Chandler

1
Chandler

• ISR
• June 2004

2
Chandler

• Open Source Personal Information Manager
• Email, calendar, contacts, tasks, free-form items
• Easy sharing and collaboration
• Server optional
• Linux, Mac, and Windows
• Modular and extensible platform

3
Heart of Chandler

• Organize and structure information the way people
  would like
• Rich ability to associate and interconnect all
  kinds of items
• Ground-up rethink of user experience including
  sharing and collaboration

4
Project History

• June 2001- inception, vision statement. 3 people
  (birth)
• October 2002 - Web site launched, source code
  publicly available. 8 people. (childhood)
• February 2004 - first production quality
  infrastructure code, rationalization of
  development process. 20 people. (adolescence)

5
Chandler Roadmap

• Chandler 1.0 (Canoga) suitable for individuals
  and small workgroups
• Chandler 2.0 (Westwood) is our first version
  designed for institutional adoption. Plan of
  record Q4 2005
• Next release (0.4) is scheduled for Oct. 2004
• We are recalibrating our long-term schedules

6
Chandler Snapshot

• Basic architecture framework in place
• Repository
• Chandler Presentation and Interaction Framework
• Scheduling and Notification Framework
• Content Model
• Making the first experimentally usable release
• Enter and edit items and collections
• Organize and share items and collections, e.g.,
  calendars
• Basic security

7
Chandler 1.0 (Canoga)

• Competitive PIM feature set a few compelling
  cool features
• Target info-centric users
• High volume information transactions
• Information spanning multiple domains and richly
  inter-related
• Low reliance on organizational infrastructure
• Self-declared technology enthusiast
• Routinely collaborates with other info-centric
  users
• On campus small departments and workgroups

8
Chandler 2.0 (Westwood)

• First version for campus-wide adoption
• Target students, faculty and staff in higher
  education
• Supported by 2.75 MM grant from Andrew W. Mellon
  Foundation and a group of 25 universities

9
Key Westwood Features

• Nomadic usage and central repositories
• Standards based calendar client
• Full interoperability with standards based
  infrastructure
• Robust security framework
• Next level of maturity in features, performance
  and robustness

10
Why Open Source

• I started with a product vision
• No viable path to sustainable business model via
  proprietary development model
• Success of open source in OS and middleware
  highly suggestive for applications

11
Is it really Open Source?

• Building Blocks
• Built on other OSS projects Python, Berkeley DB,
  Open SSL, wxWidgets, Lucene, etc.
• OSAF contributes back to those projects
• Tools
• CVS
• Bugzilla
• Tinderbox
• Licensing
• Hybrid license GPL or commercial

12
Our Culture

• Values matter
• We value design integrity, product quality,
  inclusive respectful workplace
• Is there life after stock options?
• Better alignment to open source culture, native
  engineering culture

13
About Software Design

• Software design as a distinct discipline
• An autobiographical aside
• What architects are supposed to do for buildings
• Why software design IS NOT user interface or user
  interaction design
• Software design in practice at OSAF
• Working groups and the Design working group
• Learning to separate the discourse
• Designers and developers working together
• Software design as a profession

14
Transparency and Participation

• Public mailing lists and wiki for design,
  architecture, development discussion,
  documentation, product planning, meeting minutes,
  developer journals
• Process transparency itself cannot remove
  barriers to participation

15
Community

• The ideal
• Prerequisites
• Builds and Patches
• Code

16
Key Challenges

• Constrain and mold ambition without losing the
  spark
• Increase rate of progress without exploitation of
  the staff
• Build community while maintaining design
  integrity
• Transition from benign dictatorship to greater
  democracy

17
The Bigger Picture

• Is Chandler an Outlook killer?
• Why a non-profit?
• Creating a vibrant ecology
• Will open source win on the desktop?