Slashdot Mirror
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."
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
Software: Review of Mozilla's Sunbird Stand-Alone Calendar Application
Posted Sep 03, 2004 - 06:58 AM
Printer friendly page Print this story Send this story to a friend Email this to a friend
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
That may be true, but I remember not too long ago having trouble getting T-bird to open links in firefox if I clicked on them, and firefox wouldn't open mailto links.
That said, there is also a calendar plugin for both of these programs that can be made to use the sunbird calendar (all use the same file format, and you simply point them to the same file). A bit more work, yes, but ultimately useful.
I suspect that now is the time to speak up, and they will be able to fix the problems before a 1.0 release occurs.
"We don't know what we are doing, but we are doing it very carefully,..." Wherry, R.J. Personnel Psychology (1995)
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..."
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/
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...
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.
I agree, however, certain applications have reached a sort of commoditized maturity and dont really benefit from further additions.
Not to say that calendars couldn't improve. Sunbird could do things like allow for RSS feeds from public calendar sites such as a theoretical ticketmaster or local band, theater, sports team, etc.
You do a pub/sub thing and when you look at your calendar you can filter through events or ideas and see events that you may be interested in and when they are. Why browse 5-10 different web sites when are trying to schedule a cookout or meeting with clients?
In fact I have been thinking about adding publish/subscribe type features to some of my company's products.
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.
#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.
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.
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".