Spanish creative agency Herrioz and Soto created Ommwriter, a simple text editing program, to help its employees filter out the distracting elements that are a dime a dozen when you work on a computer.
As described on the company's website: "The Ommwriter idea was born as an internal tool for the agency. A tool that allowed our copywriters, and in general, everybody who needed to put pen to paper, to better focus on their work and come up with those fantastic ideas. All said and done, after having created something so valuable, we figured that Ommwriter was just too good to keep to ourselves."
When you launch the program, the screen fills with a very Zen image of a white landscape with two bare trees. The text box floats in the middle of the screen, and settings options (such as text size) appear when you move your mouse, but disappear as you type. Looking at a screen with absolutely nothing on it—no menu bar, no icons— except for the words you are writing is an extremely refreshing experience.
But to me the best part is the audio. Not only does the program have 7 soundtrack options (plus silent mode) that make you feel like you're in an upscale spa, but you can also change the sound your keys make when pressed. Birdsong soundtrack plus the "rain drop in a cave"-like key ping = writing tranquility!
Ommwriter is currently in betamode and available as a free download for Macs only. You can't print from it and since formatting options are minimal, you'd probably want to paste your work into a "formal" word processor for fine tuning. But as for creating a peaceful, soothing digital writing environment, it can't be beat.
More on the program, including directions to download here: http://www.ommwriter.com/en/