Spicebird Roadmap

I do understand the wish to make Spicebird talk to Exchange. However, things are changing. In earlier times, collaboration was an office thing. More and more, it's becoming a personal thing. If you focus on Exchange and beating Outlook, then you'll have a fairly limited market. Not all businesses uses Exchange even. A lot og small businesses lacks a good alternative at all, and independent workers, such as people working with Open Source, certainly won't.

I don't think any collaboration suite currently supports Google as well as they should. I'd like to see Spicebird become the first true Google-client, supporting contacts, mail, calendars, reader, talk for XMPP IM, and Blogger for Blogs as Mail. This would be available to _everyone_, free of charge, and not just Microsofts customers in the offices. That would be beneficial to Google too, and maybe they'll lend a helping hand? You'd simply make a Google account, enter your username and password in Sunbird, and everything would be working. You could use Google when you're on the run, and Sunbird when you're home. The data would be the same.

Of course, Sunbird shouldn't be a Google-only solution. It's important to support Exchange, Kolab, Open-Xchange, Bongo, Citadel, and all the other solutions, but if you want to grow quickly, you should attract the biggest market first, then add connectors for other solutions when that's working properly. I think the number one reason why Firefox will out-compete IE in the offices, is that people use it at home, and are happy with it. More users also means more testers and more contributors, which in turn is important if you want to compete with Outlook in the office.

Hello,

How are you planning to do the exchange server plugin?

Please tell me that you will not be using webdav. Evolution took this route and it is sooo slow!

Rob

Many of the task I deal with are directly related to a contact in my address book. When these task are performed I need to update the information for the contact. When I create the task, I want to be able to add a link to the related contact record in the address book so that I can easily update the contact information based on the results of performing the task. So far, the only PIM I've found that has this feature is MS Outlook. Although this feature is important to me, I left Outlook because there are some many other thinks about MS and Outlook that don't work for me.

Thanks for listening
lathanial

Hi,

Any plan to support gpg? Would be very nice ;-)

greez,
dd

First of all: thanks for spicebird - it looks very promising!

I have a few requests:
1. Please keep us posted more regularly about your progress and development - build a community around the product.

2. It would be great if you could integrate some of retroshare's features (retroshare.sf.net), i.e. the protocol, the filesharing abilities, the high level of security and privacy. Also, the adressbook could be visualized like the "network" in retroshare according to aspects like last contact, trust etc. in the person.

3. make it possible to mark emails as tasks and vice versa.

4. give IM the option of off-the-record-messaging (like the otr plugin for pidgin) and give email the option to encrypt easily with pgp (like enigmail in thunderbird, but not as complicated).

thanks again and keep up the good work!

Any idea of when the next release will be? I really like Spicebird and have been using it for a while but I am a little scared running it in beta form.

Citadel (www.citadel.org) is a easy to use and install opensource groupware and it is a killer for Exchange-Server. Please implement an GroupDAV-Connector to use with Citadel!

Christoph

Congratulations to this magnificent piece of software,

my suggestions for the document management component (hopefully soon to come) to make it even more perfect would be:

- thumbnail previews of pdf and doc files
- fulltext search within both file formats (lucene?)
- ability to add tags/categories and subcategories, these being browsable e.g. from a left hand side panel (see Canto Cumulus)
- maybe automatic extraction of these tags from the pdf file properties and/or the folder names they were imported from
- searchable fields for bibliographic information
- automatic retrieval of these information from the web (amazon api -in a way handled by numerous book management programs- and library catalogs -in the way as it is implemented by bibliographic reference management software (endnote etc.)-)
- opening of the pdf documents inside the program, preferentially not by an embedded acrobat reader (ugly and high memory load) but a slim opensource api that making the document melt into the program surface

- possibility to integrate custom databases (e.g. importing an encyclopedia available in access/excel format) and making the datasets searchable together with a document search

Some of the features are already implemented in several different applications, but having them implemented into a single software would be highly useful. Thanks and keep up the great work

Posibility to move Delete mesages in custom folder
As it is realized to Sent mesages and Drafts.

Thanks.

Hi there...

I think spicebird becomes the best email client ever...
I miss the timeline in the roadmap - when will the next version be available?

Keep on doing that great work,
dd

Native import / export for Thunderbird and Outlook
Compatibility with Joomla, Mambo & Drupal
Notes
imap & caldav functionality
Compatability with all major IM clients a'la Trillian or Pidgin (Instantbird?)
Unified address book

The rest I'd leave up to user developed add-ons. I get the notion that you'll have plenty...

Hi Mr. Spicebird,
Outlook Connector is not very importend because u need Exchange Server in Backoffice.

I think a better choise is a "IMAP oder MySQL Connector" for Mail,Calendar,Adress und Task Storage.
I mean handel Calendar and other thinks over IMAP Server or better MySQL Server. The MySQL Engine is on 99% of Webservers installed and works pretty fast and u dont need the huge MS Exchange Server buy and install.
A Small Spicebird Server application like SpiceServ ;) can handel the incoming Mails to the MySQL Server.

only a idea ;)

Integration with a CMS (Drupal), why not Joomla?

Hi spicebird users and developers. Would just like all to know that some help pages have been set-up (by me) at...
"http://getsatisfaction.com/synovel/products/synovel_spicebird"
I just thought this would be a more interactive home for the spicebird community to discuss the product and its directions, rather than this somewhat static list of strung-together comments.
Hope this turns out to be helpful.

I feel relying on jabber/xmpp for realistic multi-network support might be a mistake. There are so many reasons why a pure client-side implementation is preferred, but I won't get in to them all here. The biggest reason is having a single rack of servers acting as proxies is that it is to easy for the big networks to simply block your whole IP range, effectively severing you from any internetworking with the major networks.

And sorry this got so long winded, but I really believe there are some gold nuggets here worth digging for.

I have been developing email clients and instant messaging systems for nearly two decades in one way or another. And I would be happy to contribute to the development of SpiceBird in order to help it realize its true potential as a revolutionary application. ( I am purposely avoiding the over-used phrase of "Personal Information Manager" !!! )

I wanted to point out something I stumbled on recently for your consideration:

InstantBird (http://www.instantbird.com/) is an XUL IM client that already supports something like 11 major IM networks entirely from the client-side (no jabber server gateway servers to get blocked by AOL/ICQ, MSN/Yahoo servers from connecting like they did to jabber.org, et. al.) [ At least, it appears to be fully client-side with no intermediate proxying types of servers -- but a review of the source would quickly resolve any ambiguity here. ]

While I am not a lawyer, I believe InstantBird also uses the standard mozilla/gpl/lgpl licensing and not involve any other hassles: "As Instantbird is an open source project, you can freely download the source code and modify it."
[ Again, some minor research here should prove exactly which licensing options are available. ]

This would seem like better fit than your current selection for an IM source base to integrate.

Finally, i really think the holy grail here is a *unified* address book -- that is, not a separate database of IM contacts versus email contacts ... it should all be one entry. At least kontact/kopete allows you to "link" them together -- but that that's really a PITA. In reality the average contact (email) will have one or more IM identities to which it should refer, so really, we just need a tab on the address book entry/card, that allows to us add/change/delete from a list of IM Ids that refer to that contact. I know I have at least 8 IM ids. It would be nice if i could manage all of John Doe's Contact Info from one gui dialog, including name, address, and all those contact fields and a whole tab of a big list box to which I can add/change/delete IM network ids!

Once this is all *unified* -- then we get really interesting capabilities, integrated into the email composer, the email preview, etc... all based on the single contact lookup and possibly a presence lookup on correlated IM ids, so i can instantly see if someone is online simply by the color of the link of his email address (red, green, yellow, etc.) ... and the right click menu on an email address, suddenly is not limited to email actions like add to address book, but very rich actions, like Send Instant Message, Invite to IRC Chat, Invite to Private Multi-User Chat, Invite to Existing Chat-->[Chat Session A], [b], plus all the real fancy IM features like Invite To WebCam, Request to View Webcam, Dial SIP Phone (ok, something more user friendly there), etc.

Once InstantBird has voice, sip and file transfer capabilities (and with a little help and incentive, I am sure they will.) Most of these should be cake for you guys if you focus on the backend (address book) integration, and then InstantBird could load in as a plug-in or extension with even it's own tab, buddy list on the left instead of folder view, and multi-tab chat session for main area (or run standalone for those users that want it that way -- as the original authors perceived.)

Personally, sometimes i want my buddy list embedded in my mail client and have been wanting that "ability" for quite some time. However, sometimes I want it to float on the desktop -- it all depends on my activities. So having it start in the folder pane with a litlle pop-out button would be perfect for me. When "swallowed", multi-tab chat session panels might be enforced, and when popped-out (regurgitated?) then the standard multi-desktop-window chat mode could be enabled.

Now ... enough IM, let's touch on Tasks briefly:

I would rather see no Tasks and use an entirely separate application, than an Outlook clone of useless Tasks and a crappy reminder feature that only works when you consume all of your ram to have the largest monster application in the world running.

Additionally, a task should be considered at the most global level when defining the properties a task should support. Sure, someone wants to make a grocery list, but others want to make a hierarchical outline of tasks (almost like a ... dare I say it a ... a Project!) And finally, there's no reason not to implement full project management fields (at least allow the data entry and add the Gantt and Resource Views later as plug-ins -- see Architecture below.) Again the motivating concept here should be *unification*.

And finally, that word on architecture:

While I haven't yet had the opportunity to review the source of SpiceBird, I would like to recommend using as much of an extensible architecture as possible. Specifically, I would *love* to have the ability to replace any existing "module" with any other compatible "module" implementation. Specifically, instead of being forced to use your Tasks, I should be able to write my own Tasks plug-in and entirely replace the defualt module with no loss of functionality or integration. A tall order, I know -- but this type of flexibility would be ideal.

Of course, the ability to add new and interesting views at will would be nice, such as the aforementioned Gantt and Reource views on Tasks, or a Timeline view, or, well you get the picture.

Ideally, the ability to add or "link" arbitrary properties (not necessarily user-defined, but plug-in developer designed) to any item would be useful. This would be a great way to implement the IM Ids tab on an address book entry that could provide integration into a more unified IM module than the one that currently appears to only support jabber, and requires a whole separate duplicate entry of all the same contact info I already have in the address book.

Just my $0.02 worth for really making SpiceBird a true Outlook Killer.

I am eagerly waiting for the 1.0 release (which includes the exchange connector). Keep up all the good efforts, guys.

While I think that making Spicebird compatible with Exchange,through an Exchange connector will add a feature that goes beyond what Thunderbird has and a step forward to making it more of a business email client, I think in the end, even with a Exchange Connector Spirebird will not make the inroads into the corporate world. IT Departments are not going to let it happen. It just will be too big of a change, and if the boss doesn't like it, well no one has lost there job by going with Outlook.

Where I do see that Spicebird could make a larger impact, is by making Spicebird more compatible with gmail. With Thunderbird you can access gmail via imap, and through the Google Calendar Provider add on, you can now sync your Google calendars. There are some features that Spicebird could implement. One is to sync gmail contacts, and another is integrating instant messaging, which Spicebird has already implemented.

I feel if you can package Spicebird, as a gmail client, with all the gmail intergration goodness already part of the package, and without the Thunderbird hassle of addons, I think that would be more interesting, and have more potential in taking off. Especially, now that Google is offering up Google Apps. That would give the IT Dept. and option to move away from outlook and exchange all together, and have there email servers hosted by Google.

Anyway, good luck with Spicebird. I have truly enjoyed using it, and do believe it has a lot of potential.

Bravo ! Belay that CalDAV request, you've already implemented it. This is impressive. How about STARTTLS support in the IM client??

Would be an **excellent** addition to your roadmap. CalDAV will, possibly, provide a mechanism that allows clients from differing product vendors to interoperate. Right now there are multiple products that either already do, or have said future releases will, do CalDAV (Apple, Oracle, Bedework, OSAF, etc.). Check out the work at CalConnect.org for more information.

Consider helper tools for mass deployment and autoconfiguration of many clients (by many I mean 1000s of)
Lack of sophisticated mass deployment support is the biggest killer of Firefox and especially Thunderbird (much more options to configure) for reaching corporate users.

Make security updates *security only updates*. Corporate world doesn`t like new features being added every month. Too dangerous....

Thumbs UP!

I would be nice to have the call and voice message feature of Google talk integrated into the IM. I use it a lot for quick chats and leaving voice mails to work collaborators.

Hi Devs,

what about Palm integration or SyncML?

Thanks
Mockus

An important area is note taking, preferably one that allows a tree hierachy to order notes and if possible, that uses an elementary table layout.

Congratulations. I will switch to spicebird once it get the WCAP connector.

Great Job on Spicebird! I'm hoping by the 0.7 release I can finally drop MS Outlook. One simple feature I would like to see is notes. Simple notes with a title and a body would make Spicebird even better.

Spicebird is a dream come true! Great work!

If spicebird is to take off (pardon the pun) we need support for cal/contact/email sync w/mobile devices (Pocket PC ect!)

thanks again

Looks good guys, Please make it compatible with Filemaker Pro, so I can finally say goodbye to MS Outlook for good, ie new tasks saved to the email diary from a FMP database.

Keep up the good work

Is there a chart of keyboard shortcuts available? I love having a keystroke that will toggle between the e-mail message list and the message body. Saves a lot of time. Is it already built in? I know the Tab key will eventually do it, but you have to press Tab many times to get to the message body. OE has such a function, as well as many other e-mail readers.

Thanks!

I am really happy to see the new product .... Great!!!...

And I like the word in the RoadMap "Microsoft Exchange connector" ...

I wanted to kill Outlook.... But Most of the IT companies uses Outlook as the exchange Server.... I am using Thunderbird... but TB doesnt have way to sync Outlook Calendar...

I hope SpiceBird will fill that GAP....

Thanks to SpiceBird Team... Great Going.....

!!! SpiceBird Rocks !!!

All the Best for your excellent growth...

Hi,

(Excuse my English)

I would like to see in a future version the resource of placing emails in a calendar:
1) the email would be sent automatically for several selected contacts.
2) to save the definitions.

Thank you.

Nelson Carvalho
Brasil

Hi everyone,

if i'm right, is there only a english version of spicebird available. Do you need some help for translation English/German?

Sincerely,
UweSch

ich habe gerade das demovideo gesehen, schade das noch keine mac-version verfügbar ist.

Throw in the ability to sync, and add events etc to google calendar and you've got even a better winner !
Throw in the ability to install additionally as a server edition with clients and you can rule the world.

I love what you guys and gals have done so far,I'm hungry for more
The Spicebirds HomePage blows outlook away in even though its in it infancy.

I can't wait to see whats coming down the pipe line.

Al

Just tried out the beta. This certainly looks very promising. i wonder though that besides interconnection with different popular formats for communication, is integration planned with other tools/methods/features often associated with collaboration in projects? Most important matters that spring to mind are resource management and project management.

The most basic resource-management would be a file-browser which aggregates locations, local (local disks) and external (ftp, local disk, etc.) into a simple virtual file system. An extension could be rule-based collection of locations throughout the application (attachments, urls, etc.) into the vfs. Also the ability to reference the vfs across the application would be a great asset.

I know project management is a vast topic, but integrating this would greatly help speed up projects, especially by automating the reporting side. Take away the burden of regular statusreports by incorporating a highly integrated issuetracker (referenceable across the application) with built in time management (estimates, actual times). A more simpler feature to reduce reporting could be the possibility to associate a calendar-item with a topic-based meeting agenda, possibly linked to issues and resources. An integrated editor for the associated meeting minutes would allow for realtime updates (review by participants, late people, etc.). All parties in a project would welcome smoother reporting/accounting and imo it is a killer feature for collaboration software.

Anyway, looks like you're doing great work conceiving a worthy, if not superior, alternative for the established software out there. Cant wait for the 1.0 release!

Spicebird would be really cool if there was a way for one computer in the house to act as a host for calendars, emails, tasks, etc. and other computers to access this information as clients. In other words, something like an open source MS Exchange. Actually, Spicebird is already really cool so I guess this would make it uber-cool. Thanks.

Mark

Hi, spicebird looks VERY promising!!! Its only 0.4beta and I already love it.
Please find some capable co-developers and work on the bugs fast. Its killing me: so nice-looking and cool features, but its just not working smooth enough :-D
And: please keep the community informed about the development. Many many people are VERY interested in this project. Keep us up to date! Thanks!

please add, export an import functions for ical and mobile devices like symbian os (nokia ) thanks

You have to add a tray icon. The next release. How is that not on the roadmap at all. What is it with linux mail clients (Evolution, Spicebird) and not having tray icons. What's the point in checking the mail every 10 minutes if you're wasting space in your window list area? Yes, alltray is an adequate alternative, but just add a tray icon! Have it blink when a new message arrives. That's all I ask.

Even though I think there are other problems with the client, the Task's limited features for instance, tray icon is priority numero uno.

Otherwise, great reader.