The Release Candidate is almost identical to the final version that will be released in a week. In addition to bugfixes and performance improvements, it includes some of the most requested features of the past months: global search, filtering by due date, and now also a restructured Today list.

Things retails for $49.95, but can be purchased for $39.95 by using the coupon code “THINGSPRESALE20″ by January 15, 2009.

Last week, I wrote about The Hit List, singing its praises. Even so, I still have a strong affinity for Things. I’ve been using Things for several months and find it to be a very comfortable application. Ultimately, the price tag may be the decider for me.  For $39.95, Things will be an easy choice for anybody reluctant to part with $70 for The Hit List of $80 for OmniFocus.

The beta download was version 0.9, indicating a more or less mature app. In fact, Andy Kim has stated that while he is very interested in hearing new feature requests, he is trying to get version 1.0 out the door quickly, and will give greater weight to feature requests in future versions. Thus, the 0.9 beta version I’m playing with is essentially feature-complete.

The Hit List is set to compete directly with OmniFocus and Things. You may recall that I compared the two and came out heavily in favor of Things.

I am impressed with The Hit List. This is one heck of a task management application. Of course, it has all of the basics you’d expect a competent GTD app to have: tags, contexts, quick entry method. Beyond the basics, The Hit List has a lot of polish and is very well thought out.

Check out this screen shot (click to enlarge):

Some of my favorite features:

Quick Entry with system-wide keyboard shortcut

Like Things, The Hit List gives you the ability to assign a system-wide hot key to call up a Quick Entry window so that you can quickly and easily enter a task without the need to leave whatever application you’re working on and call The Hit List into focus.

Start Date, Due Date, Estimated Time

When adding a task, you can specify a start date, due date, and the kicker is that you can enter an estimate for the time it will take you to complete the task. This will help you plan your activity for the day a little better.

Tabs

The interface exists in one main window, with the ability to have multiple tabs. This works much like a standard web browser, and you have the ability to drag the tabs around to re-order them.

Sub-Tasks

While other GTD apps allow you to have at least one or two levels of sub-tasks, The Hit List offers virtually unlimited sub-tasks and sub-sub-tasks, etc. I actually got bored creating nested tasks before it ever stopped me. (click to enlarge)

iPhone version

Evidently, an iPhone version that syncs with the desktop version is on the way:

No annoying floating palettes

One of my main complaints about OmniFocus was the annoying floating palettes. As I recall, I said:

The other big pain I found about OmniFocus was the inspector window that always hangs around. That does not make for a clutter-free desktop environment. [rant warning] I know you can get rid of it, but so much of your necessary and mundane functionality is in the inspector window that you can hardly do anything without it open. To me, the inspector window is like using footnotes in legal writing: Sometimes they’re great to use, but for the most part, you should say what you need to say in the body of your work. If it’s important, don’t bury it in a footnote. OmniFocus, to me, feels like a brief that is written with 30% of the text in the main body and 70% in the footnotes.

Timer (one exception to the no floating palettes)

You can click on a task and type “B” or just hit the begin button, and a timer window will pop up. Handy if you want to track your time on a particular task.

Keyboard navigation

Virtually every control necessary to use The Hit List has an intuitive keyboard shortcut – even things you might ordinarily drag and drop. Some people will use this, some people will not. For myself, the longer I use a computer, the more I find myself using keyboard shortcuts. Being that I have used a laptop as my full-time computer for the last 6 years now, I think using a traditional mouse is a huge drag (no pun intended), and much prefer the convenience of a trackpad right below the keyboard. Even so, I often find keyboard shortcuts to save time even as compared to the relatively short venture down to the trackpad.

/Tags, @Contexts

Of course, no GTD or task management application would be complete without contexts and tags. The Hit List makes tagging and context-ing dead simple. To start tagging, just type the “/” key and type whatever tag you wish to assign. The Hit List will automatically predict what tag you are trying to type. To assign a context, just type the “@” key and it will similarly start automatically predicting the context you are trying to type. Even cooler than that is The Hit List’s predictive tagging and contexts. As you type out the task you are entering, The Hit List predicts based on your prior entries what tags and/or contexts to assign to the task. This is done before ever stroking the / or @ keys. Way cool!

Ultra-Customizable iCal syncing

The Hit List allows you to sync specific iCal calendars with tasks marked with specific tags and/or contexts. I imagine this could come in handy.

Attach files and emails by drag-and-drop

One of the greatest and most essential features I love about Things is its ability to attach files and emails to tasks by dragging and dropping them (sometimes awesomely referred to as “dragon drop”). The Hit List features this functionality as well, however, in this Beta version, there are a few bugs. Don’t worry, Andy, I’m sending in those bug reports!

Conclusion

With The Hit List, the Potion Factory has taken the best features of OmniFocus and Things, learned from their mistakes, and added some great new features and interface and usability enhancements to come up with a task management app that is truly a step ahead of the competition. The Hit List will set the new standard for task management applications for the Mac. I share in TUAW’s prediction that The Hit List will “storm the gates.”

Potion Factory announced the private beta of The Hit List here. Unfortunately for those eager to try out The Hit List, at just over 300 beta testers, Andy has closed the door for the time being, but has indicated he may approve more people as needed.

How will The Hit List be priced? The Potion Factory is shooting for a $70 price target. This places them on the higher end between Things ($49) and OmniFocus ($79.95). It is my opinion, so far, that The Hit List outperforms both Things and OmniFocus and is the best looking and easiest to use of the trio. I consider the $70 price point to be very competitive in light of the quality of the app.

Recently, I have become a convert, and, although I have never read David Allen’s book, I have become convinced by some of the most rudimentary elements of his methodology (capture tasks, assign them to a context, assign them to a project, and move on)

One day, several weeks ago, I inexplicably became obsessed with finding a solid to do application that would be attractive, powerful, and easy enough to use that I’d actually use it.

To me, the most important element to any GTD application is the ability to dump a thought as soon as it comes to you. You think of something, capture it, and move on with whatever you were doing.

In order to manage my tasks in the past, I’ve used the Sticky-Notes application on my Mac, I’ve used TextEdit files, I’ve tried to use Mail.app’s built-in to do functionality, and I’ve used scraps of paper laying around as well as the palm of my hand. I know, chaos. But, I kind of reveled in my ability to be chaotic.

So, I don’t know what came over me a few weeks ago, but I have found what I think is a great solution for me.

I know a lot of folks are big fans of OmniFocus. I tried it out extensively, and I just couldn’t get into it. The interface felt a little wonky to me. I really didn’t like how the “items” didn’t have any sort of UI that made them feel like “items.” They are just kind of text fields, and you can’t really just click on the item itself without entering into a text field. This is a small complaint, but to me it is significant, and it made the app just feel not right. The other big pain I found about OmniFocus was the inspector window that always hangs around. That does not make for a clutter-free desktop environment. [rant warning] I know you can get rid of it, but so much of your necessary and mundane functionality is in the inspector window that you can hardly do anything without it open. To me, the inspector window is like using footnotes in legal writing: Sometimes they’re great to use, but for the most part, you should say what you need to say in the body of your work. If it’s important, don’t bury it in a footnote. OmniFocus, to me, feels like a brief that is written with 30% of the text in the main body and 70% in the footnotes. A very capable brief can be written that way, but it’s a pain in the ass to read [end of rant]. OmniFocus is plenty competent in terms of functionality, however, and it allows you to manage contexts and projects like any good GTD app. I just couldn’t get down with the feel of it.

Anyway, this post isn’t supposed to be about how much I don’t like OmniFocus, it’s supposed to be about why I have a thing for Things.

Things is a beautiful application from Cultured Code. Currently, Things is in beta, with version 0.9.4 being the latest release. The app is free while in beta, and will cost $49 when it is released “Summer 2008.” If you sign up for their newsletter at their website before its release, however, you can purchase it for $39.

In Things, you can set up a system-wide hot key that will bring up a window that allows you to enter a new to do with as much or as little information as you want. This is awesome for me, because I don’t want to leave whatever application I’m in just to make a silly to do. What is really nice, for me, is the fact that you can drag files into the notes section of the to do item, and it will create a link to that document. That works with emails as well, which is a huge help to me.

If you have been following me on Twitter lately (@esquiremac), you may have noticed me commenting on the zero-ness of my inbox. Now, when I get an email that I need to act on, but can’t or don’t want to right now, I hit command-shift-space and drag that email into my new to do window, make a quick note of what to do, set a due date and click save. Then, I file the email away from my inbox, and the inbox goes back to zero. Now, everything I have to do is in my Things app, and not lingering around haphazardly in my inbox.

The next best thing about Things, and the thing that actually sold me on Things, is the iPhone app and the ability to do two-way sync of your to do’s.  Cultured Code introduced Things for the iPhone and iPod Touch several weeks ago, but it did not allow for syncing. I was definitely not willing to shell out ten bucks for a stand alone to do app on my iPod Touch – especially after I had become proficient familiar with the desktop app. But, then Cultured Code announced that sync for the iPhone app had become their top priority and that it would be included in the next update to the iPhone app.

They delivered. The day they announced that the Things iPhone app would be updated with sync I plunked down my ten bucks and bought it. And, the day Things was updated, I downloaded the update.

The sync interface is actually quite clever. It operates over the local wifi network and requires your desktop app and your iPhone app to be running at the same time. This may be a pain to some, but it’s beautiful to me. I don’t have an iPhone, so I’m not used to ubiquitous internet, and therefore cannot demand that the app be synced whenever the heck I feel like it. I also applaud Cultured Code for not requiring me to sync my iPod through iTunes to sync my to dos. That would have been a huge buzzkill, and they are wise for avoiding that method. I don’t know whether they’re working on cloud-based sync, but I suspect they are.

Once you link your desktop app and your iPhone or iPod Touch through the preference pane of your desktop app, all you have to do to sync your to dos is to open your iPhone app any time your desktop app is running and on the same network. Instantly, the two apps sync.

I will admit that there are some bugs and limitations. For instance, there are no “Areas” in the iPhone app, and I have seen duplication once or twice. That said, it’s still very useful, and I have a ton of confidence in Cultured Code, and I know they are working on these issues as I type.

To put things in perspective for Things, they have been pushing towards a 1.0 release for many months, and then this iPhone thing came up, so they diverted their attention to build a great iPhone app. Now that they have gotten the basics of sync down, they are reshifting their focus to rolling out the 1.0 release. I cannot wait, and I wish them the best.

For more about Things from another Macs in the law office kind of guy, check out Jeffrey Kabbe’s fantastic write-up about Things here at Apple Briefs.

Now, I get to check off the “blog about Things” item on my to do list.

In my view, at a minimum, a lawyer needs the following functions in a single software solution:

• Client/Contact Management
• Case/Matter Tracking and Management
• Document Management
• Calendaring/To Do Tracking (GTD)
• Billing

There’s a lot of great applications out there that have some potential for being used as law office management solutions. I like to see how actual lawyers are using these programs in their actual law practices. To that end, I’ve gathered a pretty significant cache of lawyers’ writings on how they actually use these applications in their practices. I hope you find this to be a useful resource in your quest for law practice management nirvana.

Daylite

Perhaps the lawyer who’s told us the most about using Daylite is Kevin Morton from A Mac Lawyer’s Notebook.  He has posted excellent write-ups and screencasts about how he uses Daylite in his law practice. Check the link below for his great tutorials and reviews.

• A Mac Lawyer’s Notebook: Case Management

Ben Stevens, from The Mac Lawyer, has written about his use of Daylite here:

• Using Daylite as Case Management Software
• Productivity Programs for Mac Lawyers

Grant Griffiths, from Home Office Lawyer, wrote about his use of Daylite here:

• Programs to Help the Mac Lawyer Be More Productive
• Calendar and Contact Management

Kern Lewis, wrote this post at the Texas Lawyer:

• Trial Preparation Made Simple With Macs

Daylite looks like a pretty useful solution. Frankly, though, it is too complicated to set up for my tastes, and is not particularly well-suited for the kind of document management I’m looking for.

Billings

Billings is the companion program to Daylite that comes from the folks at MarketCircle. Billings can be used as a stand-alone billing app, without Daylite. Grant Griffiths wrote about Billings here:

• Marketcircle’s Billings 2
• Billings 2 Review

Journler

Peter Summerill at MacLitigator has shared a couple of awesome posts on how he uses Journler as a Case/Document/To Do management solution.

• Journler… but not Journaling
• Case Analysis Using Journler

Personally, I have to say that Journler is so far my favorite solution, but it’s too buggy to be extremely useful for me right now. All in all, though, it’s a superb application.

So you know, the folks behind Journler are working to bring you another program with great promise called Lex. Lex is supposed to be a project based document management solution. I am definitely holding my breath for this one. There’s no word, yet, on when this might be released. You can find information about Lex at the Journler Community Forums.

OmniFocus

When it comes to GTD, it looks like the recently released OmniFocus has captured a lot of attention. Jeffrey Kabbe, of Apple Briefs, reviews OmniFocus here:

• Apple Briefs | Review: OmniFocus

Victor Medina, of the Small Business and Solo Law Practice Blog, reviewed OmniFocus here:

• Fits Like a Productivity Glove

Things

Things is another GTD-type app that Jeffrey Kabbe reviewed here:

• Apple Briefs | Review: Things

Things is not yet complete, and is slated for release in the Summer of 2008 (hey, that’s, like, now!). You can download a beta “preview” version for free.

FileMaker and AppleScript

If you’re really advanced, or have a bunch of money, you might want to look at FileMaker. Larry Stanton, from Scripting for Lawyers has written extensively about his use of FileMaker here:

• FileMaker | Scripting for Lawyers

Bento

Bento is brought to you by the makers of FileMaker, and is a simpler-to-use, more lightweight data manager that has some promise for managing a law practice. Jeffrey Kabbe reviewed Bento here:

• Apple Briefs | Bento: FileMaker “Lite”
• Apple Briefs | Mini-Review: Bento

Circus Ponies Notebook

Notebook can be a good application to manage your documents, notes and to do’s for individual cases, one at a time. Ben Stevens and Grant Griffiths have written about their use of Notebook here:

• The Mac Lawyer: Productivity Programs for Mac Lawyers
• The Mac Lawyer: Software I Use :: Circus Ponies Notebook
• Home Office Lawyer: Programs to Help the Mac Lawyer be More Productive

EasyTime

EasyTime is an application developed by some lawyers who were tired of not having a good practice management solution geared toward lawyers. They’ve made a decent beginning, but it’s not a complete solution at present. Ben Stevens and Grant Griffiths have written about EasyTime here:

• The Mac Lawyer: Top Ten Mac Applications for Solo Attorneys
• Home Office Lawyer: EasyTime – New Mac Billing Program for a Law Office

Rocket Matter

RocketMatter is a new-to-the scene web-based solution that seems to handle about everything but Document Management. Rocket Matter was created for lawyers, so it is pretty well tailored to the relevant tasks. Ben Stevens, Aaron Pelley (of Criminal Defense Law With An Apple), and Finis Price (of TechnoEsq) have written about Rocket Matter here, respectively:

• The Mac Lawyer: Information About Rocket Matter
• A Quick Look at Rocket Matter | Criminal Defense Law With An Apple
• TechnoEsq » Ethics of Web-based Management of Client Records

Basecamp and Highrise

There are other web-based solutions that have seen some use from lawyers, such as Basecamp and HIghrise from 37Signals. Ben Stevens and Grant Griffiths have written about using Basecamp here:

• The Mac Lawyer: Top Ten Mac Applications for Solo Attorneys
• Home Office Lawyer: The Connected Lawyer – Basecamp

Other Resources

For even more Mac business software solutions, check out Ben Steven’s post here:

• The Mac Lawyer: Business Applications for the Mac

Conclusion

I’m still searching for the best solution for our firm. For now, it’s the Finder, iCal, Google Calendar and Address Book. It gets the job done, but I’m dying for a simple-to-use, simple-to-setup, comprehensive solution. In my opinion, nobody’s made that product yet.