topic Re: Future Enhancements for Alfresco Desktop Sync in Alfresco Archive

Future Enhancements for Alfresco Desktop Sync

chaoticneutral — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 20:42:37 GMT

Hello,I completely understand where the client is at in its development and know that it's still only in Beta. Your focus on the basics in making it a solid foundation for future revisions of the sync client is much appreciated, applauded, and in all honesty needed/refreshing. It's frustrating when

Re: Future Enhancements for Alfresco Desktop Sync

nicolasraoul — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 06:35:09 GMT

Hi Tigh,

I totally share your willingness to have users connect to the company's Alfresco repository rather than to any third-party.

The ability to associate custom workflows/code with documents is something that any growing company will need sooner than expected, and that's not something Dropbox (or any SaaS offering) can do.

Also, the pricing does not look like much at first, but actually it would quickly becomes expensive for most companies.

About Dropbox's version control feature: if I am not mistaken it is website-based (like Alfresco), right?

Cheers!
Nicolas Raoul

Re: Future Enhancements for Alfresco Desktop Sync

chaoticneutral — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:34:53 GMT

Hi Nicolas,

You are about 98% correct. If you right-click a file in your local Dropbox folder and view the options within the Dropbox right-click menu, you can select "View previous versions". From there it takes you to the version control page for that selected file. So, it's essentially a simple link in the menu, but useful regardless. From the user perspective, it's easy to use and very simple functionality which our users love.

It would be incredible if you could eventually view versions of a file within the Alfresco Sync client itself. That would put Alfresco yet another step ahead to help us compete against these consumer solutions like Dropbox. But even if it was a right-click -> view previous versions which then opened the web page of the file within the Alfresco system, it would be competitive functionality. What I hear from our users on a constant basis when researching solutions against Dropbox is "as long as it has the instant update alert on my desktop like Dropbox when files sync, instant syncing the second a file is updated on the servers, and viewable versions, you would have an easily adaptable solution". Of course, easier said than done hah, but it's a legitimate perspective nontheless.

Again, I can't expect instant solutions while the application is still even in beta, but I am curious as to what the development path is for the Desktop Sync client to see if it can compete on a decent level. If Alfresco can furnish a solution like Dropbox (similar functionality/features … not necessarily the same, Alfresco would definitely benefit to differentiate to an extent) for internal use that ties into Alfresco, that would be a game changer in my humble opinion.

Re: Future Enhancements for Alfresco Desktop Sync

jpfi — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:54:44 GMT

Hi,
Dropbox is a simple & easy-to-use tool from a end-user perspective…but "the devil is in the details".
As far as I know - pls correct me if I'm wrong - tools like dropbox does not transfer the whole file if a file was changed, they just transfer the (binary) chunks which have been changed.
Alfresco Desktop Sync is just the 1st version of a tool that is really going to hit the market if Alfresco keeps investing here.
cheers, jan

Re: Future Enhancements for Alfresco Desktop Sync

chaoticneutral — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 19:47:10 GMT

Hi Jan,

Thank you for joining the conversation! You are absolutely correct. I am definitely not doubting this one bit. Alfresco is an incredible product and one which we are very interested in investing our time and resources in. The devil is indeed in the details which is why Dropbox is NOT seen as an Enterprise level solution.

The issue here is finding ways to convince or even "sell" the product to an end-user whom is not, nor will be, interested in the details. They see what works for them and that's about as far as an end user will invest their time. If it's not easy to use and doesn't offer intuitive functionality (similar to Dropbox) from a user perspective for a global workforce, it will not be adopted if your user base has any freedoms in your IT environment. The most efficient/best way to compete is always to offer a solution that works on an equal or better level.

I'll use this example: Project Manager requests Dropbox be used for their whole team of about 35 users. IT responds by presenting multiple solutions that don't fully stack up in the way of user functionality compared to something like Dropbox. Said solution is implimented but over time IT finds that the solution is not used often, only adopted by some, or even worse, they continue to use/seek Dropbox because it's easy to use with required functionality and IT couldn't furnish a literally comparable solution as it generally doesn't exist yet. Again, this would typically happen in an environment with a more relaxed control on the user computing environment. If the environment is locked down, well, that's a bit easier to work with.

My interest is really to find out what is in store or planned for the Alfresco Desktop Sync functionality. Does Alfresco have a keen interest in competing on the levels I am mentioning? I hope to gain visibility on the real issue I feel alot of IT heads are truly dealing with and to try and push for continued and if possible, further, R&D. I unfortunately have yet to find a true competitor in the way of an enterprise private Dropbox replacement. I see an incredible amount of potential in the Desktop Sync Client. Features, such as what Dropbox has, are a lot to ask for, I know. It's always easier said than done. However, I think the user base has a legitimate argument. The reason why these consumer solutions are highly adopted is because there is a weakness in the Enterprise sector for these types of solutions. Alfresco is very close to offering something comparible which is why I am asking these types of questions.

Re: Future Enhancements for Alfresco Desktop Sync

paulhh — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:00:00 GMT

So, yes, we do plan to grow out the capabilities of the Desktop Sync client. There's a whole bunch of features that can be imagined, from chat & presence, activity feeds, mini repo views, and the list goes on.

That's a good part of why we decided to build out our own solution in Java, so we can leverage as much existing capabilities as possible, plus make it easy for the Community to take further.

We haven't put the source out yet because I want to move the UI to JavaFX rather than the current Swing UI. Plus changing it to be based on Favorite Folders rather than Sites. I didn't want to put out the source and risk confusion with such a big change coming.

Thanks for the feedback.

Paul.

Re: Future Enhancements for Alfresco Desktop Sync

chaoticneutral — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 18:34:16 GMT

Hi Paul,

I appreciate the reply! It's great to know you guys are reading these forums, seriously!

I totally get where you're comming from and it makes perfect sense that you are taking the route that you are. Your insight is good news and I look forward to seeing the technology in use!

Thanks to all who replied and for helping in encouraging the discussion.

Tigh

Re: Future Enhancements for Alfresco Desktop Sync

stevereiner — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 21:36:55 GMT

Java / JavaFX sounds interesting, guess could leverage CMIS workbench client code if the UI was ported from Swing to JavaFX. The changes in JavaFX 2.0 (FXML declarative XML layout and Java as the language instead of a different "scripting" language) were big improvements.

Additionally, the AIR version of FlexSpaces has some offlining ability (upload / download files to local disk area without file picker dialogs). Maybe this could be tied into Alfresco's syncing apis (and cloud apis). And you have all the FlexSpaces AIR native clipboard, desktop drag in / drag out features, repo views, workflow, search, etc.
AIR also has the ability to do desktop notifications.

I am currently starting to port FlexSpaces / CMIS Spaces from Flex/ActionScript to TypeScript (which translates to JavaScript) / HTML5 / CSS. (now preferring TypeScript over Dart since TypeScript has simpler interop with JavaScript). In addition to an in browser version of this with HTML5 drag-in, a version of this packaged as an AIR desktop application with all the AIR features is possible since AIR has JavaScript APIs.