My profiles:
As recently as 18 months ago it seemed there wasn't much to handle software product development except either bug databases, generic wikis and intranet platforms, or maybe expensive and (for my purposes) cumbersome enterprise software, which is not what I'm interested about.
Now that I'm looking again at this though (we need something to keep our growing team in synch at Soflow), there are at least three new applications meant to address the need for the right mix of structure and flexibility:
Atlassian provides both issue tracking and collaboration but I'm looking for a single tool that seamlessly supports the whole product management and development process, from business case to user requirements to functional specs to tracking development progress, tests and debugging. Borland has CaliberRM but it needs its own server (the fact it comes both with a web and a desktop client is attractive though) and is not exactly cheap. But if I look in that direction there are plenty of requirement management tools.
Here are my notes so far:
Sure, Organizr is great, and the folks at Ludicorp work impressively fast. However, please stop calling it and others like it web applications (I'm not saying its creators do, but others introduce that confusion, starting with Macromedia). This is a Flash application that doesn't expose its state to its host browser (to the best of my knowledge, by definition). ActiveX didn't turn COM into a web standard and likewise Flash isn't part of the fabric of the web. (It's impossible that you read this weblog and confuse the web for the internet, right?)
No wonder Organizr behaves like a desktop app, that's basically what it is, because what is Flash but a desktop runtime that happens to be integrated with most browsers? As an aside, it's funny to think that Microsoft helped Flash get its ubiquitous reach and ultimately become a development platform (rather that just a nice animation player) in order to prevent Netscape from becoming... an ubiquitous development platform. Well done Macromedia!
Back to arguing that you need to support REST to be a web app. For example, if I use Organizer's nifty widget to select a specific timeframe (which reminds me of Photoshop Album's smart recognition that time is an intuitive way to access pictures), there's no way I can share that specific state with you since the URL stays the same. Or maybe using Flash for applications makes you part of the invisible web (Flash content is not invisible to search engines anymore), like all those databases hidden behind POST forms and authentication walls. Can you belong to the web even if your content repository or application state is hidden from it? Anyway, there's an API for those inclined to complement the Flash interface with a web app, and my architectural comments are not meant to minimize Ludicorp's achievement.
08/19/04 update: read the comments, Organizr is actually a web app once you put it in the broader Flickr context. It's just a matter of better exposing the relevant URLs right from the Flash tool. This goes to show Flickr has sound fundamentals and room to grow. Exciting stuff! Also, Anil Dash and Robert Scoble chime in.
08/24/04 update: The Flickr crew not only listens, it follows up fast. Organizr now exposes URLs for selected photos and sets. If you can likewise surface the URLs for search queries, tags and date selections, I'll be a very happy camper!
11/11/04 update: Jon Udell: The state of rich Web apps.
11/20/04 update: Kevin Lynch: Making Rich Internet Apps Web-Friendly.
05/10/05 update: Flickr moves from Flash to Ajax (now live).
08/18/05 update: An Interview with Flickr's Eric Costello.
The Web Accessibility Toolbar:
"has been developed to aid manual examination of web pages for a variety of aspects of accessibility. It consists of a range of functions that:
- identify components of a web page
- facilitate the use of 3rd party online applications
- simulate user experiences
- provide links to references and additional resources."
This is a must-have that lets you do more with a web page than what a dozen different bookmarklets could offer. IE only.