23 September 1993 - Cdn.oreilly.com

18
What role for Telescript?
General Magic's Telescript is likely to play a more important role in setting
PDI standards. In part, the market size of the companies that have
licensed Telescript should force its broad adoption. More importantly,
though, Telescript is a way for applications (and people) to ask better
questions when they conduct activity with other entities on the net (just
o: cross-platform calendaring, with standards
is is what today's scheduling technology might be like if it were
extended to provide interoperability. Zoe would like to book a meeting
with Phil, Juan and Alice. She looks at her calendar, picks a
few promising times for the meeting, then launches a network request
for their free/busy hours over the times in question. (She might do
this by filling out an electronic form, or by pointing to the participants
in an address book and blocking out time slots in a calendar,
then hitting a button.)
The request goes over the net to Phil and Juan's server (they share
the same scheduling server), makes the request, and returns their
free/busy hours. Similarly, the'request goes to Alice's machine over
e-mail (she's a consultant, runs all her appointments from a portable
computer, and has no separate server). When she next logs in, her
system automatically detects a mail message for the scheduler, processes
the query, and replies. (Were she using a RadioHail-equipped
wireless unit, the entire process could take place in minutes.)
Zoe's computer notifies her as the responses come in, and brings up
her calendar, showing the times in question, overlaid with the different
schedules. If the preferred time is available, it is highlighted;
if not, alternate times are highlighted. If the process has
found a workable time, she can initiate another network transaction
that actually requests the meeting with each participant.
So Phil, Juan and Alice get messages (perhaps directly to their
screen, perhaps in e-mail, perhaps as pager signals that they must
respond to via e-mail or telephone) asking if they want to participate
in the meeting. Phil has no new schedule conflicts and would
like to attend, so he says yes. His software automatically posts the
meeting to his personal and shared calendars. Alice was away from
her office and had scheduled an appointment in her HP 100LX, but the
new appointment wasn't posted to the group schedule until after Zoe's
request. So she has to say no, and ask for a new time.
Juan replies that he will attend, but only if Alice is there. She is
his business partner, and is responsible for making the purchase de
cision -- without her the meeting has no point. So he sends a tentative
yes, and types in a caveat that Zoe has to read and deal with.
He also suggests that Cleo be included in the meeting.
Zoe reads Juan's message and starts the process again.
Release 1.0 23 September 1993