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Mozilla's Sunbird Reviewed
comforteagle writes "Mozilla Sunbird is the latest stand-alone application from the Mozilla foundation that follows in the footsteps of now revered browser Firefox and email client Thunderbird. OSDir reviews their first public release, version 0.2. Screenshots included."
Just thought you might like to know, editors. And authors.
It's not "2.0". It's "0.2". Way before 1.0.
"No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
"as of the moment Sunbird does not integrate with Thunderbird or Firefox." Sometimes this isn't always a bad thing, you know?
It seems that if Mozilla were at this stage in its development, say 5 years ago, they would probably be converging into one application. Perhaps Mozilla has decided to learn from the mistakes of Windows/IE integration. With the recent wired article where a Microsoft security head admitting his use of Firefox, I would say this move to less integration is definatly a smart one.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
I tried it, it was okay but crashed a bit. plus I couldn't get it to say that an event lasted from a certain time on one day until a certain time several days later.
if they make it so I can sync with my P900 that'd be a big plus.
It's a calendar application. That doesn't yet integrate with FireFox or Thunderbird. It's also at version 0.2, not 2.0.
Isn't the text at the top of this page supposed to be a summary?
..for a Calendar program, it is. However, what you need is a high-level exchange format. Which is slightly differnt than the "deep system call" integration of Outlook/IE/Windows.
Kjella
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
What ever happened to Sunfox??
I've had trouble getting Sunbird to work with any Calendar but the default. Also, when downloading and publishing remote calendars, all I get is a blinking icon (of two rotating arrows), with no further progress. Is Sunbird *really* ready for the public yet? :)
Software: Review of Mozilla's Sunbird Stand-Alone Calendar Application
Posted Sep 03, 2004 - 06:58 AM
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by Gareth Russell
Mozilla Sunbird is the latest stand-alone application from the Mozilla foundation that follows in the footsteps of now revered browser Firefox and email client Thunderbird. Gareth reviews their first public release, version 0.2.
(screenshots)
Sunbird is the new cross-platform calendar application from the Mozilla foundation. It is based around the existing Mozilla Calendar component and is the latest in a string of standalone applications from the foundation, which are gradually replacing the current Mozilla suite of applications. The aim of the project is to create a standalone calendar for someone who uses either Mozilla Thunderbird or Firefox as their email client or browser. Sunbird hopes to offer a reduced footprint and performance enhancement over the original Calendar component. Sunbird is still in the early stages of development and is certainly experimental software with version 0.2 having been released recently. Nonetheless Sunbird is a promising application for those of you already using Thunderbird or Firefox.
A word of warning though, as of the moment Sunbird does not integrate with Thunderbird or Firefox. It is purely a standalone project, although this is one of the tasks to be solved in the near future.
The most striking difference between Sunbird and its Calendar counterpart is the theme and visual identity. Sunbird has its own logo, which is somewhat similar to Thunderbird's along with a slick visual style that removes a lot of the harshness found in the default Calendar component's theme. If you're running Windows XP then this theme integrates well with the rest of your system. At the moment there is still no option to change the theme if you do not like it, although this should be expected in future builds.
The user interface is essentially the same as the Calendar components, this entails the use of a three or four framed system. A main frame provides an overview of the day, week, several weeks or month, whilst several sub frames provide information about events scheduled and tasks still to be completed. It is a flexible system that allows you to collapse windows to get the style you want but by default it feels rather unwieldy when it is compared to the more simplistic calendar components found in Outlook or Evolution due to the large number of windows on display.
There are some improvements that could be made to the user interface to make it more accessible to new users. Some of the more useful features are only available from the title menus these should be more easily accessible through the toolbar. For example a "New Task" button for the toolbar would be a welcome addition, instead of having to enter the "File Menu" to access it. Currently upon first glance, a user is left wondering whether or not such a function is available and only the task frame alerts you to its presence. The included keyboard shortcuts are of great use and once remembered they can dramatically speed up use of the program. As of yet there is no ability to change the shortcuts or to set up your own, but this is something to be expected from future releases.
Coloured tagging for events would also improve the interface of the application. Currently you cannot assign colours to event categories as you would in say Microsoft Outlook. These allow you to get a better overview of your calendar, as it is easier to relate colours to specific types of events rather than reading all of the available text. Coloured tagging could make the application appear less cluttered because you'd be able to get an easier overview of what is happening in the different windows.
The ability to create and maintain different calendars for different purposes is a nice touch although it does exist in other applications, but it is easier to move between the differe
1) Open it up for extensions, the way firebird is. 2) until it can sync with mobile devices (palm, pocketpc.. etc), i won't be implementing it.
Screenshots
Looks identical to Outlook's Calendar, even menu option names etc.
OSS seems to be totally following the MS way, including very little innovation.
I dunno. I think it'll need at least three or four name changes before 1.0 gets released... :P
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
1) Release early Beta, numbered .2
2) Wait for overeager slashdot submitter to make typo, bumping version a factor of 1.8
3)???
4)Profit!
First paragraph of TFA:
"Sunbird is the new cross-platform calendar application from the Mozilla foundation"
There ain't no iCal on Win32 nor Linux.
And as far as mozilla ripping off netscape, I think you have it backwards.. netscape is built on top of mozilla.
DJ kRYPT's Free MP3s!
The plugin versions work in Firefox and and Thunderbird. Yet they're totally separate from any install of Sunbird you may also have. So you pretty much need to choose one or the other, or risk forgetting some appointments because you have the wrong instance loaded. They can import across, but they don't just share one calendar file, which makes no sense to me.
Also, the biggest problem I have: there is no way to make the alarm trigger a selectable sound? There's a checkbox to "play a sound," but that's it, and if it actually does make a sound, I can't hear it across the room. Sadly, even the alarm clock in Windows XP's Plus pack beats this with a wet noodle. (Except, of course, when the alarm clock just fails to trigger at the time, which is whenever you need it most)
Get off my launchpad!
good grief man... look at the version number on that.. 0.2 there's plenty of time for them to innovate, let them get the basics done first then watch as the new useful features roll out... sit back and chill.. if you have such a problem why not go help the development... it's really not THAT hard to write some javascript and such for all that.. i guess if you don't program it might be kind of hard but it's fairly easy to pickup if you tried... the thing i'm trying to say though is to provide your input, if it's not what you want, then why not go suggest features or what have you? bitching isn't going to help, you need to provide constructive criticism and possible advancements...
Kyle
http://www.unlogikal.net/
If there ever was a need for a "-1 Uninformed" mod this would be it.
You totally have your chickens and eggs backward.
Netscape comes from Mozilla, not the other way around. All of it's functionality is imported directly from the "development version", Mozilla. That's why now that we have a new stable Mozilla platform, lo and behold, Netscape 7.2 is announced!
As for the calendar app, it's a clone of Outlook's calendar page. With 100's of thousands of users already accustomed to using it's UI, there is a lot of sense into trying to make the user comfortable with a familiar look and feel. iCal is probably a similar clone of Outlook, hence the similarities.
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
I just got .2 last night.. Already up to 2.0!
:)
Sounds like someone was bored last night and couldn't sleep
---- Booth was a patriot ----
It's a calendar application
"Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it." - John Lennon.
What we really need is a replacement for the amazing CS&T/Netscape/Steltor/Oracle "CorporateTime" (nee Calendar Server).
Woo hoo. WebDAV. Could I be any *less* excited? WebDAV calendars are not going to replace a *real* calendaring/scheduling system any time soon...
Unfortunately, even open-source project I've seen that has attempted to tackle this problem has very quickly fallen apart.
Please, somebody, take a look at Corporate Time or the older Netscape Calendar Server. *That's* what we need. An LDAP-integrated, replicable, multi-user calendaring/scheduling system with a web client that was pretty much the equal of the full client application and integrated quite nicely with the email client.
Netscape SuiteSpot is what made Netscape Communicator Pro make sense. If anyone out there in a development team would like it, I would be more than happy to provide a copy of my my old SuiteSpot CD for reference/testing purposes...
Everthing actually comes from the mozilla suite which is ONE APPLICATION.
Sunbird is stand alone implementation of Mozilla Calendar (ext), similar to browser (Firefox), or email (Thunderbird)
Its nice to see more standards compliant calendar browsers out there, but whats key is that server side solutions (Yahoo Calendar) adopt open standards so we can share calendar data, which to me is the entire point. To me this type of application is mostly about advertising when I am and am not available...so sharing with other calendaring clients is crucial.
Wake me up when it can sync with my Palm.
Even when it involves mixing up numbers just the same as a string of characters, making it no different than dyslexia? No crappy calculations occured here to come up with this erroneous result, it was just a typo.
It would be cool if it didn't suck.
Don't know if the full functionality is there, haven't tested it yet, but the Firefox extension seems to work quite well.
:(
The Thunderbird extension is a different story, because the extension system does not seem to be in place. I followed the directions to go to tools -> options -> extensions button, and there is no extensions button.
A failing of Thunderbird 0.7.3, it seems, maybe it is in the nightlies, dunno.
All I can say is: If Sunbird follows the kick-ass nature of Firefox/Tbird, this seperate "suite" is going to be perfect, IMO.
Heck, Firefox fixed (read: got rid of) the find toolbar, and Thunderbird would be perfect if they added a "Sync" button to avoid the File -> offline -> download/sync -> press enter if setup, but remember it only is available if you've clicked on your PRIMARY ACCOUNT/Folders.
Arugh!
Yet more clicking and re-accessing the menu.
C'mon guys (and gals) I LIKE buttons that make life easier.
Heck, I like blinky lights and shiney objects, too!
OOOoooo!
Where was I?
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
I'm not sure what these developers are talking about. It CAN install as an extension to either Firefox or Thunderbird, OR you can install it stand-alone. I'd link to the page, but update.mozilla.org seems to be down right now. I absolutely installed it yesterday as an extension to both Thunderbird and Firefox, and stand-alone. Unfortunately, you can install it these 3 ways, and each one is a separate database. ie: Accessing the calendar from Firefox will not show you the same data as when you access it via Thunderbird.
I don't respond to AC's.
...I know this might be undue but..
Not everyone knows what Sunbird is. I know from the article teaser above that it's from Mozilla, and it's like Firefox. So it's a browser, like firefox? Or an e-mal client like Thunderbird?
In the future, you may get better response by telling us exactly what it is being reviewed.
Sunbird's OK, I use it. But it's kinda buggy and limited. WebDAV is clunky and doesn't really work well. If you have dreams of publishing your departments calendars on a web server and scheduling group meetings (avoiding conflicts) like with Outlook/Exchange, forget it. It's really only useful for putting your own calendar up on a web server so you can schedule stuff from home, work, the road, etc.
And like I said, it's buggy. For example, I sucked in my old Outlook calendar in ical format using a converter, and it kinda puked on recurring appointments with exceptions. In fact, it appears that if you have a weekly meeting but you try to delete more than 5 or so of the individual recurrences, it starts forgetting about some of them! Pretty annoying. As a result, the old Outlook habit of setting up a weekly dept meeting, and then hitting delete on individual meetings that are cancelled doesn't work with Sunbird.
Still looking for a decent group calendaring app for UNIX users.
Please bear in mind though, that until such a time as Evolution will either run on Windows or cleanly compile on CYGWIN, these Mozilla apps are the best OSS PIM app available to many users.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
In other words, it sounds like you're saying that Mozilla needs an equivalent of Exchange Server?
I don't respond to AC's.
#1 It is 0.2, very early in development, don't expect much until it gets closer to 1.0, pluuueesseee!
#2 Of course it looks like Outlook Calendar, until MS Sues and then it will look like something else.
#3 No Synch, yet, see #1.
#4 It is a basic calendar app, no frills, see #1.
#5 Some day, the Mozilla development teams, will find a way to Integrate Thunderbird, Firefox, and Sunbird into something more productive. Just not today.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
you could have said what it was! I clicked on the link saying to myself "Please! Let it be a calendar app!" and, fortunately, it was.
Best Buy can have you arrested
Seems like it would be simple enough for mozilla to have a common folder for usage with all the programs. I think they have install directories and preferences (data too) stored in separate folders, but there's 3 programs for them to use. That means 6 folders. If they kept the preferences folders unified, that should amount to a huge benefit. Of course, IANAP, so I could be wrong. Or maybe I'm stating the obvious...
-Dizzle
"I most likely AM so interested in myself."
I have to say I really dig Sunbird, except maybe for the name.
No, the app isnt ready for prime time just yet, but I've played with it and I really dig it for what it is.
Like most of the mozilla family, Sunbird just sits there waiting to be told what to do. It's FAR from robust at this point, but for a single user that has trouble remembering family birthdays, its not a bad little application. It'll come up to speed eventually, and the fact that with a little toying around I managed to store the calendar inside my hosted website and can have the up-to-date calendar on whatever machine I use is fantastic.
For you guys bitching that it wont automatically synch with whatever youre using: for christ's sake, spend 40 minutes learning perl and you can munge that file into just about fomat you need.
I look forward to the day when Sunbird grows up and is no longer just another open source beta.
s'wut i sed.
Tools > Subscribe to remote calendar...
sPh
Will it let me set an appointment for December 3rd by typing "M-e C-f M-e C-f C-f C-f i d Important Meeting C-x C-s"? Will it tell me when sunset will be in Dublin, Georgia exactly forty-seven weeks from today when I type ". C-u 47 C-n S -82.9 RET +32.33 RET"? Will it schedule a monthly appointment on the fifth day of every month of the Hebrew lunar calendar when I type "g h RET Tishri RET 5 RET i h m It's the fifth day of the month! C-x C-s"?
I'll be sticking with the Emacs calendar, thanks.
Unless this thing will be able to hotsync to a Palm Pilot or a Pocket PC, I see little use in actually using this calendar. I hope that is planned, and I could find a single reference to that sort of thing in the article (by word-search). It's a little length, so - if anyone's already read all through or has some more background info, please tell us wether this is a planned addition or already within it's options.
Leopard cub
Dude, Moonchicken .4 is out!
.5 is out?
.6 is out already?
.7.
.8 keeps crapping all over my system.
.8b compatible? What about FordFalcon .7RC2?
Hey, did you hear Marsdove
Whoa, Son of MoonChicken
I really don't like the default theme in Helioavian
Crap, Venuspigeon
What do you mean your organization isn't Denny's SuperChicken
Finally SunFireBirdThing 1.0 is released!
The article confuses iCal, Apple's calendaring iApp, with iCal, short for iCalendar, the widely used vcal derived calendering format standard. Apple did not create iCal the standard. iCal the standard predated iCal, Apple's application, by quite some time. Apple's iCal the calendering app was one of the first major applications to adopt iCalendar/iCal/vcal the standard (although Ximian/Novell's Evolution beat them to it.) I'm still trying to decide if coopting the name iCal was a purposeful attempt to associate the standard with their application or just an unfortunate, but beneficial, mistake. Confusions like this make me hope that they name some future apps "iNoVeryFastComputer" or "iNoMindStretchingTheTruth" or simply "iSuck".
Nvu is fairly rockin if you ask me. Even if you don't, its still at least good.