That is the approach that first came to our minds. Then we decided to use JBoss as the platform. We are Java gurus (
ok, we know Java).
We could use the JBoss Portal and write portlets for each app. JBoss already has
portlets for Wikis, Blogs and Forums.
Then... we might get very popular with the JBoss crew, but everybody else is going to seat there and stare, and all other platform's fanboys will be criticizing and expecting our failure.
We could have used Joomla as a framework. Even WordPress might be a good start (did anybody notice how 37signals' Highrise interface looks a
lot like WordPress?)
Plone and Rails are other strong candidates.
We could write YAF (Yet Another Framework).
And then the idea of "the mashup" became slowly a good option. Google is doing it. Microsoft has now popfly (that is why Ignacio brought it up), Yahoo has pipes...
So, OpenGoo could attempt to bring one up. After a lot of thought, I started convincing myself that is not that hard, and there could be huge benefits: We would stand on the shoulders of other communities, having (indirectly, of course) much more support. We would empower other projects, instead of competing with them. Each piece could be easily replaced by a completely different app, over a completely different framework.
The
OpenGoo.org site intends to be a proof of concept. At the time, the main page and the about sections are static html. I used this
free template from Solucija to build it. Then I though maybe someone adapted this template for WordPress. Turns out
someone did. Now if I get to adapt this template to the forum, the wiki, the spreadsheets... I think that is kind of what Google is doing (adding a couple of orders of complexity magnitude).
Next steps would be to have a single sign on and automate the template transformation to export a simple index, header, sidebar, footer and css to each app, and we already something that looks and acts quite integrated. Unifying contacts information would be next. And then... I don't know, my neurons are aching, plus I have a cold today.
I look forward for your input.