tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730474471866890424.post6395128010726210310..comments2023-03-17T02:23:03.210-07:00Comments on ConjureBunny Blog: People on the DesktopChilton Webbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13609653785901722454noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730474471866890424.post-15673654595557920132008-03-12T23:23:00.000-07:002008-03-12T23:23:00.000-07:00Hi Frank,I did use PowerTalk very briefly. I liked...Hi Frank,<BR/><BR/>I did use PowerTalk very briefly. I liked the general idea, but found the implementation too complex a the time, and it didn't work with any of the mail servers I was using. <BR/><BR/>That said, I played with the idea of using an address-book vCard style background behind the People icon, and multiple drop locations for various services.<BR/><BR/>But I think I have a better solution, which I will be implementing soon.Chilton Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13609653785901722454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8730474471866890424.post-12569320525477561562008-03-12T09:38:00.000-07:002008-03-12T09:38:00.000-07:00Chilton -- You're probably familiar with Robb Beal...Chilton -- You're probably familiar with Robb Beal's Spring, which was another program that modernized the desktop to better handle the objects we interact with today.<BR/><BR/>Another bit of prior art that's worth looking into is Apple's PowerTalk/Open Collaboration Environment. <A HREF="http://db.tidbits.com/article/2403" REL="nofollow">Here's a TidBits article on it, from 1993</A>. Essentially, PowerTalk provided a way for developers to define network-aware catalogs of information. As shipped, there was a network browser, which allowed you to see other users on your LAN and to send them documents, which showed up in a PowerTalk "mailbox". Apple promised support for a number of mail servers and directory protocols, but I don't remember how many shipped.<BR/><BR/>In PowerTalk, People were 1st-class objects, represented by a Rolodex-style card. If they could be reached via multiple services, the card had multiple entries, much as Address Book has a line for e-mail, chat, phone number, etc. Dragging a file to that entry caused the OS to try to transfer that file to that entity via that service.<BR/><BR/>Dragging a person could be used to make them an e-mail recipient, add them to a calendar entry, or add them to a new group of people.<BR/><BR/>People would then be grouped into either informal groups (Accounting), or service-based groups (CompanyServer's users, Mailboxes on your LAN). The informal groups would appear to map onto Conjure's clusters.<BR/><BR/>At the company where I worked, our Mac dev team mocked up a version of our inhouse office suite using PowerTalk that integrated calendaring, phone, and e-mail services. If implemented, it would have taken 4-5 closed applications and reduced them to server catalogs, accessible from any PowerTalk-capable application.<BR/><BR/>I haven't used Conjure, but it appears that a similar setup would work, with some way of setting default contact methods or even by letting Conjure access and extend Apple's AddressBook, for which there's an API.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06300089555042776178noreply@blogger.com