Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!east!shea From: shea@edson.East.Sun.COM (Tim Shea - Sun BOS Software) Newsgroups: comp.groupware Subject: Group Calendar Sharing Message-ID: Date: 24 Jul 90 22:12:13 GMT Sender: news@east.East.Sun.COM Distribution: comp.groupware Organization: Sun Microsystems, Boston Development Center Lines: 65 How essential is it for people to be able to see inside (or manipulate) others' calendars? I would argue "not very". In my (informal) observations of people scheduling meetings the biggest problem seems to be obvious: finding the set of times when all (or most) members are free to participate. People typically don't care WHY others are busy so much as THAT they are busy. So I don't need access to the possibly sensitive information inside your calendar to schedule a meeting with you; I only need to know when you are free. Suppose I can overlay my calendar (with busy times blocked out in gray) over yours, which is marked in the same way. I can easily identify when we are both free (by looking for the "white space") without having to know all the details of your life. I believe some people at Apple presented this as a scenario at CHI in Austin a couple of years ago. This successfully skirts some of the privacy issues while providing most of what people want in ordinary situations. Another factor which seems very important, and which those of us who spend much of our day at computers tend to forget, is portability. One of the primary times that people tend to schedule meetings is after other meetings. So a solution which was portable would have a significant advantage. We're seeing more of solutions of this type in the form of pocket computers. At Sun we have a group calendar system called "Calendar Manager" which my group has been using for the last few months. It allows you to control who may view your calendar, who may add appointments, and who may delete appointments, all along UNIX user/group/all permission lines. But my experience has been that people tend not to modify (or even read) other's calendars. Even when they do look at another person's calendar, it's mostly to see when they might be free (more than what they are doing). So a simple graphical depiction of "busy" times would provide most of what people needed without having to worry about the privacy issues. If you have a secretary who manages your calendar, then more sophisticated/subtle permissions schemes such as those being discussed in comp.groupware would seem more appropriate. But how common is that scenario? Does anyone have a feel for this? Is this too simplistic a view? Do people have experience with commercial group scheduling products which supports or contradicts these suggestions? If so, I would appreciate hearing about them. -- Tim Shea Sun Microsystems (508) 671-0430 Boston Development Center shea@East.Sun.COM Two Federal Street Billerica, MA 01821