Andy Kim, of Potion Factory, has announced that The Hit List is available for everybody as a free download for a public preview.  You can download the pre-release version from the Potion Factory blog.The version number is 0.9.2, inching ever closer to a 1.0 release. The Hit List is free to use as a beta/pre-release product, but will cost $69.95 when it goes 1.0. If you buy before 1.0 arrives, Potion Factory is offering a $20 discount, allowing you to license the GTD app for $49.95. As of yet, there is no official word as to when version 1.0 will ship. On Christmas Day, Andy Kim stated:

The Hit List has been in closed beta for about two weeks now and things have been progressing well. I wanted to release a 1.0 version as soon as possible, but based on the feedback I’m receiving, I’m back to the “it’ll be done when it’s ready” status. The first major feature I have decided to add is recurring tasks.

While I’m certain that THL won’t be THE solution for everybody, I’m very encouraged by the tweets some beta testers are posting. Validation like this is especially gratifying since I’ve been working on it under the radars for so long without receiving a lot of feedback.

(source)

I published my review of The Hit List a couple of weeks ago, giving it due praise. Ultimately, I purchased Things (which has gone 1.0 officially as of January 6) for a discounted price of $39.95, using discount code: THINGSPRESALE20, which is still available until January 15, 2009.

Go check out The Hit List and feel free to let me know what you think, or, more importantly, let Andy Kim know what you think over at The Hit List Users Google Group.

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.