> "What this means is that scheduling can now have a
> presence on the [World Wide] Web. It's important because
> it could change the way people use the Internet," said
> a source close to the IETF.
Gotta love those masked "representatives from IETF" folks -- do they fly
around in unmarked black choppers? What conspiracies we weave when first we
conceive to standardize...
Not particularly web-related, but of interest to us, I'd imagine.
> Among the proposals under consideration by the IETF are
> the MHS Alliance Calendaring & Scheduling Interoperability
> Protocol, the XAPIA X.400 standard, the University of
> Washington's Chronos, Versit's vCalendar and Lotus'
> Internet Calendar Access Protocol.
>
> A MIME standard developed by Microsoft is also reportedly
> in the works.
Rohit
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July 18, 1996 6:15 PM ET * PCWEEK
Netscape to host Internet calendaring summit
By _Lisa Nadile_
Netscape Communications Corp. next week will host IBM, Microsoft Corp., Lotus
Development Corp., Campbell Services Inc., and other developers of
calendaring and scheduling software at an Internet protocol summit, sources
said. Representatives from the IETF are also expected to attend.
Netscape, of Mountain View, Calif., declined to comment on the July 24
meeting, as did the other vendors.
The calendaring and scheduling protocols that the Internet Engineering Task
Force and the vendors are currently building will enable users to exchange
data between scheduling systems, regardless of vendor.
They will also allow the exchange of server-to-server calendaring data. For
example, servers could automatically query calendar events and check schedules
for free or busy time. The new standards will also let users mix and match
vendor client and server applications.
"What this means is that scheduling can now have a presence on the [World
Wide] Web. It's important because it could change the way people use the
Internet," said a source close to the IETF. "People will be able to use their
calendaring program to schedule business meetings and personal appointments
such as doctors visits."
The standards potentially could work with any application involving
scheduling, such as contact- or project-management software.
Among the proposals under consideration by the IETF are the MHS Alliance
Calendaring & Scheduling Interoperability Protocol, the XAPIA X.400 standard,
the University of Washington's Chronos, Versit's vCalendar and Lotus' Internet
Calendar Access Protocol.
A MIME standard developed by Microsoft is also reportedly in the works.
Work by Phase2 Software and Campbell Services is also expected to have a
strong lobby at next week's meeting, according to sources.
Other vendors invited to the meeting include Apple Computer Inc., Novell
Inc., TeamWare, Starfish Software Inc., NetManage Inc. and Sun Microsystems
Inc.
Vendors' interest in such standards is high, said another source.
"I think companies know that a standard is in their best interests," the
source said. "There is always a worry that opening things up this much will
cause somebody to lose market share, but in the long run we'll see scheduling
applications benefit because they'll be useful to a greater number of people
and they'll be more relevant," he said.
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