Author Archive

News for the New Year

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Late last year, I had the distinct pleasure of joining the OSAF board. I had gotten to know Mimi, Katie, and several other OSAF staffers over the years and had watched the project evolve with some interest. Chandler had gone through a very public awkward period, but it had also gone through a less public maturation period. Chandler had become something that was very cool, something that I’ve been using every day for almost a year now. More importantly, I found the larger vision exciting and the unique development process compelling.

All that said, I had a bit of trepidation when Sheila and Mimi approached me about joining the OSAF board. OSAF was in the process of transitioning from an organization with paid staff to an unfunded steward of the Chandler code. The Chandler code was in the process of being rearchitected, something that was much needed, but wouldn’t be complete before the OSAF transition. I wasn’t sure what the future held for the project.

The more I talked to the Chandler team, the more those fears began to dissipate. Everyone in the community — developers, designers, and users alike — was excited about the project and its future. So were Andre Mueninghoff and Alex Russell, who ended up joining the board with me.

Last November, the new board spent two days together in San Francisco, where my enthusiasm reached a new high. Chandler has a ton of things going for it:

  • Chandler is unique in that it’s a task-oriented tool for managing your information
  • You can access Chandler anywhere, thanks to the lesser-known Chandler Server and its superior support of standards, such as CalDAV.
  • Chandler works with the iPhone. It plays nicely with Apple iCal, Google Calendar, and Evolution. And again, because of its support of open standards, the mashup possibilities are endless.
  • The Chandler community is active. New versions of the Server and Desktop were released last September and October. The user community is active, friendly, and growing.
  • The Desktop rearchitecture is going swimmingly, and it’s going to get Python developers excited, not to mention users who will benefit from its new design.
  • The people are great.

I can’t reiterate that last point enough. OSAF’s transition to an all-volunteer organization will soon be complete, thanks to thebehind-the-scenes effort of Sheila and Jared. The future of the project rests not only on the power of the ideas, but on the passion of the participants.

With this in mind, for those of you already participating, thank you! For those of you thinking about participating, please engage with us! Join our mailing lists or come on our IRC channel, and find out how you can help!

Happy New Year!