I disagree (see above).

Areas are exclusive; a task or project can belong to only one, while it could have several contexts. Moreover, a Project and all its tasks will belong to the same Area, while these tasks would more than likely have different contexts. Areas are like folders for tasks and projects; contexts are like tags.

One thing I think you didn’t mention was they both have iCal integration.

The iPhone app for THL appears to be underway; they’ve been making promises and releasing screenshots so it is definitely progressing.

With regards to the ‘Areas of responsibility’, I believe that maps to the GTD concept of a context, which THL provides (include @Home in the task description and it is added to the ‘Home’ context – hit command-4 to see them all in the left hand menu)

Will give THL a whirl till evening, since it’s in Beta anywayz..

For me:

Things:
+ Nice and clean UI
+ Tags are well implemented
- Not grouping of tasks / projects => Using it for more than a few projects is clumsy.
- Keyboard navigation is not well supported.
- Not very intuitive at the deeper levels. Eg. you can schedule repeating tasks in projects.
- Syncing is clumsy at best.

THL:
+ Clean UI
+ Fully navigable using keyboard
+ Very flexible in terms of nested tasks, tags, contexts, folders etc.
- No iphone app.
- Cant complete projects (what’s this about?)

OF:
+ Very rich feature set.
+ Extremely customizable – from looks to views.
+ Sync very well implemented.
+ Great iphone app.
+ Best in terms of being able to get items in – clipping service, mail etc.
+ Most complete and polished
- UI a bit dated.
- No tags / multiple contexts per task.
- Higher learning curve

After bouncing off all these apps, I am sticking to OF and it seems to be paying off.

http://ctrloptcmd.com/archives/847/migrate-from-things-to-the-hit-list/

This effortlessly duplicates your existing tasks and projects in THL, which cuts down a lot of the resistance to adoption. I’m still leaning towards Things for now, however; a task manager is simply no use to me without a mobile app.

@wowo_steve

‘“area” in Things was just a imitation of “context”’

Not really. Page 52: “20,000 Feet: Areas of Responsibility. You create or accept most of
your projects because of your responsibilities, which for most
people can be defined in ten to fifteen categories. These are the
key areas within which you want to achieve results and maintain
standards. Your job may entail at least implicit commitments
for things like strategic planning, administrative support, staff
development, market research, customer service, or asset manage-
ment. And your personal life has an equal number of such focus
arenas: health, family, finances, home environment, spirituality,
recreation, etc. Listing and reviewing these responsibilities gives a
more comprehensive framework for evaluating your inventory of
projects.”

i.e., Areas are broader themes within which individual projects are grouped, rather than @phone, @mac attributes given to individual tasks.