[Zope] Good realtime chat / whiteboard applications to be used with Zope?

[Heimo Laukkanen]

Jens Vagelpohl wrote:


> the bog-standard open source IRC servers that are used all over the 
> internet are usually "fire and forget". you configure and start the 
> server and it runs and that's the end of it.

 

Ok. Then possibly only thing that would need to be done is a way to 
monitor and possibly do simple controlling of the server, like restart 
the server.

  
> why java? most if not all jave clients are unstable and clunky. why not 
> just instruct people do download and use a *real* IRC client for their 
> platform? ok, you might lose the convenient "user clicks here on the 
> intranet and the java client fires up and does the right thing", but how 
> important is that compared to all those issues that you will come up 
> against, inevitably, with java client, such as::
> 
> - instability
> - platform compatibility/browser compatibility


Good points. I am only thinking about the ease of use, or atleast the 
ease of beginng the use. Applet could be easily included on frameset, 
where the whiteboard applet would be too.

Or if we free our mind and just think about an application that would 
have both the whiteboard / workspace and the chat, then we have more 
freedom for thougth. In my scenario, just thinking it up, it could be 
downloaded and launched as a Java webstart application. Downloaded 
only first time and after that just launched again and again. Just 
like ArgoUML.

Just a thougth.

This kind of application would be nice. Especially if the workspace / 
whiteboard part could be almost anything. I mean people could program 
different kind of workspaces where poeple can interact - think abaout 
the possibility of working on top of a powerpoint presentation, where 
everyone could leave marks on top of pages and chat while doing it. Or 
going to more extreme. Playing a movie and making marks on the screen 
in different timeframes.

All and all. What I am looking for, should be:

   1) Easy to use, for the end users
        - intuitive, fast, doesn't need additional installations or 
downloads

   2) Easy to maintain, for administrators
        - server part would be fire and forget and very little 
dependant on other things.

   3) Easy to take in use inside the intranet
        - users only click a link
        - notes, chat etc. should be easily saved and archived into the
          intranet

-huima