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List:       kde-pim
Subject:    Re: KDE PIM Roadmap (Call to action)
From:       Christoph Bartoschek <bartoschek () gmx ! de>
Date:       2001-06-15 10:39:36
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Hi,

here are some thoughts about a KDE PIM architecture:

From a user's point of view there are several objects which schould be 
managed
by his Personal Information Manager:

All Documents (Koffice, Latex, soundfiles, ...) created by himself
emails
contacts
appointments
to-dos
notes
...


But there is till now no way to organize all information in a logical way. 
Maybe two questions help to clearify what I mean. Which documents
belong to project xyz? Which documents did I exchange with person xyz? In 
a filesystem based hierarchy you cannot easily answer both
questions. If each of your folders hold documents belonging to a project, 
you cannot answer the second question. If there is for each contact
a folder, the first question can cause headache. In real world it is even 
worse. Most people I know have seperate folders for text-documents,
presentations, spreadsheets, ....

There are always several views on any document hierarchy and a powerful 
PIM should not focus on only one view. I propose storing all
documents in a database (filesystem, RDBMS, flat files, IMAP, ...) and 
linking information together by associations. The most important
association is a project. To a project belong:

general project information
emails
contacts
appointments
notes
to-dos
journal (keeps track of time spent in several actions)
documents
...

But each object itself is an association by its own. A contact for example 
is an association of:

the contact information
email traffic
common appointments
common documents
...


But there can also be an association of all textdocuments, of all 
contacts, an so on.
There are several ways to provide such information. A whole-in-one 
application like Aethera or Lotus Notes can provide a tree-view of
information like in the picture I have attached. A KIOSlave lets you 
browse through your information repository. (Even Exchange Server 2000
provides this feature)




A little more complicated is the design of a PIM Subsystem. There are some 
topics:


Security:

This is the most important topic and should always be thought first. The 
subsystem should be able to check each message for viruses.
Outgoing messages can be signed and encrypted in an automatical way. If 
KDE ever wants to conquer business desktops, the subsystem has to fit
into a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) or another certificate, encryption 
and signature hierarchy. Public Folders are protected with ACLs.


Several kinds of Information:

connectionless message-based (email, news)
connection-oriented stream-based (video, sound, telephony)
connection-oriented message-based (Instant Messaging, synchronous working 
on the same office document)


A whole bunch of Information Provider:

pop3
imap
flat files
DBMS
...


Information Storage:

The holy war.


Synchronisation and Replication:

Information can be Replicated between different repositories. You can 
decide what, when and how to replicate. Synchronisation is important
for all handy and palm users.


WebAccess:

You should be able to access your information anywhere in the world. But 
there must be a better way than WWW. (I do not like the web :-) )


Workflow:

For business it is important to provide a framework to do workflow like 
with lotus notes/domino and ms exchange server.


Document Management:

Versioning and document history, Full Index of your Information


Resource Management:

The subsystem should be able to manage meeting rooms, beamers and other 
resources. 

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