Raindrop. What does Mozilla cook for us?

How not surprising, but I found on Habré only one short mention of this very interesting and promising Mozilla project . The project is not even in the Alpha stage, but it is often positioned as the main competitor of Google Wave, although in its essence it is not. In any case, Raindrop deserves attention.
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So, what is Mozilla Raindrop . The main goal of the project is to create a convenient means for organizing, managing and perceiving by the user various types of messages from different sources.

• Combining various methods of communication used on the Internet: E-mail, Twitter, Skype, social networks, instant messengers.
• Automatic separation of messages by type and category, creating a hierarchy of importance.
  For a clearer understanding, you can give an example of the alleged division of messages into categories:
  
  • Messages sent to you by another user
  • Discussions (“New Comment on Habratopik ...”)
  • Mailings to which you are subscribed
  • Notifications ("The green man is now you on twitter", "Vasya removed you from friends in LiveJournal")
  • Alerts ("In your favorite store discount on everything up to 30%", "CEO's birthday after 3 days")
  
  
• Creating an API that allows third-party developers to create their own applications based on Raindrop and extensions for it
• The ability to view images and videos right inside the message (For example, the message contains a link to an image or video on YouTube. Raindrop will allow you to view it directly in the message viewing area).
• An opportunity to work, both from the computer, and from the mobile phone.
• Ability to install both on the local computer and on public servers.

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Thus, the user will not need to install several different applications to work with different types of messages and go to many sites to check for new messages.

The project is being developed within the Mozilla Messaging community using the Apache CouchDB document-oriented database, the Besprin development environment and the Python programming language.

Presently

As mentioned earlier, Raindrop is now in the prototype stage and is not suitable for everyday work. The current version will be interesting rather for those who can not wait to see what Raindrop will be and / or want to participate in its creation. The following account types are supported: E-mail (IMAP), Twitter, RSS, Skype. How does the last try to personally I did not succeed (I just do not use it). It can be seen that the work on the project is ongoing and thoroughly: in two weeks of use, I managed to see 3 completely different interface options and constant improvements in functionality. If Raindrop didn’t know how to work with RSS a week ago (only allowed to read news headlines), now it’s already possible to read news. Images and videos in the current version are not displayed. As for the areas of work, the priority at the moment is called: creating a simple installation package, so that everyone can try using Raindrop and creating a default interface that is simple and convenient for most users. Since the project is open, customizable and extensible, soon after the official release, it is likely that a large number of extensions and themes will appear that allow each user to customize the interface and functionality in accordance with his needs and wishes.

A small look at the current version of the interface. In the main inbox window displays all new messages from all sources at the moment. Upstairs is the main navigation bar that allows you to navigate through folders and types of messages, as well as manage contacts (some of the functionality does not work yet). The viewing area displays messages divided by type. For each message there is a standard set of operations: reply, delete, send to the archive, mark as spam, identify the sender (who is this?).



The new message creation area opens directly on top of the content of the current window and also contains a standard set of fields: the sender (drop-down list), the recipient (you can enter or select from the drop-down list), the subject and the message body. So far, only in text form.



Raindrop and Google Wave:

With the release of the Raindrop announcement, there are a lot of articles that mistakenly position it as the main competitor of Google Wave, although the projects are completely different in nature. Most likely this point of view could have been formed in view of the two most noticeable similarities: combining personal and group messages in one place and the ability to view videos in messages. The most correct thing in this case is to give an opinion on this account of the Raindrop developers (free translation):

Google Wave is an attempt to create a new form of messaging. We approve of their desire for innovations in this area and, if Wave becomes widespread, we will look for ways to work with it through the Raindrop interface. Meanwhile, at the moment, the main goal of the Raindrop project is to create a convenient tool for combining existing messaging tools.

To try

Installation instructions for those who decide to try the current version are here . Below is an example of a simple installation on Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala:

Install the necessary packages:
sudo apt-get install couchdb python-twisted

Mercurial is recommended for use with Raindrop.
sudo apt-get install mercurial

After that, copy the latest version of Raindrop:
hg clone http://hg.mozilla.org/labs/raindrop

The automatic configuration script will check for the presence of the necessary components in the system and install the missing ones:
%___raindrop/server/python/check-raindrop.py --configure

You can then set up accounts , run CouchDB, and use Raindrop. To receive messages in the last 3 days
%___raindrop/server/python/run-raindrop.py sync-messages --max-age=3days

It is worth adding that to work with Gmail you need to switch the interface language in the settings to English (otherwise the following error occurs )

I did not manage to set up RSS and using the account settings file, so I set it up, according to the developer’s advice .

Take part

Raindrop is an open product and anyone can participate in its development. Developers offer users to fully participate in the development of the project, to express their suggestions and ideas to make the project better. Here are some of the resources devoted to the project:

Mozilla Labs Page
Raindrop Wiki
Here you can read news, ask a question, create a bug report and share ideas.
Interface screenshots, design ideas, etc. In particular, here you can upload your sketches and ideas for the future interface.
Raindrop on Google Groups
Design Philosophy. In addition to familiarization, you can comment and leave wishes.
Desing Brief.

Total

The project looks very promising and can become a serious competitor to existing email clients and instant messengers when the declared functionality is implemented. Looking at how quickly the project is changing for the better, I want to believe that this time is not far off.