CentOS - Mar 2011 - Looking for a facebook / twitter desktop-like APP for general use

Hi,

I'm looking for a way to communicate with end users via a desktop app
that works similar to Facebook / Twitter desktop / iPhone / SmartPhone
apps, and hope someone can help me with this?

Basically I need to convey information (newsletters, news flashes /
download links / etc to users, but via a desktop application.

think of
"[URL=http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/notifier_windows.html[/URL]"
or [URL="http://www.mixero.com/"]Mixero[/URL], or even how online game
manufacturers communicate with game player via a UI / game interface.


BUT, and here's the but, I need something that I can customize a bit
to work with our specific setup. The basic idea is to have an admin
backup, which can run on PHP + MySQL (we can code this ourself) and
then app can get whatever content is in the Database on the client's
desktop.

Can anyone point me into any direction for something like this?

Ideally it should work on Windows, Linux & MAC - so I'm thinking
something written in C++ / C# / GTK+ / etc with different OS
installers would be ideal.

-- 
Kind Regards
Rudi Ahlers
SoftDux

Website: http://www.SoftDux.com
Technical Blog: http://Blog.SoftDux.com
Office: 087 805 9573
Cell: 082 554 7532

On Tue, 01 Mar 2011 15:03:02 +0200
Rudi Ahlers wrote:
> I'm looking for a way to communicate with end users via a desktop app
> that works similar to Facebook / Twitter desktop / iPhone / SmartPhone
> apps, and hope someone can help me with this?
jabber?

-- 
MELVILLE THEATRE ~ Melville Sask ~ www.melvilletheatre.com
www.creekfm.com - FIFTY THOUSAND WATTS of POW WOW POWER!

On 03/01/11 5:03 AM, Rudi Ahlers wrote:
> Basically I need to convey information (newsletters, news flashes /
> download links / etc to users, but via a desktop application.
Traditionally, this is known as 'e-mail'.

On 3/2/11 2:24 AM, Rudi Ahlers wrote:
>
> Our church need(ed) to send info to clients "over the wire" in a
> guarenteed fashion. They already have a website, which is
> under-utilized / not visited as often by every one. RSS didn't work
> out as it should / could since many non-IT-savy-folk don't know what
> it it, how it works, or how to use it. Jabber is a no-go for this same
> reason.
>
> The church needs to send weekly news (events, updates, announcements,
> etc) to their clients. Email doesn't work well since a lot of it gets
> send to spam folder or simply never reach the end users since places
> like Yahoo block anything and everything that doesn't originate from
> their own network. SMS isn't very effective either.
Just pay one of the commercial bulk email/newsletter senders to deliver it. They
know how to avoid being marked as spam.
> So I was basically looking for something, which works in the same way
> as Google Notify (let's use a different example) which logs onto a
> server, queries the DB for info and displays it to the user. But, I'm
> not a C++ / C# / JS programmer, so I can't write this myself. I hoped
> maybe someone knew of something that I could use, maybe a framework or
> something to build something like this?
Any/all of the examples people of jabber/rss/web server would work on the server
side.  The piece you are missing is a way to make the user run the appropriate 
client app.
> Someone suggested Adobe Air, but I don't know, or code Adobe Air.
>
> These guys do something in the lines of what I want:
> http://www.zanews.co.za/category/daily-news/ - if you download the
> desktop player on the right-side you'll see.
> http://www.nuron.co.za/Nuron/index.aspx also has something similar,
> but you need to use their proprietory backend to communicate with the
> end users and they force banners adds onto each client desktop.
>
> I need something that isn't bound to, or limit within a certain
company.
>
> Maybe I'm asking too much?
Yes, if the end user has to start an app, they could just as easily have an icon
on the desktop that is a link to your web page.  Or they could put your rss feed
url into google reader and see it with their web or mobile aggregater. But they 
probably won't do that either.  Email is probably the best shot at something
where they don't have to start something special.  Maybe you could give out
USB
sticks with apps that will hijack their computers...

-- 
   Les Mikesell
     lesmikesell at gmail.com