An intro and where to from here?

Hi all,

I'm new to the list and am currently digesting the last 2 months of
postings.  I pity anyone coming in at a later date.

From what I've read so far, in the postings and on the web pages, I feel
I've finally found a group of kindred spirits who have the vision, wit,
and experience to finally bring computing resources to the masses
without the complexity they've had to endure. 

Going against the recommendations of single topic e-mails (sorry, the
kids are screaming and I've got a lousy sore throat) I've attempted to
cover a lot of ground here.  Time is short so I'll get on with it.

There has been much discussion regarding the best ways to disseminate
the information and general chit/chat behind this project.  There has
also been mention of Python, wxWindows, wxPython, Jabber etc., as core
languages and API's - great choices. There have also been many
suggestions regarding ways to deal with the human element of
communications in general.  Good reading! 


-----
A bit about me:-

I've been a self employed (sole employee) programmer, analyst,
consultant and general support person for small to medium business for
over 20 years and have developed a love/hate relationship with hardware,
software and business as a result.  

Over the last 10 years I have been researching development tools,
strategies and standards in the hope of finding a viable combination to
develop a business information management tool to replace the apps I've
written for others over the course of my career. I find it comforting
that the languages and API's I've found here parallel those I've
shortlisted as a potential starting point. Maybe I haven't totally lost
the plot. The daunting prospect of developing an all encompassing
solution as a sole programmer has been almost too much. Perhaps together
we can find a way.

Personal:-
Male
Age 44 (but who's counting?)
In a wonderful relationship with a special woman and 4 children.
Self employed sole developer, consultant, salesman, support since '87
Actively pushing Open Source for 4 years
Developed several packages (Need to eat, lousy employer!)
	- Accounting
	- Drawing Office Management
	- Personal productivity
	- Nassi Schniederman editor
	- on-line help systems
	- and much more.
Read and write most programming languages
Devour almost everything in print to do with IT and humanity (expensive)
Living in Queensland Australia (nice climate)
Geographically challenged (would love a job with OSA).
Interests too many to list but include:-
	- the two SciFi's Fact and Fiction
	- humanity and interpersonal communications
	- hoping computing will fulfill it's promise (more free time)
Personal goals
	- responsibly raise my family
	- to help make prosperity an achievable goal for all humankind
	- survive taxes and provide for the future
	- help formulate a better form of governance
Personal hates
	- Artificial intelligence (aka automating bad assumptions)
	    There's no such thing! 
	    The intelligence vests in mankind not machines.
Most people call me Peter.


=====
Suggestions:-

Fast track summary web pages:-
These pages could inform the newbie as to current status, ongoing
discussions, decisions that have been made etc.  This would simplify
involvement and help to point the new recruits to the relevant sections
of the project. Personally I would have gone there first as the prospect
of digesting the threads even 30 days from now would be daunting to say
the least.


-----
Release Vista binary to developers:-
Releasing Vista, even if buggy, would provide a very quick overview of
directions and current thinking for prospective developers. It may even
prove useful in the short term for collaboration.  

I would be interested in examining the shortcomings of Vista. It is only
through examining our mistakes or the mistakes of others that we can
progress. If Vista has merit, then let is see it! If not then let us
learn from it!


-----
Jabber:-
Consider using Jabber as a means of communication for the developers,
visionaries, planners/etc? I would be prepared to set up a Jabber server
for this.

Jabber could also be used as a core framework for disseminating
code/binary updates etc., (publisher/subscriber?) not just during the
development phase of the process but also for end-users when the project
reaches maturity.


-----
General comments:-
Communication is at the core of all human endeavor. Without it there can
be no progress! Therefore basing this project on communication methods
(e-mail, I.M., calendaring etc) has to be the prime focus. 

If we look at the big picture, everything is communication. An
accounting system communicates financial information, stock holding,
shareholder equity etc., a drawing office management system communicates
where to find specifications, drawings, who the client is, how they can
be contacted, when they were contacted etc. B2B systems communicate
products, services, pricing and more to prospective trading partners. A
contact manager... ad nausea.  

Most PIM's attempt to address the general communications problems -
e-mail, phone numbers, meetings, appointments etc., - but fall short as
they don't address the overall management of information pertaining to
the subject at hand. These issues are generally relegated to other
packages or systems and therefore fail as information is lost, misplaced
or stored in incompatible systems.  Will the Chandler framework address
these issues?  

If not - how can we correct this shortcoming? If we don't, then it's
just another PIM and will be of dubious value, other than it being Open
Source and being developed by the sharp minded readers of this list.


-----   
RDF, XML and standards etc:-
I applaud the adoption of standards, however in themselves, they are not
a silver bullet. One of the reasons I abandoned Mozilla as a front end
development platform was it's reliance on RDF as a standard data
interchange/storage medium.  In itself, RDF, has merit, however, when
developing applications that need fast data validation from large data
sources, it becomes almost useless unless high bandwidth channels or
dedicated servers are available. Imagine listing inventory items via RDF
across the Internet on a dial-up connection against a database of 20,000
items. Not workable! 

By all means let us adopt the standards but bear in mind their
limitations and application.  Think outside the square and beyond our
experience to utilize the works of others and develop better solutions
to existing problems.
   

-----
Overcoming complexity:-
How best can we overcome the complexity that comes from hierarchical
structure?  As soon as a tree structured environment is introduced into
a development process fragmentation results. Abstraction of the various
layers of an application results in complexity and therefore is doomed
to failure as complexity breeds! It becomes more and more difficult to
absorb the multitudinous nature of application software as it reaches
maturity as layer upon layer of complexity (built in the name of
simplification) is added to a framework. 

As "Chandler" is in its infancy I would suggest we all take a long hard
look at this issue and hold "Simplify, simplify" as a basic tenet during
the development process.


=====
In summary:-
I consider myself in good company on this list and hope that in some
small way my thoughts and experience may help.

I look forward to contributing.

Yours sincerely,
Uwe (Peter) Feldtmann.


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