[openbeos] Re: Data or App Centric?

There is a *lot* of really good stuff in this thread. I don't have a whole lot 
to add, since I have talked about all of this stuff ad-nauseum in editorials. 
Personally, I am huge into data-centric. Open standards and OS support for data 
reading and translation. The Mail Kit is a key example. I choose to use Beam. 
Others may use Tracker. Others may still use PostMaster. Or something else. The 
whole point is that you can switch quickly and easily between them because the 
data is all in a common, extensible format.

That is the key and one huge advantage that we have over Windows - nimbleness. 
Another arguement against ports, as well. Let's say that you could port 
Outlook. With its internal mail database and contacts list. Yuck! We can do 
things like add a (small) number of concepts that work like email. Faxes, for 
example. Image acquisition is another. IM Kit is a third. All of these things 
can be expressed very simply in the OS and various front end tools to meet 
peoples preferences can be easily constructed because the app doesn't have to 
do all of the work.

Michael

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