If OpenACS can:
- use users of current corporate systems. Most likely via ldap
- thick application like Word can save to CR. Most likely via webdav
- OpenACS can offer its application via web services. Most likely via SOAP, WDSL, etc.
I think this is doable in a six month timeframe with a combination of nsjava, Todd's nsdav work, etc.
And I think we can incorporate many of the basic toolkit improvements (and out-and-out fixes) people have been talking about in the same timeframe.
And we'll have AOLserver 4.0 for windows bundled in that timeframe, as well, I hope.
And hopefully libnsd will be a reality then, too.
And we'll have had six months trying to push dotLRN in the education world, too, and we'll have a much better understanding as to whether or not AOLserver is the major barrier to acceptance there, or in the Windows world, etc.
Six months from now libnsd would potentially make writing a mod_nsd much easier, we'll have a much more solid toolkit that integrates with at least some popular outside services, and all around be on a much stronger footing than we are today.
At that point in time it might well make sense to divert resource to bundle together a mod_nsd from libnsd. Then again, we may learn that AOLserver isn't the marketing horror story folks keep telling us it is. We should be in a better position to make an informed decision.
For me it's primarily a matter of prioritization, timing, and having a better understanding of what we really need to do to get our work more widely accepted.
