| <?php require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/eclipse.org-common/system/app.class.php"); require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/eclipse.org-common/system/nav.class.php"); require_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/eclipse.org-common/system/menu.class.php"); $App = new App(); $Nav = new Nav(); $Menu = new Menu(); include($App->getProjectCommon()); # All on the same line to unclutter the user's desktop' |
| |
| $pageTitle = ""; |
| $pageKeywords = ""; |
| $pageAuthor = ""; |
| |
| ob_start(); |
| ?> |
| <div id="maincontent"> |
| <div id="midcolumn"> |
| |
| <?php |
| include_once($_SERVER['DOCUMENT_ROOT'] . "/projects/fragments/proposal-page-header.php"); |
| generate_header("Eclipse Communication Framework"); |
| ?> |
| |
| <h1>Eclipse Communications Framework (ECF)</h1><br> |
| |
| |
| <p>This proposal is in the Project Proposal Phase (as defined in the <a href="/projects/dev_process/">Eclipse |
| Development Process document</a>) and is written to declare the intent and scope |
| of a proposed project called the Eclipse Communications Framework Project, or |
| ECF. In addition, this proposal is written to solicit additional participation |
| and inputs from the Eclipse community. You are invited to comment on and/or |
| join the project. Please send all feedback to the <a href="http://www.eclipse.org/newsportal/thread.php?group=eclipse.technology.ecomm">http://www.eclipse.org/newsportal/thread.php?group=eclipse.technology.ecomm</a> |
| newsgroup. <br> |
| </p> |
| |
| |
| <h2>Description</h2> |
| |
| |
| |
| <h3>Project Goals</h3> |
| <p>The goal of the ECF Project is to provide an open source framework to |
| support the creation of communications applications on the Eclipse platform. |
| The framework will consist of Eclipse plugins that provide high-level |
| APIs to support asynchronous and real-time messaging for human-to-human, |
| human-to-component, and component-to-component communications and collaboration. |
| </p> |
| <h3>ECF-Enabled Applications</h3> |
| <p>A wide variety of Eclipse applications will be easily creatable within |
| this framework: </p> |
| <ul> |
| <li><b>Human Communication and Collaboration:</b> Instant Messaging, Chat, |
| Application Sharing, File Sharing, Video/Audio Conferencing, others |
| </li> |
| <li><b>Communication with Web and Peer-Based Services:</b> Access to web-based |
| services via the Eclipse platform such as Weblogs, RSS, Web-based Content |
| Creation, Web-based Project Management Systems, others </li> |
| <li><b>Component-to-Component Communication:</b> Distributed Modeling, |
| Remote Debugging, Team Content Management, Team Workflow Applications, |
| others </li> |
| </ul> |
| <p>As part of the framework develoment and testing, the ECF team will implement |
| a reference subset of applications to demonstrate the utility, and usability |
| of the framework. We will also work with plugin developers, application |
| developers, and the Eclipse community to support the creation of other |
| applications that use this framework. Our ultimate goal is that plugin |
| developers use and/or extend this framework to allow them to build compelling |
| communications applications with the Eclipse platform.</p> |
| <h3>Technical Goals</h3> |
| <h4>Communication Components</h4> |
| <p>The framework will provide a small set of high-level communications abstractions. |
| Rather than provide yet another messaging API, the ECF project will look |
| to provide plugin programmers with a component API for communications |
| applications so that high-level communications components (e.g. real-time |
| IM/chat, presence, file sharing, audio/video conferencing, etc) may be |
| reused in multiple application contexts and with multiple user interfaces. |
| </p> |
| <h4>Interoperability</h4> |
| <p>The framework will provide a simple API for accessing multiple IP-based |
| protocols, allowing plugin developers to focus on providing application-level |
| integration of communications features and the rapid composition of distributed |
| applications. </p> |
| <p>To allow interoperability with existing servers and clients, ECF APIs |
| will provide extension points so that multiple protocols may be plugged |
| in to the framework, allowing Eclipse-based applications to interoperate |
| with other clients via standard protocols such as XMPP, SIP/SIMPLE and |
| others, while also being able to easily support communications with legacy |
| and proprietary systems. </p> |
| <h4>Security</h4> |
| <p>The ECF framework will provide for application-level flexibility in the |
| use of authentication, user and component identity, encryption, and authentication. |
| The framework will allow third parties to substitute alternative open |
| source and/or proprietary implementations of any/all of these security |
| mechanisms to support integration with existing security systems, and |
| the satisfaction of application-specific security requirements. </p> |
| <p>ECF will also provide security mechanisms for authorization and runtime |
| restriction of fine-grained components for controlling the behavior of |
| potentially untrusted components. </p> |
| <h4>Application Extensibility</h4> |
| <p>The framework will support the runtime distribution of components and |
| dynamic introduction of new protocols to allow for dynamic composition |
| of communication and collaboration applications. </p> |
| <p>In summary, the major technical goals of ECF will be:</p> |
| <ol> |
| <li><b>Simple-Yet-General Communications Abstractions:</b> To support |
| both peer-to-peer and client-server applications</li> |
| <li><b>Interoperability:</b> Through the use of open, layered, replaceable |
| protocols</li> |
| <li><b>Security:</b> Identity/Authentication, Encryption, and Authorization |
| for applications and fine-grained components</li> |
| <li><b>Application Extensibility:</b> Via dynamic distribution of components</li> |
| <li><b>Component/Plugin Architecture Integrated with Eclipse 3.0:</b> |
| Use of the OSGI Component and Service Models Present in Eclipse 3.0</li> |
| </ol> |
| <h3>People</h3> |
| <p>The project expects to have commiters from Composent, Inc., Parity Communications, |
| and others. We are looking for others to participate in all aspects of |
| this project. If you are interested in participating, please contact one |
| of these team members and contribute to the mailing list.<br> |
| The initial set of commiters will be: <br> |
| <br> |
| <p>John Beatty<br> |
| <p>Scott Lewis (project lead)<br> |
| Composent, Inc.</p> |
| <p>Pete Mackie<br>Seaquest Software</p> |
| <p>Peter Nehrer<br> |
| S1 Corporation<br> |
| </p> |
| <p>Rhett Savage</p> |
| <p>Paul Trevithick<br> |
| Parity Communications</p> |
| |
| <h3>Status</h3> |
| <p>The project has been formally proposed and is in the Creation Review |
| stage. It will be placed in the Technology PMC as an incubator project |
| to develop this framework, reference applications, and supporting tools. |
| </p> |
| <h3>Platforms</h3> |
| <p>ECF plugins will be built in Java and will be portable to any platform |
| supported by Eclipse. For components that might not run on Eclipse (e.g. |
| servers), all ECF-created code will be built to depend only upon pure |
| Java Standard Edition (1.4+). We also will look to support OSGI Foundation |
| as a minimum runtime platform. </p> |
| <h3>Development plan</h3> |
| <p>The plan for the ECF project is still being developed.</p> |
| <p>We plan to follow a milestone based delivery schedule with incremental |
| progress visible in each milestone. Here is a rough outline of the time |
| line we expect to follow for milestones:</p> |
| <p>M1 - Q4 2004<br> |
| Initial release of framework plugins for identity/authentication, asynchronous |
| communication, and basic component abstractions </p> |
| <p>M2 - Q1 2005<br> |
| Deploy initial set of demonstration applications upon the communications |
| framework. Finalize APIs and extension points for identity/authentication, |
| asynch communication, and component abstraction after community usage |
| and review </p> |
| <p>M3 - Q2 2005<br> |
| Deliver additional demonstration applications, and a broader set of user-level |
| features. Finalize APIs for component model, extension points, and security. |
| Provide working, integrated Eclipse applications for instant messaging/chat, |
| file sharing, data/voice conferencing, and shared debugging</p> |
| <p>M4 - Q3 2005<br> |
| Revise and improve demonstration applications, update infrastructure plugin |
| APIs in response to community usage and feedback. Provide demonstration |
| application with Eclipse Modeling Framework-based shared model creation |
| and editing<br> |
| </p> |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| </div> |
| </div> |
| <?php |
| # Paste your HTML content between the EOHTML markers! |
| $html = ob_get_contents(); |
| ob_end_clean(); |
| |
| # Generate the web page |
| $App->generatePage($theme, $Menu, $Nav, $pageAuthor, $pageKeywords, $pageTitle, $html); |
| ?> |