Filed under: Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Productivity, Open Source, Social Software
Chandler wants to set you free from Outlook, takes 6 years to do it
by Brad Linder Aug 14th 2008 at 1:30PM
About six years ago Mitch Kapor, the guy behind Lotus 1-2-3, started a new open source project called Chandler. The goal was simple enough: Create an personal information management tool that would allow users to store, share, and collaborate. It would have things like a calendar, address book, and to do list.
In other words, Chandler is a lot like Microsoft Outlook. But there are a few major differences:
- Chandler is open source
- Chandler works with Windows, Mac, and Linux and has a web interface
- You can sync your Chandler tasks with an online server and share them with others
Is Chandler kind of useful? Sure. Is it an Outlook killer? Maybe. Was it worth a six year wait? Maybe not. But now that it's here, Kapor says it's up to the open source community to continue developing the project. And I've learned never to understimate the open source community. If there's a will, there's a way, and this application could be the future of collaborative task management. On the other hand, it's not entirely clear if there's a will at the moment.
What do you think? Is Chandler the wave of the future, or should Kapor have given up on it years ago?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
hessel said 2:44PM on 8-14-2008
outlook killer, yes zimbra ...
http://www.zimbra.com/products/desktop.html
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Jhongerkong said 3:32PM on 8-14-2008
Could I be any more of a program?
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torqueo said 4:41PM on 8-14-2008
"You can sync your Chandler tasks with an online server and share them with others"
And how is that different from Outlook, using an Exchange server?
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Dagur said 8:36PM on 8-14-2008
It's free, open source and not exchange
chrismike318 said 8:16AM on 8-15-2008
i take that to mean a publicly available online server, not an exchange server within your organization.
ZeroCoolFool said 10:48PM on 8-14-2008
well it's a set in another direction. Outlook sucks and mozilla is draggin it's feet to make thunderbird a killer app. Mean while spicebird, eM client, and evolution are all making some head way. Zimba is jusst a port version of yahoo to desktop (it still sucks). I really could careless about email clients. I want a efficient and syncable Contacts client. I know my contact are more important and I dont want them all over the web.
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hessel said 8:16AM on 8-15-2008
Zimba just a port to yahoo ? It's much more if you take the time to look at it seriously ...
MDW said 8:37PM on 8-14-2008
Does it do email?
If not, then it's essentially useless. Judging from the screenshots and the video, it appears to be nothing more than another PIM with a few extra bells and whistles - but not enough to coax anyone away from Google Calendar or Outlook. Spicebird is the one to watch, silly name but the app looks like it could be the next big thing.
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muddyh2o said 8:16AM on 8-15-2008
why doesn't someone make a client that can connect directly to exchange natively?! i'd pay $100 for that and .pst support
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Neil said 7:59PM on 8-17-2008
If that's what you want, you can buy Outlook 2007 for $87 on Amazon...
I've heard Mitch talk about Chandler a few times in the past and it was meant to provide Exchange-like services to small organizations without the Exchange cost and management overhead...he didn't set out to build a client for individuals - he was focused on the organization.
From that perspective, google apps has outpaced him. While it doesn't offer the data push that Exchange does, it provides everyother service I need to manage a small group for free!