dynamicobjects spaces is just one example of the trend of everyone wanting to make everything look like Outlook. We all complain about how crappy MS software is, how they can't design a humane interface to save their ass, yet we attempt to make every application look like Outlook.
At my previous Day Job, we were working on a logistics execution application. It looked like Outlook. Hrm.
Outlook's 3-pane design might be roughly useful for applications that mostly just organize data. But, for robust applications that have user interactions that are more complex than pushing bits from one folder to another, please attempt to resist the urge to make it look like Outlook.
[disclaimer: I still do email using Pine 3.96 and vi]
I guess one of the major reasons is that the majority (what, 80%, 90%?) of office workers use Outlook or Outlook Express every working day. They think they know how it works, they are comfortable with it.
Many of us are stuck with a big problem - what should an App look like ? A large proportion - most ? - of business apps are data entry/query/processing apps. Rewriting an 80x25 green screen application to utilise a modern GUI is a tough gig - and you tend to try and stick to what the user knows. We haven't got a big R&D budget to do proper user interface analysis tests, all we can pragmatically do is take bits and pieces from applications we see users using and try and smooth/bludgeon them into a coherent whole.
Having said all that, our (very vertical market app) is not a three-pane Outlook beastie - but it does contain a lot of UI stuff imitiating things like contact entry.
Cheers,
Charles.
Familiarity is a really important factor. In the case of spaces, though, it's important to note that, while it *looks* like outlook, it behaves differently in subtle ways (the concept of a 'space' of information for example). The idea is to provide familiarity but at the same time start moving things forward without forcing people to learn everything again. THEN, once people are comfortable with *that*, things can *really* begin to change.
Pine?!?! What about mutt (http://www.mutt.org)? If you're not constrained to Outlook (as I am at my Day Job), why not use the best? Remember, "All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less."
The two most important, and widely unmentioned, factors contributing to this are (1) the toolkits, and (2) the keyboard. You can see the same thing happening with Delphi apps, which use the same third-party components.
None of the "grip of the GUI" will be broken until developers return their gaze from the screen to the keyboard. According to a reported IBM study (which I have not been able to track down), the introduction of GUIs in the 1980s caused a 30% loss in office automation productivity. Since programmers no longer have to design ergonomics into their programs (indeed, they could no longer do so), it is now impossible to run many programs from the keyboard.
Meanwhile, all our keyboards are now designed and manufactured in cultures with no latin alphabet, and hence no speed typists. Since today's keyboards are not designed for productivity, programmers are stuck with their current toolkits and ergonomic standards (or lack thereof).
Very few people have experienced the deluxe keyboards IBM produced in the 1980s, prior to the introduction of the PC. To demonstrate this, I have several 1984 IBM Displaywriter keyboards, and I am searching for an engineer with the skills to adapt them to modern PCs (serial interface, scan code conversion, etc.).
Failing a "keyboard revolution" an effort should be made to objectively study and publish this situation, so that alternative tools can be developed which will not enforce a particular interface.
We make apps look like Outlook because it supports focus + context browsing, plus a bookmark/shortcut bar (which also supports the idea of multiple sets of shortcuts) on the side. It's not a great email reader for any number of reasons, but it is a good model for an information browser if you ignore all of the frippery -- the pinnable folder view.
As an alternative, try our portal's UI -- follow the links from http://www.ca.com/portal, or go straight to http://portaltestdrive.ca.com/registration to fill out the form and get an ID.
We have buttons (always visible) across the top, a row of tabs in the "workplace" view, and a workplace with multiple pages (switched by the tabs) with rectangular portlets in columns.
Unfortunately, it does work best in Internet Explorer since it makes heavy use of IFRAME and Netscape didn't support them until NS6.
It's not perfect, but I think it's a better model to steal from....
I watch big brother
I have been using Outlook Express errors repair tool for the past few months and LOVE it.
I've even recommended it to all my friends. Outlook Express more stable and secure than other programs.
If I develop a web application that looks exactly the same than outlook (left navigation bar, colors, icons, etc) but that does something different (inventory) am I Infinging copyright? can I be sued?