and it has an iPhone app
thanks Mile, will look into it