I've been using a freely available alternative -- Google Tasks. The only problem is that you can only access it through a browser. Luckily, there is a clever little app call Fluid that can make a webpage into an app. So with the help of Fluid, I have created a small menubar app that does essentially the same thing as the paid alternatives, albeit maybe not as pretty.
One of the big advantages of using Google Tasks is that it's always in sync. It's also possible to view on my iPhone by going to http://www.gmail.com/tasks. And it has the possibility to create several different task lists, which I find very useful. I usually create one for each of my projects.
You can find illustrations of the following process on my blog.
Here's the method for making this little app:
- Start by downloading Fluid. Open it and it will display a dialog.
- If you are a Gmail user, input the following URL:
https://mail.google.com/tasks/ig - If you are a Google Apps user, use this instead:
https://mail.google.com/tasks/a/mydomain.com/ig Replace 'mydomain.com' with your actual domain name. - Name it whatever you like. It's also possible to choose an application icon. For your convenience, I've made a simple icon that you can use. It comes it both the regular Aqua flavor, and an Obisidan one for those who use Aqua Extreme. Download them, then select them from the "Icon:" popup-button.
- Once you're finished, press Create. Choose to launch the app.
- Inside the app, you can change some appearance settings. Select Your App » Preferences... and then select 'Appearance.' Here you can make the window itself transparent and select from a few different Window Styles. I recommend the HUD one.
- Once finished with the settings, select 'Convert to MenuExtra SSB.' Press OK. You can easily make it an normal app again by right clicking on the icon in the menubar. Sometimes, if there has been a loss of connection, the app needs to be refreshed. Click the menubar icon and hit Command+Shift+H to go to the starting URL.
[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. Refer to the pictures in the cited blog post if any of the steps are confusing.]

