[chandler-users] Come on now Š

[Davor Cubranic]

If you're talking about your "Uncharted waters" email from Saturday, it 
was delivered to the chandler-users list.

You normally have to subscribe to a mailing list before you start 
receiving emails from it. Some lists are for subscribers only -- I 
think Chandler's developer-oriented ones are, too, but *anyone* can 
subscribe to them. And I'm pretty sure that the users' list is free to 
post to without subscribing at all. I'm not sure why you got a "bounce" 
error message, but your email clearly did go through to the list. You 
may not have gotten a reply right away, but it is a weekend, and, this 
being a mostly volunteer crowd, you can't expect 24x7 tech support.

Since you have managed to find the application and install it on your 
computer, you must have come across Chandler's web site. Could you let 
us know which parts of the documentation you have read that you found 
were too confusing? Some level of technical knowledge is regrettably 
unavoidable if you get into less well-charted waters like connecting to 
other programs and data providers, simply so one can figure one's way 
around bugs that are may come up. But the basics of the application 
should be explain(able) simply enough for beginner users to come up to 
and use. Those you seem to have figured out fine, but please correct me 
if I'm wrong and we'll try to improve them in the future.

As for Entourage, I don't think I remember anyone mentioning moving data 
from it to Chandler. Maybe try going via iCal (i.e., import your data 
into iCal and then follow instructions for transferring to Chandler). 
If that doesn't work, you're probably out of luck, and have Microsoft 
to thank for zipping your data so tightly.

And one last bit of advice to save you from "wasting your time" in the 
future: you generally don't need to be a programmer to use open-source 
software (as most people using Firefox can attest), but you do have to 
adjust your expectations a bit compared to commercial software, 
especially in terms of the kinds of support and documentation you will 
get. Not that they will be worse, but it helps to think of it as 
neighbours helping you when you get lost, rather than paid guides you 
can boss around when you're on a safari.

Davor



On Sunday 19 October 2008 18:10:53 Mary & Graeme Moyse wrote:
> To whomever:
>  Look I admit to being a bit pissed off, ok?!; but what do you
> expect? Chandler Project read like a great idea I¹m all for Open
> Source; I think the collaborative approach is most likely to
> eventually produce a product I¹d be happy to pay for (if I could
> afford it!). But I can¹t find the handle to open the door ­ I
> downloaded the Desktop and the Hub as recommend, then found I was
> stumped because, being a complete newbie to the scenario, I didn¹t
> know how to seek assistance. I¹ve never used IRC; opening up the
> appropriate window, I had no idea how to activate it Š contact anyone
> else. So then I thought I¹d try posting to a mailing list ­ ³Chandler
> Users² seemed logical. But that resulted in a Œbounce¹ message that
> told me the reasons was ³Post by non-member to a members-only list². 
> Well heck people, I joined the Chandlers Hub ­ I have the appropriate
> email acknowledging my membership, to prove it. I¹ve just worked out
> that (it seems) the Mailing Lists are for OSAF members only,
> specifically those who want to be actively involved in the Chandler
> Project development, or wiki, or whatever.
>
> All I want to do is to find PIM that has the functionality of
> Entourage, without the megalomanic idiocy of that program ­ not to
> mention its failure to accommodate daylight saving.  The layout of
> Chandler suggested it might be the go. But heck, if you have to be a
> programmer of some competence to work-out how to use it, or be Œon
> song¹ with some arcane open source terminology/methodology to even be
> able to ask simple questions, then make it clear from the outset. I
> don¹t have time to wait for a moderator somewhere, sometime to decide
> whether or not I¹m worthy.
>
> So please remove all record of details relating to ³Username:
> GridLok; Password:#FEbrIz59!² - I will endeavour to find the Œproper¹
> way to do so through your website.
>
> Feedback re Chandler Desktop:
> 1. UI is pleasing, being graphically uncluttered.
> 2. At first acquaintance ŒStar¹-ing & ³Tickler Alarm² seemed quaintly
> confusing ­ surely there is much more simpler, functionally
> indicative terms that could be used.
> 3. I for one, won¹t be able to use it until there is a clear set of
> instructions for how, and the capability, to import data sets from
> Entourage (which as far as I can see does not use the .ics file type
> Š though I was able to import my iCal and Address details and, as far
> as I know sync with those programs) - and there was a work-around
> that enabled me to import my email documents. the Chandler
> instructions headed ³ Get your Data Into Chandler Desktop² proved
> singularly useless for someone as inexperienced as me.
>
> So. Hopefully the delightful functionality of which some people are
> quoted as expressing their approval (indeed, dependence on) Chandler
> will become easily accessible will become available to people like
> myself for whom a computer and its software are tools meant to
> facilitate the realisation of other goals in our life ­ and not an
> undoubtedly absorbing endgame of their own.
>
> Graeme Moyse