[Zope] Developing a general groupware platform in Zope/Python

[Eron Lloyd]

Does anyone think it would be practical/feasible to develop a groupware
platform in Zope at this point? I'm thinking very big here, taking it to
heights that Worldpilot never mentioned, linking email, workflow,
filestorage, newsgroups, project management, contacts, journals, Web
presence, jabber messaging, calendaring, and Web service interfaces.
Following the development of Zope 3 and component architecture, things
are looking very promising. The combination of Python 2.2 and Zope 3
could be a *major* glueing layer between multiple service backends (like
IMAP, LDAP, SQL, Jabber, etc.), and something like this could probably
be attemptable using that as a toolbox.

I'm building some of the components already, such as vCard/iCalendar
python libraries, and the possibilities of using Zope to do groupware
stuff is very exciting. The type of platform I envision would enable
(real-world) community groups to take advantage of all the useful
groupware services afforded to companies without having to setup
Exchange or Domino. phpGroupWare has the right idea, and I believe that
if it can be done in PHP, it can seriously be done in Zope.

Should I hold off for a while, and let Zope 3 gel some more, or am I
completely off my gourd in attempting this? I've gotten some inspiration
from that CrankShaft Zope product from Spoke Technologies. Does anyone
know what happened to them, anyways? This is the sort of thing I'd like
to emulate, only it would be an open-source platform and target
community groups, grassroot activists, and small non-profit agencies.

Thanks in advance,

Eron



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