The Omni Group is an American software company that develops software for the
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
,
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
, and
watchOS
watchOS is the operating system of the Apple Watch, developed by Apple Inc. It is based on iOS, the operating system used by the iPhone, and has many similar features. It was released on April 24, 2015, along with the Apple Watch, the only dev ...
platforms. The Omni Group was informally founded as a
NEXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP is a discontinued object-oriented, multitasking operating system based on the Mach kernel and the UNIX-derived BSD. It was developed by NeXT Computer in the late 1980s and early 1990s and was initially used for its range of proprieta ...
consulting company in 1989 by
Wil Shipley, who immediately brought on Ken Case and Tim Wood. The three incorporated together under the name Omni Development, Inc. in 1993, because the name "Omni Group" was taken by another Seattle firm. Omni initially produced custom database software for the NEXTSTEP platform for clients such as the
William Morris Agency
The William Morris Agency (WMA) was a Hollywood-based talent agency. It represented some of the best known 20th-century entertainers in film, television, and music. During its 109-year tenure it came to be regarded as the "first great talent a ...
and
McCaw Cellular Communications (then
Cingular Wireless
AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the thi ...
; now
AT&T Inc.). During this period they also ported a number of games to NEXTSTEP, then later to
Mac OS X
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...
(after Apple acquired NeXT in 1997). Around 2000 the company decided to start focusing on their own consumer applications for the Mac, and as of 2004 the vast majority of their revenue came from their consumer products.
In 2003, Ken Case took over as the chief officer of Omni, and in March 2004 Wil Shipley left with another Omni employee, interface designer
Mike Matas, to form
Delicious Monster
Delicious Monster is a software company based in Seattle, Washington, that sells the shareware software program ''Delicious Library''. Its founders are Wil Shipley, one of the three co-founders of The Omni Group, and Mike Matas, who worked as ...
. Matas later left for Apple.
The Omni Group also administers several
mailing list
A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...
s related to macOS and software development. They also provide several frameworks for
Cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
software development under an
open source license
An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified and/or shared under defined terms and conditions. This allows end users and commercial compan ...
.
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle is a diagramming and digital illustration application for macOS and iOS created by The Omni Group.
Uses
OmniGraffle is used to create graphics and visuals. The application features several design tools, along with a drag-and-drop ...
and
OmniOutliner
OmniOutliner is commercial outlining software for macOS and iOS produced by The Omni Group. OmniOutliner has most of the features of a conventional outliner, allowing the user to create nested lists of topics for almost any purpose, but has addi ...
have won
Macworld
''Macworld'' is a website dedicated to products and software of Apple Inc., published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc. It started life as a print magazine in 1984 and had the largest audited circulation (both total and newsstand) of Macint ...
Editors' Choice Awards. At the Macintosh
Worldwide Developers Conference
The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in t ...
in 2001, OmniWeb 4.0 won two
Apple Design Awards
The Apple Design Awards (ADAs) is an event hosted by Apple Inc. at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The purpose of the event is to recognize the best and most innovative Macintosh and iOS software and hardware produced by independent d ...
: "Best Mac OS X User Experience" and "Best New Mac OS X Product."
In 2002, OmniGraffle 2.0 won two more Apple Design Awards.
Products
Productivity
* OmniDazzle
*
OmniDictionary
The Omni Group is an American software company that develops software for the macOS, iOS, and watchOS platforms. The Omni Group was informally founded as a NEXTSTEP consulting company in 1989 by Wil Shipley, who immediately brought on Ken Case ...
*
OmniDiskSweeper
OmniDiskSweeper is a freeware disk space analyzer utility for macOS developed by The Omni Group, which recursively searches a filesystem and displays entries sorted and color-coded by size, from largest to smallest. Alternatives include DaisyDisk ...
*
OmniGraffle
OmniGraffle is a diagramming and digital illustration application for macOS and iOS created by The Omni Group.
Uses
OmniGraffle is used to create graphics and visuals. The application features several design tools, along with a drag-and-drop ...
* OmniGraphSketcher
*
OmniOutliner
OmniOutliner is commercial outlining software for macOS and iOS produced by The Omni Group. OmniOutliner has most of the features of a conventional outliner, allowing the user to create nested lists of topics for almost any purpose, but has addi ...
*
OmniPlan
OmniPlan is a planning and project management software product from The Omni Group, headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The software was released as a public beta on June 6, 2006.
In a June 2007 evaluation of OmniPlan 1.0, Macworld, a web site ...
*
OmniWeb
OmniWeb is a discontinued web browser that was developed and marketed by The Omni Group exclusively for Apple's macOS operating system. Though a stable version is no longer maintained, it is still available as a free download and unstable versions ...
*
OmniFocus
OmniFocus is a personal task manager by the Omni Group for macOS and iOS. The declared goal of the program is to be able to capture thoughts and ideas into to do lists. The program uses concepts and techniques described in the book and productiv ...
OmniPresence allows a folder sync via OmniSync or WebDAV server.
Frameworks
The Omni Group uses many
frameworks
A framework is a generic term commonly referring to an essential supporting structure which other things are built on top of.
Framework may refer to:
Computing
* Application framework, used to implement the structure of an application for an op ...
in their applications, and releases them under an
open source license
An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified and/or shared under defined terms and conditions. This allows end users and commercial compan ...
.
The Omni Source License: a modification of the MIT License
/ref> Most of the frameworks are dependent on the macOS platform, and require Xcode
Xcode is Apple's integrated development environment (IDE) for macOS, used to develop software for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It was initially released in late 2003; the latest stable release is version 14.2, released on December 13, ...
2.3 and thus Tiger
The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus '' Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on u ...
.
* OmniAppKit
* OmniBase
* OmniFoundation
* OmniHTML
* OmniNetworking
* Omni Web Framework
Games
As users of a platform that was not targeted by commercial porting houses, the Omni Group historically did source port
A source port is a software project based on the source code of a game engine that allows the game to be played on operating systems or computing platforms with which the game was not originally compatible.
Description
Source ports are often cr ...
s of games for NeXTStep/OpenStep pro bono
( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...
, especially maintenance updates of id games. They continued to do so during the transition through Rhapsody
Rhapsody may refer to:
* A work of epic poetry, or part of one, that is suitable for recitation at one time
** Rhapsode, a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry
Computer software
* Rhapsody (online music service), an online m ...
into macOS, catching the eye of the existing Macintosh games industry in the process, and were then contracted to port a number of games commercially.
* '' Activision Anthology Remix''
* ''Alchemy Deluxe
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
''
* '' Aliens versus Predator 2''
* '' Big Money! Deluxe''
* ''Doom
Doom is another name for damnation.
Doom may also refer to:
People
* Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed
* Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist
* Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher
* ...
''
* '' Doom II: Hell on Earth''
* ''Fallout
Nuclear fallout is the residual radioactive material propelled into the upper atmosphere following a nuclear blast, so called because it "falls out" of the sky after the explosion and the shock wave has passed. It commonly refers to the radioac ...
''
* ''Fallout 2
''Fallout 2: A Post Nuclear Role Playing Game'' is a 1998 role-playing video game developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Productions. It is a sequel to ''Fallout (video game), Fallout'' (1997), featuring similar graphics and ...
''
* '' Freedom Force''
* '' Giants: Citizen Kabuto''
* '' Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.²''
* '' Incoming''
* '' No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in H.A.R.M.'s Way''
* ''Oni
An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess i ...
'' (Cocoa
Cocoa may refer to:
Chocolate
* Chocolate
* ''Theobroma cacao'', the cocoa tree
* Cocoa bean, seed of ''Theobroma cacao''
* Chocolate liquor, or cocoa liquor, pure, liquid chocolate extracted from the cocoa bean, including both cocoa butter and ...
)
* '' Quake''
* ''Quake II
''Quake II'' is a 1997 first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. It is the second installment of the Quake (series), ''Quake'' series, but not a direct sequel to ''Quake (video game), Quake''. The game ...
''
* '' Quake III: Arena''
* '' Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix''
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omni Group, The
Macintosh software companies
Companies based in Seattle
Software companies of the United States
Companies established in 1989
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies
Apple Design Awards recipients