[Desktop_architects] Most wanted Application: Email

Otto Wyss otto.wyss at orpatec.ch
Fri Dec 23 13:38:17 PST 2005


Mike Shaver wrote:

> On 21-Dec-05, at 4:19 PM, Otto Wyss wrote:
>
>> From the Linux desktop survey the most wanted application is an  
>> Emailer. So let’s get this problem solved, a cross-platform Emailer  
>> which is good enough to replace Outlook as the default Emailer for  
>> the masses.
>
>
> Yeah, let's get that problem solved!  Why didn't anyone think of that  
> before? =)
>
> I don't know from wyoGuide, or why it's a requirement

You can equally well read "cross-platform", I sneaked it in just to see
the lists reactions ;-)

Anyway cross-platform is the way to go and will become the future way to
develop applications, that's no questions. And wyoGuide will be the
center of this movement. As soon as the cross-platform movement takes
off you will be confronted with wyoGuide, if you like it or not. Besides
before you ask, wyoGuide does not imply wxWidgets, wxWidgets is just
_one_ good way to code cross-platform (my personal preference doesn't
matter). Please submit any questions regarding wyoGuide not here but to
the wyoGuide users mailing list.

> (or why POP3  needs to be in a separate library

Do you know how many mailers exist, 20 or 50 or even hundreds? And do
you know how many mail access implementations exist? Please don't ask
how many of these implementations have to be corrected if anything
changes in the specs or other improvements are necessary. This library
should have been created long, long ago!

Building a mail library has another positive effect. Assume a "perfect"
mailer is eventually written but it doesn't fit well into e.g.
OpenOffice. With such a library OpenOffice could easily build a better
suitable GUI within a very short time. A good sample how this works is
wyoEditor and the Scintilla editing component. There are at least a few
hundreds projects using Scintilla, all helping the others as well when
Scintilla gets improved.

> (or, TBH, why there are  implementation requirements at all, at this 
> point)) but your  description is not very far from either Thunderbird 
> or post-Windows- port Evolution, as I read it.  (Maybe Kmail, I dunno 
> anything about it.)
>
It should be our task to work out what requirements are needed and then
give it to all the mailer project so they may (or may not) adjust their
solutions.


> The Linux desktop survey didn't make it clear to me what specifically  
> was wrong with the current offerings in terms of email, though I'll  
> confess that I saw it was about enterprise deployment and started  
> skimming.  Clearly (?) there is some critical failing in the current  
> Evo/Tbird/Kmail offerings, but I don't think it's anything on your  
> current list, because that stuff is pretty much covered.

First think a little bit who answered in this survey. I think that first
Linux enthusiasts got attention and that they distributed it to their
friends (maybe many of them using Windows). That means most of them are
either pro Linux or at least neutral but know the applications on
Windows. Another hint in that direction is the thread "What programs
would you like to see ported to Linux?" at
"http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/forumdisplay.php?f=2".

I'm quite sure that most of these people just have a POP3 (I estimate
above 80%) and in the whole world I estimate above 90%. But a rather
large part of these users already have a desktop and a laptop and a
significant part has or considers buying a smart phone. Therefore POP3
handling with multiple clients is rapidly becoming a killer argument.
But instead start fixing mail client after client, defining the API and
building this library should be done.

[off-topic]
Is anyone interested in creating "yet another" mailer which diverts a
little bit from the usual layout of the current mailers? It might not be
suited as a mailer for the masses but it will give some input how a
communication application might look like in the future. If you're
interested contact me direct.
[/off-topic]

O. Wyss
-- 
Application guidelines: http://freshmeat.net/projects/wyoguide/
Cross-platform Editor: http://freshmeat.net/projects/wyoeditor/
Cross-platform Filemanager http://freshmeat.net/projects/wyofiler/






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