[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kmail-devel
Subject:    Re: KDE task orientation -> Konqueror-KMail integration / Folder
From:       Marc Mutz <mutz () kde ! org>
Date:       2003-10-24 9:17:01
[Download RAW message or body]

[Attachment #2 (multipart/signed)]


On Friday 24 October 2003 07:08, Don Sanders wrote:
<snip>
> I think to avoid confusion, and the need for re-iteration it makes
> sense to commit this written account of the process to cvs in a
> POLICY file.
<snip>

I think the main problem we're having here is that different groups of 
KMail developers have different visions for the future of KMail as a 
stand-alone application as well as a part of Kontact.

I think from time to time those visions should be clearly spelled out 
from all sides involved, so that we don't act childish in public 
whenever a developer seems to declare his personal vision (in mail or 
commit) in a way that hides the fact that it's his.

To boot this, I'll start:

I'd like KMail to go into the direction of what it's currently strong in 
already. I think this is security, internationalization, filtering, as 
well as innovative MIME handling (which it lacks currently, except for 
the MIME part tree viewer).

Security here means better integration of the Aegypten stuff to the 
point that S/MIME and OpenPGP/Aegypten and KPGP combine the best 
features of them to form a multi-protocol client that is even more 
user-friendly as the KPGP-based code is now. It's clear that the 
boundaries between S/MIME and OpenPGP are blurring by the day. I hope 
we can create innovative UIs that expressedly blur that boundary for 
the user, too.

Internationalization here means that we leverage the advantage of a 
Unicode-centric Free Software project and be among the first to 
implement whatever comes out of IMAA. Another open problem that no-one 
(!) has yet solved in the whole industry of messaging systems is 
virtuous and intuitive handling of multi-lingual (or better: 
multi-script) message composing. This is an area where we need to 
innovate and actually do research; an area where we can't copy from 
Outlook or even the master of the art - Mulberry - simply because 
everyone sucks in this area :-)

Filtering here means native Sieve, of course. The area of Sieve GUI 
editors is currently claimed by web-based approaches as well as the 
primitive Mulberry Sieve editor. This is also an immensely interesting 
area of UI design: How do you implement an UI that allows the full 
power of the Sieve language to be expressed in a user-friendly form? I 
don't know. Yet.

With innovative MIME handling I mean composing complex MIME mails that 
help implement the Security and Internationalization points above. E.g. 
mp/alternative that differ in Content-Language only. Or mp/signed whose 
second part is a mp/alternative, allowing a message to be signed in 
both S/MIME and PGP/MIME format. I'd really like to explore how the 
support for this construction is in other mailers. Another area is 
rich-text editing with automatic choice of format (plain, f=f, 
enriched, html, alternative).

Apart from a clear layering (which is a technical point), I think that's 
where I see the strengths of KMail and potentials for enhancement with 
the aim to be different (read: on top of the competition instead of 
copying behind it).

I don't feel the need for KMail to become a document management system, 
or a frontend for one. I think making the reader a part and the 
composer a part or even a separate application makes it possible to 
implement all sorts of interesting custom or standard workflow and 
document management systems, but I believe that's out of the scope of 
KMail as an app, and that's probably what Ingo tried to say.

I see the need for KMail to implement more of the IMAP standard (mostly 
ACLs, SEARCH), but unless it starts itching me, I will not scratch that 
area. We have enough clever people working on that already :-)

Marc

-- 
Nie wird so viel gelogen wie vor der Wahl, während des Kriegs und nach
der Jagd                                          -- Otto von Bismarck

[Attachment #5 (application/pgp-signature)]

_______________________________________________
KMail Developers mailing list
kmail@mail.kde.org
http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kmail

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]