Re: [gentoo-user] Web application for contact management...

[Steve]

Mick wrote:
> Have a look at sugar-crm, or any other CRM application.  Of course a
> corporate database to manage customer info may be an overkill, but
> that's what you're describing, if only at a personal rather than
> corporate level.
>
I agree with both of these observations.  I didn't get very far looking 
at Sugar-CRM last time I thought about this problem... I found it rather 
too cumbersome and seemed to make too many assumptions about the sort of 
relationships I had with my contacts.  For example integrated invoicing 
or marketing would be inappropriate for my purposes.  I'm trying to 
manage diverse quasi-personal relationships - essentially I'm looking 
for a tool to help me with 'social networking' in the real world... 
where my biggest enemy is forgetting details about people I might only 
speak to annually - or less often.
> If running mysql, or postgresql is too much, check out the address
> book features of most mail clients - they usually have space for
> notes.  You can write in there all trivia and non-trivia for each
> contact.  I am using kmail and its address book also has custom fields
> that you can create as you need them.  An address book search will
> pick up words from within any notes and custom fields too.  That
> should hopefully do what you need.
>
Running a DB is no hassle - I already run both MySQL and Postgres... 
Various unrelated requirements leave me with Windows on my desktop at 
the moment - so kmail isn't an ideal tool for me... I've fiddled with 
Thunderbird's address book but I found it rather lacking with respect to 
annotating contacts... it has a lack-lustre search... and it isn't 
client server - making it klunky if I intend to access the same data 
from my windows desktop; ubuntu netbook and Symbian internet-enabled 
mobile phone.  I like the idea that a contacts management package should 
allow me to initiate contact - so integration with email programs - 
using LDAP, perhaps - would be desirable... though not necessarily 
essential.

Joshua Murphy wrote:
> Well, most tools that handle that functionality I know of are full
> fledged CRMs, which are overkill for what you're after. You might take
> a look at Simple Customer though, PHP & MySQL, and seems to take a
> less 'enterprise' centric approach.
>
> http://www.simplecustomer.com/
>
> No idea if it's any good, though.
This is definitely looking as if it is heading in the right direction.  
Features I hoped I would find, but seem to be missing are:

* Tagging of contacts - something a bit like a taxonomy in Drupal.... 
So, for example, I could tag Fred Bloggs as having UK residency; 
Occupation: Plumber - etc. and so that I could, at a later date search 
my contacts for a UK resident Plumber.  (OK, it's a contrived example, 
but, hopefully, it illustrates the idea.)
* Flexible search for contacts... perhaps by name, perhaps by email 
address; perhaps just search notes.
* Good support for multiple communications technologies... including 
non-US addresses; skype - etc. :)
* Good support for ageing data on a field-by-field basis... by this I 
mean that it is relevant, for example, when addresses were established, 
because people move home...

Many thanks for the suggestions so far - they've, at the very least, 
helped me refine my ideas about what I want...

Steve