Topics

106

Definitions / What is OpenGoo?

« on: June 24, 2008, 02:53:30 am »

After all this time (Wow, it's only been a year?!) when confronted with the simple question: "What is OpenGoo?" I still find it hard to give a simple, straightforward answer.

Why is that?

First, we started by calling it a 'Web Office'. I even contributed a lot to the definition of the term in Wikipedia, which was later moved to 'Online Office', clear sign that the moderator I argued with was right, it was, and still is, a neologism. But Online Office doesn't sound cool, right?

Then I came across the tags people used for OpenGoo at del.icio.us, and the tag cloud clearly shows that most people would rather call it 'Groupware'. Now, to me, 'Groupware' sounds old. It reminds me of eGroupWare (which I admire, but feel it a bit too Web 1.0), and Wikipedia redirects 'Groupware' to the 'Collaborative software'. Besides, OpenGoo is a great tool for individuals too, not just groups. For instance, it has many of the features of Apple's new 'mobile me.

So how would you define OpenGoo?

107

Announcements / OpenGoo 0.6.6 released

« on: June 24, 2008, 01:56:49 am »

OpenGoo 0.6.6 is out, with lots of goodies:

• Workspace Hierarchy. It is now possible to create workspaces inside workspaces! This allows for more flexibility to organize your work. For example, you could have in your Company a workspace for Development, which you can now subdivide into workspaces for Programming, Testing, Design, etc. When browsing the Development workspace you can see all of the items of all its child workspaces in a single, unified view.
• Better Search. Searching for you files, contacts or mail is much more user-friendly now. Look and feel, as well as the underlying mechanism, were enhanced to improve your searching experience.
• Better Usability. Adding and editing items is now easier. We put lots of thinking into the User Interface (UI), so we expect an improved overall experience. Feedback is not only welcome, but necessary.
• Small improvements and bug fixing. Many small improvements were made and many bugs were solved. OpenGoo is now compatible with PHP versions 5.0 and 5.1.
• Upgrading. Last but definitely not least, OpenGoo can now be easily upgraded while still keeping your information. Starting from version 0.6.4 you can upgrade OpenGoo by following the instructions on the readme.txt file, and you can enjoy all of the new functionality without any hassle to migrate your previous data.

Next Steps

We are still working on making OpenGoo a more stable product. There are several bugs to fix and things to improve, and there's a long list of new features to add. OpenGoo is currently beta quality software, so you are not advised to use it on a production environment. However, it is usable, and in fact we ourselves are using it internally. So one more time: use at your discretion.

Some features that will be available on the next (version 0.7, mid-July) release are:

• Sharing items between different workspaces
• Improved task management
• Overall usability issues
• More bugs fixed (less bugs)

Please help OpenGoo by reporting any bugs you find. You can do so at the SourceForge.net tracker for OpenGoo. Thank you!

108

General Discussion / Vote for OpenGoo

« on: June 06, 2008, 12:21:02 pm »

Is OpenGoo your favorite project of all the world? Or just for a particular category? 

If you think OpenGoo is worthy of an award, you can vote for it at the SourceForge.net 2008 Community Choice Awards.

109

General Discussion / OpenGoo 0.6.4 released!

« on: June 06, 2008, 11:27:04 am »

This is an important milestone for the OpenGoo project. While still a RC of a beta, version 0.6.4 has undergone enough testing and bug-fixing as to make it 'usable' by potential - non-developer  - users.

There are still known bugs, plenty of usability issues, and some features we want add before calling it a finished, polished, first version.

We now encourage everyone interested in testing OpenGoo to install version 0.6.4, and give your feedback, either here or by the SourceForge bug tracking system.

Thanks everyone for helping grow OpenGoo as a community, and towards becoming the best Online Office (and Knowledge Management) suite!

110

General Discussion / Version 0.6.0 (RC1) is for developers only

« on: May 03, 2008, 10:08:56 am »

OpenGoo version 0.6.0 (RC1) has been released. It is aimed at developers only, and for a simple reason: it has many bugs. So please, do not install this on a production server, as you would get very disappointed.

The goal of this release is to serve as a preview of what 0.6 will look like. On the coming days the development team will be releasing frequent versions (at least weekly), improving (debugging) 0.6 quality. If all goes as planned, OGoo 0.6 will reach a quite more stable phase by the end of the month.

Again, bear in mind that the team is still learning to work together, that this is our most ambitious release so far (you will notice that right away trying the preview), and that this is a preview release. With all that said, having you take a look and posting your feedback would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

The OpenGoo team.

111

Ideas / 2008 - Ideas for the future of OpenGoo

« on: March 12, 2008, 02:31:04 pm »

1.   Document templates – We Would like OpenGoo to include document templates. The functionality would be similar to the one you can find in most office suites (such as Microsoft Office and Open Office). It is our aim to include templates for text documents such as budgets letters, curriculums, memos, thesis, reports, etc. Moreover, we are also looking for templates for our S5 presentations (with different visual styles). This task implies developing template support from scratch and researching for a free source of compatible templates.  This task is suitable for developers with knowledge on PHP, MySQL and Html. Javascript, CSS and S5 are not required but could be a good complement.

2.   Data import and export – We would like to provide a feature that provides the ability to export all the data you have within a project in OpenGoo. This data will be easily imported into another OpenGoo installation. This would mean that you can change your OpenGoo provider very easily. This task is suitable for developers with PHP and MySql experience

3.   Mobile device compatibility – We would like mobile devices to have a special interface for OpenGoo. Mobile devices usually have special requirements regarding screen size, bandwidth and processor speed so lots of work is needed in order to adapt the current interface to make it suitable for cell phones and PDAs. We are open regarding which mobile platform we should start with. This task is suitable for mobile developers with PHP knowledge.

4.   Document import and export – Currently our text processor only supports Html format. It is within our roadmap to be able to read and write (import and export) the most important formats such as doc, odt, rtf and pdf (write only). This task is suitable for developers with experience in doc, odt, rtf or pdf formats.

5.   Microsoft Office Plug-in – A plug-in that is similar to the one Microsoft Office Live Workspaces provides must be developed. It will enable the possibility to open and save documents in OpenGoo within Microsoft Office’s applications. Microsoft Office plug-ins knowledge is required.

6.   Forum integration – OpenGoo should include a forum for users to exchange ideas within a company. The task would be to adapt a popular forum engine in order to make it part of the OpenGoo solution. Integration must be transparent, this means users database should be shared, and the look and feel should also be similar among other details. This task is suitable for PHP and MySQL developers. Work with forums and application integration would be valuable.

7.   Blog integration – OpenGoo should include a blog for users to post ideas within a company. The task would be to adapt a popular blog engine in order to make it part of the OpenGoo solution. Integration must be transparent, this means users database should be shared, and the look and feel should also be similar among other details. This task is suitable for PHP and MySQL developers. Work with blogs and application integration would be valuable.

8.   Wiki integration – OpenGoo should include a wiki for users to post ideas within a company. The task would be to adapt a popular wiki engine in order to make it part of the OpenGoo solution. Integration must be transparent, this means users database should be shared, and the look and feel should also be similar among other details. This task is suitable for PHP and MySQL developers. Work with wiki and application integration would be valuable.

9.   Webmail integration – We feel our Web office won’t be complete until we include an email client. Integration with an open source email client is another important milestone in which we would like the community to help us. As in previous tasks, our goal is to make the integration transparent, so user database must be shared, look and feel must be similar and mails that arrive must be available throughout the rest of the system. This task is suitable for PHP and MySQL developers. Work with mail clients and application integration would be valuable.

10.   Live communication – Once everyone in a company has access to OpenGoo, it seems like an excellent way to establish live communications between users. Chat is the first idea that comes into our minds, but we could mention audio, video and even other collaboration tools (such as whiteboards) could be very useful to complement this service. This task is suitable for PHP and MySQL developers. Work with different communication mechanisms (chat, audio, and video) and application integration would be valuable.

112

General Discussion / Thanks everyone! We are back

« on: January 23, 2008, 04:49:23 pm »

Thanks for all the nice messages we have received during our absence.

It is summer (vacations) time south of the equator, so we are just getting back to work after three very refreshing weeks of much needed rest.

Before starting to reply every individual message/post, let me give you a brief status report on the project.

Next Release: Bug fixes only. Why.
Ignacio and Marcos have to work on the project documentation for their University degree. For those of you that do not know it, the way we found to kickstart OpenGoo was to present it as a grade project for Ignacio and Marcos to receive their Engineering degree at UdelaR (Uruguay's National University). That's how we got them working on it. So they have to focus on that for the next month. What does this mean for development? It means release 0.5 will be for bug fixes only.

Future of resources
The fact that Marcos and Ignacio will end their grade work does not mean by any means that the work on the project will stop. On the contrary, they are committed - and so I am - to keep developing OpenGoo.

We are also presenting new projects at various Universities so that more grade students can work on the project. (Like Google's Summer of Code, but without the money  )

As soon as the project gets robust enough for Enterprise use, we plan on offer support and consulting services, so that we can keep on working and generate some income.

And, as we always say, we encourage everyone to get involved and help on the development. This is an ambitious project, we know, so we need a big, international community/team.

Roadmap
We are working on a Roadmap, but do not want to publish it without the certainty that we will meet the goals we set. Breaking promises is always bad marketing, and that applies to Open Source projects too. Right?

Personally, I would like to see many 'modules' added, rather than focus on on-line editing for the short future. The main modules I would add would e:

• e-mail integration
• Calendaring integration
• Advanced contact management
• Advanced tasks management

And the list will go on... But that's going to be a big topic itself.

Online demo
We are working on it. We encountered a couple of issues that makes us feel it is not a good idea to publish it yet. It will be available "soon" (also, no dates promised... again, no promises to risk breaking)

113

General Discussion / Alpha 0.4 released

« on: December 13, 2007, 09:34:52 pm »

OpenGoo Alpha 0.4 has been released!
 
New to this release is the inclusion of the new slideshow editor, Slimey.

Slimey is an open source, web based, slideshow editor, child of the OpenGoo project. This first version includes basic slideshow editing functionality but shows a promising future and has many great features planned
in its roadmap.

Currently Fiefox 2, IE 7 and Safari 3 are all fully supported and it works correctly on Opera 9. We realize it has bugs and issues, and welcome all of your feedback.
 
Other improvements to this version include fixing of the bug that didn't
allow you to change the active project, together with some other small bug fixes.
 
For the next version we will focus on bug fixing and a lot of work under the hood.
 
If you would like to help OpenGoo become a fully featured Web Office, please
contact us to join the project. Even if you have no programming
knowledge you can contribute by reporting bugs or giving your opinion at our
forums. If you are a developer, graphic designer, or feel like you can contribute and would like to help, please contact us here at the forum, or by mail at contact@opengoo.org

Thank you for trying OpenGoo!

114

General Discussion / Alpha 0.3: And the third release is out!

« on: October 30, 2007, 02:52:06 pm »

We have a new version!

 

More details at the blog post.

115

Feature requests / Off-line work

« on: September 25, 2007, 05:02:54 pm »

The most common argument against the Web Office is the "What if I don't have an Internet connection?" question.

While it is true that Internet connection reliability improves by the week, there will always be a case for lost connection for many years to come.

We also know that something will come up in the next few years (months?) that will allow this to be done very easily. But we don't know what or when, right? - At least I am not too convinced by Google Gears yet.

So my questions are:
    When should OpenGoo start addressing this issue?
    How are we going to address this issue?

Zoho is both using Google Gears and working on a MS-Office plugin - Thanks to Marcos "El Cabeza" for the last link).
- Hey, this guys don't cease to impress me!

Zimbra and Think free are doing something about it too.

Any ideas?

116

General Discussion / Alpha 0.2: Second release available!

« on: September 19, 2007, 03:55:35 pm »

The second release, Alpha 0.2, is available!
 
There was some discussion of whether it should be called an alpha, or a pre-alpha. It is not fully functional yet, but as said before, it has all AC's 0.7.1 functionality.

This release extends on the Alpha 0.1. There were installation issues with that release that, hopefully, are now all solved.

There has been a lot of improvement on the spreadsheets and the presentations apps. Still a long way from finished, but the Presentation already produces S5 files (very similar to what the brand new 'Google Presently' does, but standard - and we beat Google by two days)!

Remember, it is still on a very early stage, but a great proof of concept, and you might even get some real work done!

One last thing: We are alway recruiting volunteers! Get in touch if you are interested.

117

Applications / Ajax Start Page

« on: September 14, 2007, 03:06:02 pm »

A very cool App/Feature I would like to have in OpenGoo is a Start Page. There was an article at ReadWriteWeb listing the top 10 Ajax Start Pages. They suggest those are:

• Netvibes
• Pageflakes
• Protopage
• iGoogle
• MyYahoo
• Inbox
• Eskobo
• ItsAStart
• Favoor
• 24eyes

Somebody pointed to POSH as being an Open Source Ajax Start Page. We could give it a try. It might be interesting/useful.

118

General Discussion / Mindquarry

« on: September 04, 2007, 08:30:25 pm »

I stumbled upon Mindquarry again today. They define themselves as a "Collaborative Software", although it is looking a lot like a Web Office.

From their site I learned that it is written in Java, and that it is genuinely Open Source. Their UI is very neat.

They sure have some interesting concepts that we could imitate, and it would also be nice to plan on some future interoperation/collaboration with them.

119

Components / On the presentation compoment alternatives

« on: September 01, 2007, 07:24:34 pm »

We were discussing with Marcos (cabeza) and Ignacio about the possible Slides/Presentation component that will handle the presentations in the first version of OpenGoo. Taking their observations, I would sum the discussion and my opinions so far:

S5

This is the "official" site for the S5 project. Marcos noted that it feels 'abandoned', since the last recorded update is dated 2005.

Even though it might feel that way, I think that S5 still is the best candidate. Why? Because it is one of the only two I have seen working on both Firefox and IE, and Windows and Linux. I even managed to make a presentation for OpenGoo using S5 in less than an hour (And I assure you it would have taken me longer to do it in Powerpoint).

And besides, there is this interesting project: S5 Reloaded. This is an extension of S5 made by Christian Effenberger, who seems to have done a pretty extensive research and work. His effort gives me confidence on this direction.

SlideML
SlideML also seems abandoned, and more so than S5. The Web site is still under construction, and in bad shape. After a few minutes of search I still would not find an online sample. That is a bad sign.

SMIL
Marcos suggested using SMIL.

The main problem with SMIL is that Mozilla doesn't support SMIL. Even though there have been noble individual efforts to tackle the problem, like the work of Doug Schepers at Vectoreal, I could not find one that would transparently work with both IE and Firefox

Slidy
Slidy is another alternative, from which S5 was born. In fact, the linked Slidy presentation (first thing google retrieves for the "Slidy" search) acknowledges that Eric Meyer did in fact improve Slidy

Microsoft and Adobe
Both Microsoft and Adobe have only started clashing on a big fight for the domination of the "Multimedia Web" with their Silverlight and Flex armies.
Hopefully, the Open Source movement will stay pretty much out of the fight, and solving the problem the way it was done with Apache. I wouldn't marry with any of their solutions.

JavaFX
Sun's JavaFX is the usual Sun contender. It is closest to the OpenSource heart, but still feels too underdeveloped yet, and probably too big and complex a set for the simple solution we are seeking.

More
As usual, these are only my opinions, and there are obviously some things I am missing. Do you know what I might be missing? Please share your thoughts.

One alternative that crosses my mind is using the OpenDocument format (OpenOffice's .ods), but again, it feels too ambitious for a first approach...

Some interesting links found on researching:

S5 Tools at Microformats.org
Blog Post at Clipperz

120

General Discussion / Alpha 0.1: First release available!

« on: July 02, 2007, 05:51:53 pm »

The first release, alpha 0.1, is available!
 
This is a very simple release, seeking to kick start community development rather than the final user, although it has all of activeCollab 0.7.1 functionality.
 
This release extends activeCollab 0.7.1, adding the functions:

• 'Add Document'
• 'Add Spreadsheet'
• 'Add Presentation'

and making each file-line height shorter.
 
It also introduces:

• A stub "New Document" form, using FCKEditor
• A stub "New Spreadsheet" form, using TrimSpreadsheets