Daniel Kasak wrote:
I still haven't heard a convincing argument as to why anyone needs an
email client integrated into OpenOffice. Why is it so much easier to
send an email when the window title says "OpenOffice" instead of
"Evolution".
First, you're setting up a strawman by focusing on only one function of
Outlook-style PIM apps, namely email, and then even worse, implying that
there are no integrative interactions between a PIM and the rest of an
office suite -- or at least that any interactions are insignificant.
But your worse mistake is the use of the word "needs" in the first
sentence. There is very, very little that 99% of computer users do that
they actually "need" a computer, much less any particular software, to
accomplish. Email? Write a letter, pick up a phone. And you don't need a
word processor; a typewriter or a pen will do. I got through engineering
school ('78 - '82) with nothing more than a calculator and graph paper.
The point is that computers and software aren't primarily about need so
much as they are about speed and convenience. So anything that makes
life easier for the user, even a little bit, is a legitimate target of
software development. Then the real question is how would an OOo PIM be
better than a third-party standalone.
1. Completeness. For better or worse, and for whatever reason, it has
become a consumer/user level expectation that an office suite will
include a PIM. MSO has one. WordPerfect Office has one. The old Lotus
SmartSuite had one. Hardly a day goes by that someone doesn't take the
time to write in requesting it. OpenOffice.org just seems incomplete
without it.
2. Integration. Whether you personally use them or not, there are valid
integrative/interactive functions between a PIM and an office suite.
They may or may not be an everyday thing for you depending on how you
work, but many people utilize them. And honestly, how much interaction
between the existing components of OOo do you use on a regular basis?
Most of the time I use them as if they were separate apps, but on those
occasions when I do something like embed a spreadsheet or drawing in a
text document, I expect that I will have better results with a suite
than with separate apps. You _should_ anyway. So if, for example, I'm
using an OOo PIM as a datasource for a mail merge, I would expect that
to work better, more smoothly, more reliably, and more automatically
than using some other external database.
3. Look and Feel. This is easy to dismiss, but it shouldn't be. There is
real value to the fact that the menu structure and UI design is
consistent among the various components in OOo. It enhances productivity
because common items are in predictable places. I rarely use Impress,
but when I do, I know where to look for things in the menus because they
are in the same places as they are in Writer or Draw and they have the
same nomenclature.
And who said, there can not be made a better mail/PIM application than
Evolution, Kontact, Thunderbird or whatever ? ? ? They are NOT far as
flawless as it is claimed to be !
If the alternatives you listed are not perfect, then this is a very good
argument for NOT starting an email client from scratch - ie it is
obviously a large task, and one that will take a long time and a lot of
resources to complete. Why not make the open-source alternatives that
have been at the game for YEARS now just a little better?
You wouldn't be starting from scratch. It would be more like the
addition of the Base component. The address book, emails, contact items,
to-do lists, etc. could all be stored in native HSQLDB databases. This
would have the advantage of scalability up to enterprise level with
relatively little work. The HTML editor, while almost useless for
designing a website, is perfectly competent as an editor and display
engine for text and html email. The major coding would be the calendar
and the UI. Not insignificant, but nothing like starting completely from
scratch either. And this is open-source, right? One big happy friggin
family? Surely there's some code out there OOo could adopt and adapt,
the same way HSQLDB was incorporated.
It's still just a mental barrier that people have to get over.
OpenOffice doesn't include an mp3 encoder, or a P2P client, or a game of
tetris,
I forget the magic incantation, but Calc has a Star Wars game in it.
or an email client - and nor should it.
Is that a moral judgment? The word "should" is a value-laden word.
If people still insist
on jumping up and down and insisting on one, then they only have to
actually code one to make it a reality. But the *great* majority of
people interested in writing a good email client are already attracted
to other mature projects ( relatively speaking, but particularly in
relation to OOo's email client which currently does not exist ) such as
Thunderbird and Evolution.
Adopt and adapt.
Keep in mind that the main goal of OpenOffice is *not* to 'compete' with
Microsoft Office. The main goal is to offer an open-source office suite.
Horsefeathers! Since when is Sun a desktop software company? If you
really believe that the motivation for all this is some high-minded
ethical malarkey about freedom, then you are hopelessly naive. This is
directed squarely at loosening MS's grip on the software industry so
that SunSPARC and Solaris might survive. It's a more-or-less coordinated
attack by Sun, IBM, and Netscape who all have their own reasons.
--
Rod
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