OMB: Owner-Managed Business

I have been looking at PHP frameworks. One of the ones that looks interesting is Seagull. As it turns out, Seagull Systems uses the Seagull framework in developing Doris, a task list app.

I decided to try Doris out. Doris has some very good features. It is very simple to enter a task. There aren't a dozen fields to enter, and you do not have to associate everything with a start or end date. It is very simple to mark a task completed, without any kind of mandatory time entry (e.g., "How much time did you spend working on this task?") or required comment. I also like the way that the interface allows some drag and drop functionality. This makes Doris a good place to start if you have nothing else.

Unfortunately, I have accounts with Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft Live, each of which comes with a calendar. I also have a web-based calendar account on other servers (using iCalendar or CalDEV interfaces). I have used some time-trackers and project tools in the past (and am seriously considering yet another one). I also use multiple computers (with Mozilla Thunderbird [with the Lightning extension], Microsoft Outlook, and Claws-Mail [with the vcalendar plugin], depending on who the computer belongs to and where the computer is located). I do not currently have a PDA, but I may get one. I do have the Palm Pre (and the Verizon Blitz, which I may be trading for a Centro or Treo soon). A basic prerequisite for any task-management application being useful to me is being fully-integrated with all of the above.

(As an aside, why doesn't Chandler Hub tie all these things together? Then all that Doris or any similar app would need to do is work with Chandler. That would be a great way to move Chandler from a "me-too" application to a "must-have" application.)

Furthermore, I have to track my life, my job, my family members' lives, and the start-up of my business. I am not going to utilize any application that does not make it easy to manage all these things together. Now, I understand that Doris is not time-oriented, but most tasks are. Therefore, Doris should have the option of assigning start dates, due dates, and other time and calendar-oriented requirements to a task. Perhaps add a checkbox to the task-entry dialog "Add calendaring info" that will unhide some additional (optional) fields and behavior options.

Now, this is only my own experience and perception. You will almost certainly bring different prerequisites and have a different experience, so I recommend that you go to the Doris site and try it out. It doesn't meet my needs at this time, but I hope that Demian and the crew will stumble across this and make some changes.

I do have one more comment. When I use a product or service where I already have a username and password, I do not want to have to join yet another site to share ideas about how to improve it. I have nothing against UserVoice (or GetSatisfaction either), but I already have a Doris username-password pair. I have no interest in gaining still another such pair. The best thing I can see is for Dorisapp.com and Doris.UserVoice.com to get some form of single sign-on (SSO) or for Doris to become an OpenID provider and UserVoice to be an OpenID relying-party.