Lotus 'Agenda' Returns as Open-Source 'Chandler'

RobotRunAmok writes "Before there was Outlook, or Evolution, or The Brain, there was Lotus Agenda, a DOS-based Personal Information Manager created by Mitch Kapor. Wired is reporting that Kapor is throwing 5 Million USD at the Open Source Applications Foundation to create an open-source resurrection of this PIM-Of-The-Gods in the form of Chandler, available now as an alpha for Windows, Linux, and Mac. For the Agenda hardcore among us, it's as though Atlantis is rising..."

Comments

Great

[slimjim8094]

It's good to see people using money to create open-source programs. There is some expectation of support and quality, and you still can modify it any way you want.

Aside from that, is this a better PIM than Evolution, or another? Why (other than the "oh, it's being redone") is this news? Was/is it revolutionary in some way? I have never used it.

Having said that, I think it's fascinating that the programs creator is using his own money to open-source it. Will we see more of this? I hope so.

Re:Great

[truthsearch]

From a developer's point of view it's a framework for networked apps. On top of the framework it's easier to write chat clients, email clients, RSS readers, etc. that are all connected in some way (e.g. email sender links to chat client).

From a user's point of view it can be an integration of all of your PIM applications. Data from various sources can be viewed in a variety of ways. I think the idea is to create more open and dynamic ways of viewing and integrating the data. I think the developers are sort of hoping new ways of working with emails, RSS, and other data are invented as a byproduct.

Re:Great

[hb253]

Agenda was revolutionary in my view. It was not a PIM in the sense of an address book/email program. It was a freeform database that you could dump text data into and manipulate in ways only limited by your ability and imagination. To this day, there have been no programs released with Agenda-like functionality.

I would gladly pay for a modern version of Agenda.

Chandler has been out as an alpha for years...

[Anonymous Coward]

This story is ancient news. Chandler has been in alpha form for years. Real news would be when it's finally released.

Atlantis rising

[krell]

"For the Agenda hardcore among us, it's as though Atlantis is rising..."

That's pretty good and all that, but you're really never going to be able to get the dead fish smell out of the place. You're also going to have to contend with lawsuits from Namor and Arthur Curry as soon as you set foot in it, too. Best advise your lawyer to play those two off each other.

Chandler...

[revery]

with apologies to both lovers and haters of Friends and particularly Matthew Perry...

Could this project BE better funded?

or

This project is alive with the sound... OF FUNDING!

This Story is Three Years old

[asv108]

The whole "Chandler is going to be an outlook killer," is a three year old story.

So far, they've only managed to produce alpha quality software at best, after more than three years. I always felt that they made some bad technology decisions from the start, like Python is probably not the best language for writing a PIM.

The requirements for this project have gone all over the place. Initially, it was touted as "exchange without the server," using some P2P method. Then it became an "outlook killer," then a "repository," and now they even have a "higher ed version," thats been talked about for some time.

Instead of trying to do a few things really well to start with, this project has become the poster boy for scope creep.

Re:This Story is Three Years old

[bitMonster]

Why is Python a bad choice? It's just a high-level OO language with lots and lots of libraries. Speed shouldn't be an issue with this sort of application. Whatever GUI library they use is surely written in C or C++ with Python bindings. Also, training developers to use Python is very easy (lots of personal experience), especially if they already know Java, C++, or C# pretty well.

Would you have chosen C, C++, or Java or ... what? I think that if the project is taking too long, Python, or any other language like it, would be the last thing to blame.

-Jeff

Re:This Story is Three Years old

[grotgrot]

The reason for the "progress" so far is that the folks working at OSAF are all senior people, some already "independently wealthy". Consequently you get lots of high level design (or as Joel calls it, Architecture Astronauts) but not much actual real work.

Python is a good language for writing a standalone PIM. However I question the point of a standalone program.

Today you can't tell if email coming from Amazon.com is important unless you also have been watching my web browsing. If I was there in the last few days then I'd be excited about what is shipping to me. Conversely if I haven't been in years, then it is spam. A good PIM can only be worthwhile if it takes into all of your activities over time with whom you communicate and that must take into account web, blogs, mail etc. The problem today is not storing information, but making sense of it and working out which is more valuable and when.

Re:This Story is Three Years old

[TobascoKid]

Python would have been a good choice if they were going to rapidly develop Chandler - once they had a working app, they could go through and move parts to C/C++. So they could get Chandler out the door and conquoring the world quick, and then optimize later. But if they had rapidly developed Chandler, you would think they'd be working on version 2 by now. Seeing as the project is moving at glacial speeds with python, it makes one wonder if they would even have released version 0.1 by now if they were writing in C++.