[REBOL] Some ideas to collaborative environments
From: jsc::dataheaven::de at: 23-Sep-2000 0:45
We should not invent thousands of new protocolls for a collaborative
environment. Why not using FTP,HTTP,MAIL, IRC and so on in a highly
integrated manner.
1) The notion of "Personal Space" and "Group Space":
I do not want to know where my globally accessible files
really are stored. I want to sit down on a computer somewhere
in the world and have immidiate access to "my" files.
My globally accessible files should be saved in a secure manner.
I call the virtual space where all my personal files are globally
accessible my "Personal Space".
The same rules of the Personal Space counts also for the
Group Space
. A group are some people that share some files
and have need for efficient communication between each other.
2) Where are the files stored?
The collaborative environment server has access to one or more
FTP-accounts. It is possible to use free Webspace-Accounts!
If files are important, they can be stored on several sites. Only the
collaborative environment bothers with the details of storage-locations.
No user of the Environments needs (or should have) access to the
environments storage-places - they only need their user-id and password
to the collaborative environment.
Storageplaces can dynamically added and removed from the environment.
3) How do I search for files?
The files are not simply stored "as is". The collaborative environment is
some kind of distributed database management system. All files can have
user-definable attributes. Files can have multiple revisions (Important if
working with shared files!) Older revisions can be branched..
The use of user-definable attributes should be used to let people forget
that they are working with files. They should think in a more "objectoriented"
manner.
Question:
Would it be better to use a central-server for the collaborative envrionment
like "ICQ" or should we use a more decentralized approach. (E.g. by using IRC
to find the other participants and then create direct connections?)
Jochen Schmidt
[jsc--dataheaven--de]
