[Zope] Future of Zope

[Brian Lloyd]

> > We are also keeping an eye on developments in the Mozilla community,
> > and the things they are working on look like they could be very 
> > promising as a foundation for eventually providing a much more 
> > usable and robust interface to Zope without losing the benefits 
> > of the through-the-web model. Such a thing would fit better with our
> > standards-based approach than a totally non-std java interface, and 
> > using XUL and some of the other Moz technologies would allow Zope to
> > provide a rich interface and still remain easily customizable.
> 
> 
> And don't forget the ZIE-project using Microsoft's proprietary
> API to enhance the UI ;-)
> As I understand it, XUL is proprietary Moz-tech, right?

Well, it may be "proprietary", but it is Open Source (IOW, it
would be no more "proprietary" than Zope itself). I don't know
too much about the MS api stuff - but you're correct that there's
no reason better UI couldn't be accomplished with both. Our focus
is mainly on Moz due to the Open Source factor.

> With a web browser installation rate at approximately 70-30
> it's impossible to ignore Microsoft, where one likes it or not.

Well, you certainly can't ignore if from the standpoint of making
your Zope-created apps compatible with it. From the standpoint of
making a better next-gen Zope management and app development interface 
though, IMHO browser marketshare or mindshare are not really that 
important.

We have a cross-browser mgmt interface now. What we want to get to is
to have something better and more powerful as an alternative. If using
the more powerful interface requires using a particular tool (no matter
what it turns out to be), then our sense is that that is a reasonable
trade off. Realistically, the core goal is a better UI, so any decisions

like that will have to be based on merit and compatibility with Zope's 
business and technical goals, not market share. And as always, Zope is 
Open Source, so anyone who felt that we backed the wrong horse could
always "correct" the situation :)


Brian Lloyd        brian@digicool.com
Software Engineer  540.371.6909              
Digital Creations  http://www.digicool.com