From: Hal Fulton <hal9000@...>
Date: 2004-02-22T08:45:56+09:00
Subject: [ANN] Tycho - A PIM under development

Hello, all.

I hate announcing things that don't really exist yet, but I'm
wanting assistance on this. So here goes.

The idea for Tycho stems from my intense desire to have a good
Linux-based PIM (Personal Information Manager).

See http://tycho.rubyforge.org

Unlike many PIMs, this one is built around the concept of
*random* data -- structureless, unformatted, context-limited --
the kind of data we get in everyday life. This will be the place
to store not just your phone numbers and addresses, but also
your ideas, quotations, account numbers, and anything else that
might go on a sticky note, a napkin, or an envelope.

Tycho is loosely based on an older version of Info Select, a
commercial product for Windows. (In its earliest incarnation,
it was a DOS program called Tornado.)

One of the things that made Tornado (or Info Select) special
was its incremental search capability. Even if you had a pile
of 1,000 unrelated notes, you could find the exact one you
were looking for -- usually within five seconds.

I want to implement all of the most basic features and add some
metadata support. See the web page for details.

In my opinion, IS nowadays suffers from "feature bloat" -- so it
is unlikely I would add all of its features even if I could.
What goes in and what stays out is, of course, partly a function
of who else gets interested in this project and wants to contribute
to it.

So there you have it. Please give me your comments, your suggestions,
and your code. :)

Cheers,
Hal Fulton