The time has come for me to once again mess with the mess that is Microsoft Project. Fortunately (or unfortunately) Microsoft doesn?t make Project for OS X, so here I am with no PM software. I?ve hunted about, and have come up with two seemingly viable options:

• AEC Software?s FastTrack Schedule, in version 9 as I write, and
• ProjectWizards? Merlin

Now, they both happily suck up and play nice with Microsoft Project files, but the demos are effectively crippleware; FastTrack Schedule doesn?t save and Merlin won?t let you have a project with more than 20 lines! How am I supposed to accurately evaluate the usefulness of these things unless I can use them over several days of project plan iterations? Dumb. I?d probably be happy to fork over the US$349 for FastTrack Schedule or the ?145 if, and only if I was given the opportunity to adequately evaluate them.

I?m feeling like both these companies have lost my business.

So now, readers, I?m looking for a free, open source, Microsoft Project-friendly, PM tool. Alternately, is there something out there which isn?t necessarily free, but that give me decent opportunity for evaluation without crippled functionality?

I've posted the same text as above to my blog. If you're answering here, can I impose upon your goodwill to post your answer also at the blog post so non-GTDers who read my blog can see the answer?

TIA, all!