[Zope] Conferencing Groupware

[Jason Cunliffe]

Hello veyone

I am researching Conferencing groupware application designs and platforms. I
welcome any feedback from you all.

My immediate aim is to outline the potential for implementing a system using
Zope. Right now I want to describe a [mageable]indicative sample of
exisitisting ones.

In the back of my mind is always 'XCollage' which was a lovely work also
developed at NCSA around the same time as XMosaic [greatgreatgrandmama of
Mozilla].
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/XCollage/collage.html

Its integrated whiteboard was a particularly nice feature. I only ever saw
Collage running on SGI machines, but I believe it is simply an  One real
plus is that Collage was designed by and for scientists not b2b goons.
"Collage is a collaborative data analysis tool. It is intended for doing
data analysis either alone or simultaneously with several people who are on
the same network"  It embraced HDF, a data format used for earth observation
and much more. HDF has been adopted as a standard format for the Mission to
Planet Earth (MTPE) project, of which the key component is the Earth
Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS).
http://hdf.ncsa.uiuc.edu/


What I really want is that combined with a more 'mature' Zwiki capable of
handling tables and graphics [Flash, SVG, livedrawing]. easy right? ;-)

Do any of you have direct experience with groupware confrencing/whiteboard
tools?
Some have mentioned MSNetMeeting to me...

My interest here is in general functions and features and how they _might_
be integrated with zope, not in starting a ny flamewars. A key issue is the
ease of use.

Zwiki _almost_ makes it except that people seem to get lost too easily and
want more visible structure enabled.
Manila is nice for its clean direct results, but does not run on Unix, is
expensive and also apparently lacks sufficient documentation.
etcetc

TIA
- Jason

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Jason CUNLIFFE = NOMADICS.(Interactive Art and Technology).Design Director