The Omni Group

This is great news. Omniweb, alongside Safari, has got to be my favourite browser. Especially for developing in.

[...] nice software for free     The Omni Mouth » OmniWeb, OmniDazzle, OmniDiskSweeper, and OmniObjectMeter now freeware Not used any of these yet but omnidazzle does look very nice for presentations [...]

[...] The OmniGroup has a small FAQ about the decision on their blog: [...]

An excellent decision, and ramping down the price before OmniWeb became freeware should dampen the cries of pain. I paid $30 (as I recall) when OW was at v4, got multiples of $30-worth of use out of it, and still use it. Especially when Safari v4 has all sorts of unnecessary glitz and flapdoodle built in ...

I totally second that motion to make OmniWeb open source.  If other browsers' successes are any indication, letting it loose for the community at large to develop could provide immense benefits, and maybe OmniWeb could finally get some of the features that other browsers are starting to have (like Google Gears support).

i use OmniWeb over 5 Years now as main Browser and hope it won't get lost in the Future because you Guys will not earn Money for Development. Omniweb was always a little bit late versus Safari, but the usability ever was and is the best.

Great move for the company, sucky timing considering I just bought OmniWeb about 2 weeks ago…

You are awesome!  I'll spread the news! 

And I'll tell people about the free software too. :-)

[...] has announced that they have decided to release several of their previously shareware applications as freeware. [...]

Hmmm… It's a long time ago… OmniWeb was also free and from one to another day the users must pay for it… Interesting ;-)

I've been using OmniWeb for many years, and it's still my favorite browser.  (I use several others more or less daily, because I develop web applications that need to work in them.)  I've never regretted in the least the modest fee I paid you for a license.  So although I follow your reasons for discontinuing the fee, I'm just writing to let you know I think OmniWeb was well worth the price, and I hope you do find the time to keep it up to date even though it isn't generating income (at least from licenses) anymore.

[...] faccio prima a cambiare browser. Tra l’altro è da ieri che OmniWeb e altre tre applicazioni di The Omni Group sono diventati [...]

[...] The Omni Group release 4 applications (read: the one nobody ever paid for) as freeware. - Link [...]

[...] The Omni Mouth » OmniWeb, OmniDazzle, OmniDiskSweeper, and OmniObjectMeter now freeware Omnigroup offre plusieurs de ses applications anciennes gratuitement : OmniWeb, OmniDazzle, OmniDiskSweeper et OmniObjectMeter (tags: software freeware) [...]

I will miss omniweb

I hoped an omniweb 6 with newer safari engine, little details in interface, a “side bar list” instead of the shelf for thumbnails sites, and so on.

the bookmarks are easier to manage in omniweb than in safari 4.

And I prefer a LOT the side bar thumbnails than some tiny “tabs”.

and of course, I loved the integrated ads blocker.

and so on.

-

I have some bugs in the mobile sync of omniweb bookmarks and I would have prefered to pay to have updates than a forgotten free app.

Hello everyone,

Good news?  History will tell.

As I paid for iCab, I will give a “free” donation for OmniWeb if I use it enough.

I hate the Market's God.  As everyone, I never vote for these laws.  But I admit that “money” became “the rules”.  And therefore you certainly made the right decision for now.

(I do apologise for my poor english.)

[...] de?er bir i? ç?kar?yordu. Fakat umar?m bu ücretsiz yaz?l?m ad?m?, geli?tiriciler aksini söylese de, OmniWeb’in geli?tirilmesinin durdurulmas? anlam?na gelmiyordur. Bu arada, OmniWeb ile [...]

OmniWeb is by far my favourite browser.

- per site preferences from font size to how it presents itself (mimicking FF, Safari, IE), to ad blocking to security…

- workspaces, I can't stick with any other browser compared to how this is implemented.

- side tabs, much prettier.

- additional search shortcuts in the toolbar, i've about twenty sites in my search box, I can put the same search to Amazon, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Tuaw, or indeed any site with a search box.

- nicknames as mentioned above, as well as just typing anything that might be included in the page title of bookmarked sites.  Type in 'Irish Film” and OmniWeb finds http://www.irishfilmboard.ie in my bookmarks.  Safari pops up a Google search box.

- g for google as mentioned above.

- It's the same webkit as Safari, no speed difference that I notice and stable for me, stable a long time.

- Expandable text entry boxes.  You can drag text entry boxes out to whatever size you want.  Easier seen than explained.

My gumption is that Omni do see a future in OmniWeb but have released it as freeware in the hope that it's market share rises and their Google earnings will rise.

In which case I hope they keep developing it.

[...] their blog, Omni Mouth, the company explains their reason for making these four apps available for free (concentrate engineering resources to [...]

[...] Original Article [...]

[...] our post on the news about Safari 4 beta being released, there has also been a blog post from the Omni Group stating that 4 of their app which were originally paid softwares: OmniWeb, [...]

You just confirmed what has been obvious for years: OmniWeb is no longer being actively developed. I have therefore removed it from my hard disk.

I love OmniWeb. I bought it years ago and it was worth every penny. I did notice the major slowdown in updates, but I understand. I just hope that you guys either continue developing it or make it opensource if you no longer can.

The workspaces is awesome - best feature on a browser ever. I don't understand why other browsers haven't implemented that yet, but it totally rocks and is beautifully done. I use it all the time. =)

I used OmniWeb a lot, especially when Mac OS X came out. OmniWeb was the best browser, and it was the first written in Cocoa.

However, I would prefer to see it open sourced rather than dead. I know, it is very difficult to keep up the pace against Apple, Firefox, Opera and many other developers, especially with limited resources. Omniweb had made, nevertheless,  an excellent job.

It is kind of frightening to see it as a second class citizen among Omni products, when once was the king.

However, I would like to know what Omni is up to. I hope it is not part of a lay off policy.

I would really like to see more effort put into other apps, like OmniPlan, which I dislike a lot. Or Omnigraffle, which I use a lot, and really like.

My feelings are the same as Ward's. Actually, I would happily pay more for this incredible browser. If OmniWeb becomes incompatible with future versions of OS X, then I may stop upgrading my operating system in order to continue using OmniWeb. It's that important.

When I tried the 5.8 version, I instantly fell for it! When one uses OmniWeb, one can clearly make out its sophistication and elegance. But, I was unhappy with the price quote then, $14.95 (that's almost $15), was just beyond my capacity to fork out for a web browser, that too when there were competitive ones available in the market for free. After your announcement to make it free, it seems as if God has granted me my wish! Thank You Omni Group! May God Bless You and make you a GIANT in your field! My heartfelt regards!

[...] from Omni Group — OmniWeb, OmniDazzle, OmniDiskSweeper, and OmniObjectMeter — are now freeware. These used to be about $25 apiece. I tried OmniWeb once and thought it was really good, and [...]

[...] OmniWeb Web browser is, for the most part, no more. Though the announcement last week highlighted the fact that it was now available for free, the buried lead is that they are stopping active [...]

Freakin' great. THANK YOU. And all the best in keeping up development on your other projects.

I'm actually sorry to learn this, as OmniWeb is the ONLY web browser I like, let alone love. I would rather send you some more money and have you keep working on it, because every time I try to get used to Safari or Firefox, I come whimpering back to OmniWeb. Font control, ad-blocking, pop-up blocking, ugliness blocking… I can't live without it!

[...] In case you missed the news last week, OmniWeb is now free!

But that doesn’t mean that we’ve stopped developing OmniWeb: we’ve been posting new sneaky peek builds of the upcoming OmniWeb 5.9.1 release nearly every day since that announcement. [...]

[...] they made it free. I suck for only finding out now, three weeks after they made it free, but at least it means I can [...]

when I launched OmniWeb 5.1.3 today, which it was said was freeware when i downloaded it, it said I only had thirty days before the demo expired. So, tell me how to fix this, please…

I've been using OmniWeb since NextStep 3.x (1994?).  And it just keeps getting better.

I just discovered you folks and I must say that you seem to be possibly the greatest software company I've ever encountered.  You make Google look like Yahoo, Apple look like Microsoft and all the Linux crews look like children.  Have my e-babies.

[...] produced its own browser, it seemed like the Omni Group read the writing on the wall and eventually announced that OmniWeb was free. But they are still working on improving the product.An early innovator on [...]