(2003-07-07) Phil Wolff Univ Inbox Email Client

Phil Wolff suggests that an EMail client makes the right starting point for a Universal Inbox. It sure smells that way, which makes the MsOutlook Lock-In that much more depressing. I really wish OSAF and Mozilla could find a way to merge (or at least deeply integrate) immediately!

He also thinks the Echo Standards should encompass all flavors of MicroContent: tasks, Group Calendaring, etc. - I think that would weigh it down too much - better to work with existing narrow standards like FOAF, VCal/ICal, VCard, etc. And maybe some way to handle extensions as "attachments". I guess part of the question here is how to syndicate AppLog data into a Universal Inbox: is it OK if you throw away the structure in that feed? The posting is just a notification, and if you need structure you follow the URL to the host WebApp? See AppWiki, Object Browser.

Let Echo support extensions without predefining them. --Phil Wolff 2003/07/09 02:13 GMT
I want lots of narrow standards. But N Echo is about transport, about conveyance, about wiring. Why not provide for arbitrary xml packages, to be optionally used or ignored? That way those who want to extend functionality have a straightforward entrypoint for syndication, aggregation, and blog posting of other objects. We don't need to define a spec for baseball scores as part of N Echo, just a way for those who do to syndicate them.