Apple Briefs

The guys at The Omni Group announced the availability of the first OmniGraffle 5.0 beta. I am sure there are lots of new features, but one in particular caught my eye. OmniGraffle 5.0 will open Microsoft Visio files (files with a .vsd extension).

I have long been a supporter of Visio. I was using Visio for quite a while before Microsoft bought Visio Corp. More than a few people have lamented the absence of Visio from the Mac. OmniGraffle is a well-regarded Mac program that has similar features.

I don’t have much of a need for Visio or OmniGraffle for my own work. I have a copy of an earlier version – Apple Powerbooks and PowerMacs used to come with a version of OmniGraffle pre-installed – but I never really use it. Occasionally, though, people will send me a Visio (vsd) file. Until now, I haven’t found a good solution for opening Visio files on the Mac. Hopefully, OmniGraffle 5.0 will change that. I don’t have any Visio files to test with right now. But, the next time someone sends me a Visio file, I’ll surf on over to The Omni Group website and give it a whirl.

One final note, OmniGraffle 5.0 requires Leopard to run. So, if you’re still running Tiger, you’re out of luck.