Online Version in the Future?

[osaga]

Will an online client version of MLO every be complete? It seems very logical to do this.

Love the app,
Thanks

[Yury S. Chistyakov]

any comments on this?

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mylifeorganiz...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to mylifeo...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/7e931865-4afb-4eda-882e-800544511967%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Dwight Arthur]

On Monday, October 20, Yury wrote:

any comments on this?

2014-09-30 18:32 GMT+04:00 osaga <osh...@gmail.com>:

Will an online client version of MLO every be complete? It seems very logical to do this.

I don't know whether a web version of MLO is in development or not, but I do have a concern. Presumably one of the objectives of a web version would be to enable me to access my tasks easily and quickly no matter where I am. However, this would probably also enable lots of other people to access my tasks easily and quickly no matter where they are, so long as they can guess or sleuth my password. I would not like to see that happen.

 

[Trish Putnam]

Understood, Dwight. Unfortunately, for those of us with unsupported phones (for example, me and my lovely Windows phone!) it's very difficult to justify using MLO without some means to access our data. A web interface would be a logical way to do this.

It would have to be opt in, of course. Your data would only be accessible if you opted to allow it.

I would likely choose to have two different files - my general to-do list would be exposed, as that's the one I usually access from my phone, and the other one would  not be exposed to maintain it more securely.

Or, as we move ever closer to a universal Windows OS, perhaps in some future version it will all be moot for me...😎

---

From: Dwight Arthur
Sent: ‎11/‎10/‎2014 19:26
To: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MLO] Online Version in the Future?

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mylifeorganiz...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to mylifeo...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/fd1b5360-57ab-480b-a662-f9c6f43c145e%40googlegroups.com.

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi, Trish. The advantages of a portal to tasks in the cloud is obvious and compelling. It should be done, for the reasons you describe and many others. If there were a separate cloud containing only the data of people who have opted in, I would be fine. If the portal drew its data from the existing MLO Cloud database (the one used for cloud sync) I would be okay if the data in the cloud were all subject to strong end-to-end encryption and never existed in the clear anywhere in the cloud *except* for people who opted into the portal service and thereby waived encryption. But the easiest thing to do (and therefore the most likely) would be to build an app that would provide an interface to the data in the existing cloud. Even if such an app refused access to data whose owner hadn’t opted in, I would be uneasy. I would view it as the equivalent to securing a bank vault with a padlock, and also a sign that said: Caution: do not break padlock.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/54619e1b.6ba7420a.53a1.5e5a%40mx.google.com.

[Spencer Holguin]

Dear Sirs,

I am a long time customer / user of MLO.  After looking for many self organization tools, I found MLO's concept simply the best.

But (IMHO) I think it is *very important* to develop a web based (browser) client.  Even though I like MLO the most, I some times jot down tasks by opening a new browser tab (<Ctrl-T>) and using trello.com, keep.google.com or any.do wish has its own app too.

I think that it should be consider a *strategic* issue that could even define MLO's sustainability.

Please consider it.  It would be great to have my favorite task manager online.

------------

[robisme (Olivier R)]

The main issue is: resources I guess.

I'd prefer MLO team to enhance existing platforms than to spend time on new one.

That said, as a workaround - since apparently it's just about "jot-down tasks" - perhaps can you make use of the "task by email" feature?

Olivier

[andy.h...@gmail.com]

+1 for an online client version - perhaps could be an easy way to provide WYSIWYG printing functionality with colors & Rich Text Formating.

On Tuesday, September 30, 2014 at 9:32:46 AM UTC-5, osaga wrote:

[Tomer]

An alternative idea, that would actually be better for security purposes - use the portable usb stick option!

Sure, it requires creating a habit of having a small tiny usb stick with you (or in my case - a 2tb hd) but that could easily fit in your key chain/wallet.

I haven't tried it yet, but the idea is that with a portable version of MLO you can run it from any computer, and even gain the benefit of extra security.

That kind of eliminate the need of a web-only interface - though I still believe it would be smarter for the MLO team to invest their time and efforts on one computer-based software only, instead of developing both for PC and for Mac.
Translating the code into an html5 will allow one product for PC&Mac users and it's also available for offline use.

But again, usb stick is also totally an option for running MLO from different computers, but Apple's....

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi, Tomer. The biggest problem with MLO for me, at this point, is that there are several important functions that I can only use on Windows. I actually do have a windows machine with MLO on it, but I don’t carry it around with me, and when I need to use it, there can be a several days delay before I can proceed. If I had a stick with MLO on it, but could use it only on a Windows machine, it would be marginally better – I could go to the library and use one of their machines. If their multilayer security utilities don’t zap my stick, I could get some work done. But it’s still wretchedly inconvenient. The only thing that would be convenient would be if I could do what I need to do on my phone. Maybe some day there will be a usb stick that I can use to juice up my phone. Or maybe there will be an html version that I can run from any browser including my phone. Or maybe I should be looking into something that will let me access my office windows machine from the road via my phone, so I can use my desktop’s function without having to go in to the office.

 

The other side of this issue is that the security on the MLO cloud file is not very impressive. Creation of a web interface for accessing the cloud data would lower the security bar at a time when it needs to be raised.

-Dwight

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mylifeorganiz...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to mylifeo...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/bef7bd3f-61ac-428a-89ab-5522773aa3c8%40googlegroups.com.

[Alan Limebeer]

I too love the app! I've been using MLO on-and-off since it was a PocketPC product. Previous to my current implementation, which I've been in for the last six months or so, I never fully committed to using MLO as my sole task and project manager. Since I've dived in whole hog this time, it has become an invaluable tool in my quest for "mind like water" (I often wonder if I'm the only one who finds that phrase awkward and ridiculous sounding) and I've explored and expanded the feature-set items I use regularly, with wild success. Since taking the comprehensive plunge, I've truly been experiencing a mental freedom devoid of the stress and anxiety that I'm missing something. Coupled with the automated list limiting features, I've finally got a GTD implementation that let's me collect EVERYTHING! while at the same time, boils my daily to do list into a flat, manageable 10-12 items.

So, aside from a few idiosyncratic and personal nice-to-haves that it doesn't do (yet, hopefully) I consider the desktop version to be "feature complete", for my uses at least. But, as the modern computing platform has evolved to include 5-inch touchscreens that we carry with us everywhere we go, there's always new work to do. Mix that multi-platform smartphone environment, each requiring a separate and non-reuseable codebase that has to be built, maintained, and extended separately, along with the rise of the MacOSX platform providing a user-base large enough to make writing software for it sustainable, the Development and Management of a product that supports them all is a software company's biggest challenge, and a development team's manager's largest headache and source of nightmares.

In this modern computing environment, the write-once, run-anywhere holy grail (that Java was supposed to be, but never can be while the windowing system and UI elements have to be hosted in the sandbox) is the software maker's idea of heaven. With the release and refinements of the HTML5 standard we're closer to that than ever before.

This is all to come around to my suggestion that the Android, iOS, and any other mobile platform currently in development be frozen at the next version in favor of an HTML5 version which will be functional on any platform that supports a strict HTML5 browser. Additionally, it opens up the online feature that many (myself included) would love to have. 

I can only speak for myself, but I would anticipate that one might object to such a proposal because regardless of the advanced capabilities of the HTML5 environment, it will never be able to reproduce the full functionality of the desktop OS version. To which I'd answer, first, you'd be surprised, and secondly (and more importantly) it wouldn't need to. Something I've been noticing in recent years is the common perception or belief that a 5 - 12" touchscreen based interface should and can do everything a multi-monitor keyboard and mouse based interface can do. Spelled out this explicitly, its an obvious straw man, but this is truly what seems to be a commonly held belief and conviction in the IT/Computer/OS/Device Manufacturer industries. I think the realization is starting to dawn that these very different platforms have very different use cases, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and each with their own ideal solutions to different problems and activities. Rather than these small screens directed by touch replacing or subverting the workstation, instead, they're an extension, and an addition to the capabilities granted to us by their use. 

This is all to say that the online and mobile versions of this fantastic don't need to be of the kitchen sink variety, but rather, only need to provide the capability to perform the kinds of tasks suited to on-the-go mobile task management. I'm not going to go into any more detail here since the last 45 minutes shoudln't have been spent writing this, but I'd be more that happy to discuss these ideas further if anyone is interested in engaging. 

Just two last quick things to mention. The first is to offer an real-world example of a company and software tool that took exactly this approach when they turned to implement their online-based outliner tool on mobile devices. Prior to getting back into MLO this was my go-to tool for task management. And while it's a fantastic tool, my task list of hundreds of items finally out-grew the manageability capability of straight-up hierarchical outliner (though the developers have added many features beyond basic hierarchical list management since, including due dates, tagging, and dozens of other features). It's called Checkvist, and can be found here:

https://checkvist.com/auth/index_b?utm_expid=12887342-5.NGwmvD7YQZqaulJjAq0RVw.1&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fcheckvist.com%2Fauth%2Flogin

The second thing is a comment only tangential to the OP but it addresses comments I've been reading recently that indicate a dissatisfaction in the userbase with the MLO development team's seeming withdrawal from the community and lack of current information, regular updates, and a general silence from what was once a largely interactive relationship. This is common as products and companies grow as the challenge to produce commercially viable software quickly starts to put the community development in the backseat. I beleive this happens primarily due to antiquated software project methodologies and I want to suggest to the MLO management team that they take a look at these two modern approaches to product creation software development. The first is:

Running Lean

http://leanstack.com/

 

And the second, probably much more commonly known:

Agile Methodology

http://agilemethodology.org/

[Dwight]

Hi, Alan.
You present a compelling case for an HTML5 implementation.  My concern is that if my profile were accessible in this way I would feel the need to purge it of account numbers,  passwords,  unpublished phone numbers etc. This would reduce the value of MLO for me.

I'm pretty certain that any affordable security can be broken by well-funded professionals today and by millions of teenagers in a few years.

Perhaps the time has come that t need to move everything sensitive into the encrypted password vault and keep it out of MLO so that I can participate in the benefist of a web version of MLO.
-Dwight
Mlo betazoid on Android sgn2

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mylifeorganiz...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to mylifeo...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/62774ea9-b233-4a89-b2a8-a3686fe43426%40googlegroups.com.

[Александр Смирнов]

If you are using MLO Cloud, it is time to worry about a possible hack of the cloud file )

However, I have long said that using HTML5-core (or similar) would simplify and unify the further development...

вторник, 21 июля 2015 г., 20:50:06 UTC+3 пользователь Dwight Arthur написал:

[Spencer Holguin]

I would also like an online (HTML5) version of MLO.

So many things are right now in the web, anyway.    Google Apps for your domain, Gmail, Hotmail, Outlook, web.whatsapp.com, even banking has online tools.

Maybe a branch encrypting feature could satisfy both requirements.

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/mylifeorganized/tBn_qXHkPBQ/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to mylifeorganiz...@googlegroups.com.

To post to this group, send email to mylifeo...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/e2e0b875-ba5b-4208-933b-eca68c7717c6%40googlegroups.com.

[Christoph Zwerschke]

Am 22.07.2015 um 22:33 schrieb Spencer Holguin:
> I would also like an online (HTML5) version of MLO.

Though these seems to be natural today, keep in mind MLO is a very
complex app. If you want to provide the functionality and comfort of the
Windows desktop app as a HTML5 app, you need to created a very
sophisticated RIA
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Internet_application), it's not like
your everyday webapp. For a developer, this is not easy, because
currently everything is like a whirligig, browsers provide new features
like ES6 every day and your new and shiny framework to build a RIA today
is outdated tomorrow. So I could understand if the developers hesitate.
On the other hand, I don't know if the web platform will ever become
more stable again or if this tearing pace of change on the web will
continue.

-- Christoph

[Dwight Arthur]

I don't believe that an MLO implementation in HTML5 will *replace* the three platform-specific apps, for the reasons outlined by Chris. But I believe that a subset of MLO functionality could be found that would be viable to build as an RIA, that would be useful to MLO users who are away from their devices or that are using a windows phone, raspberry pi, chromebook or other unsupported device.

But the idea of building a robust encryption capability into an MLO/HTML5 is frightening. First of all, it's hard to do. Facebook incorporated has poured a lot of resources into encryption for WHATSAPP and according to several reports they still haven't got it right. Meanwhile, they have attracted a lot of hostile attention of law enforcement people. It's not just a matter of invoking a cryptographic function. There's the question of where and how keys will be safely stored (especially challenging for an RIA), distributed, changed and revoked.

I would rather follow the suggestion that Trish P made earlier in this thread. I will keep two profiles. Any task involving sensitive data will go to the secure profile which will sync via wifi and will exist only on my devices. Tasks without sensitive data will sync via the cloud, and someday I hope to use MLO/HTML5 as a user interface to the cloud data.