Chandler (software)

Chandler

Chandler calendar view
Developer(s)	Open Source Applications Foundation
Stable release	1.0.3 / April 15, 2009; 2 years ago (2009-04-15)
Written in	Python
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	Personal information manager
License	Apache License
Website	chandlerproject.org/

Chandler is a personal information management software suite described by its developers as a "Note-to-Self Organizer" designed for personal and small-group task management and calendaring. It is free software, previously released under the GNU General Public License, and now released under the Apache License.^[1] It is inspired by a PIM from the 1980s called Lotus Agenda, notable because of its "free-form" approach to information management. Lead developer of Agenda, Mitch Kapor, was also involved in the vision and management of Chandler.

Chandler consists of a cross-platform desktop application (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux), the Chandler Hub Sharing Service, Chandler Server, Chandler Quick Entry for iPhone,^[2] Chandler Quick Entry for Android^[3] and Chandler iGoogle widget.^[4] Version 1.0 of the software was released on August 8, 2008.^[5]

Chandler is being developed by the Open Source Applications Foundation (OSAF). The main programming language is Python, and it runs under Windows, Linux, and Macintosh. It is named after the mystery novelist Raymond Chandler.^[6]

Chandler is also the subject of the non-fiction book Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software by Scott Rosenberg.

Chandler design goals

Chandler aims to create a workflow for personal information management different from that in other PIMs. Its approach is mainly based in creating a unified representation for the storage of tasks and information so that they can be classified in a homogeneous way, refining that information through an iterative workflow, and allowing easy collaboration on the defined items.^[7] Other goals include:

• Build on open source software that supports open standards, choosing projects that are reliable, well documented, and widely used
• Use the Python language at the top level to orchestrate low level, higher performance code
• Design a platform that supports an extensible modular architecture
• For the desktop client, choose a cross-platform user interface toolkit that provides native user experience
• Use a persistent object database
• Build in security from the ground up
• Build an architecture that supports sharing, communication, and collaboration

Reception

The first public releases of Chandler generated expectations to provide a flexible and general information management tool, because of its heritage of concepts from Agenda and usage of principles from the Getting Things Done management method.^[8][9] Early responses praised its open nature and its unified approach to management of different information types.^[10] Despite this, the lack of a stable version and the small developers base diminished public interest in the project. In January 2008 Mitch Kapor announced that he was leaving the board and would only finance Chandler until the end of 2008. After that, OSAF released a 1.0 version. Jake Edge from LWN.net called this move a "last gasp attempt to build a community of users and developers to continue Chandler development down the road",^[11] speculating that the lack of developers was caused by the close control of the project by OSAF, and this end of its funding could attract attention again. As of 15 Aug 2011, there were no releases since almost two years and the project seems to be orphaned.

See also

• List of personal information managers
• List of applications with iCalendar support

References

1. ^ http://wp.osafoundation.org/2006/08/02/chandler-is-now-licensed-under-the-apache-20-license/
2. ^ Chandler Quick Entry for iPhone
3. ^ Chandler Quick Entry for Android
4. ^ Chandler iGoogle widget
5. ^ Chandler Project Blog
6. ^ Rosenberg, Scott. Dreaming in Code. Crown Publishers:New York, 2007, pg 81.
7. ^ "Chandler Project Vision". http://chandlerproject.org/Projects/Vision. 
8. ^ "Mitch Kapor Thaws Fossilware Fave". http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/08/71501. 
9. ^ "Lotus 'Agenda' Returns as Open-Source 'Chandler'". http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/07/1253239. 
10. ^ "Test drive: Chandler PIM". http://www.linux.com/articles/51804. 
11. ^ "Chandler finally reaches a 1.0 release". http://lwn.net/Articles/293743/. 

Note

• Portions of this article are taken from the OSAF website, published under the Creative Commons Attribution License v2.0.

External links

• Chandler Project Official Website