11 replies to this topic

[wwarren]

Hi Everyone

For the past year or so, I've been working on something called CirrusNote (CirrusNote | Your notes on the Cloud)

It allows you to create notes and todo lists and keep them synced to a central server so that your notes will be with you whichever computer you're on - as long as you install cirrusnote on it of course! If you've ever heard of Evernote, it's like that but cheaper.

It is a windows client built in vb.net and the server infrastructure is built in php with mysql. It uses XML to encapulate its syncing transactions. The transactions go over this new thing called the INTERNET.

The whole system is relatively complete, but there are some things I want to fix before releasing it into the wild.

This (codecall) is the perfect place to find alpha testers because you're all so awesome!

Check out the website (cirrusnote.com) - the "join now" stuff doesn't do anything yet.

If anyone is interested, send me a PM, and i'll set you up an account and let you in on the club.

Hopefully you guys will give me an indication of demand for this kind of thing.

[wwarren]

I should probably mention that anyone who gets involved will also get a free account for life.

Everyone likes free stuff

[robbiewoods05]

I'll do it!

[Alexander]

Sure, I will help a fellow Canadian in need.

[WingedPanther]

Does it run under wine on Linux? For me, that would be the key concern.

[wwarren]

@Alexander: Thanks!!! I'll PM you with details
@WingedPanther: I don't see why it wouldn't - I'll try it right now! If it doesn't, a linux client is on the extremely distant horizon, that's the beauty of a web based service! If it does work in WINE do you want in on the testing?

[WingedPanther]

Sure. I can give it a try.

[wwarren]

Well, it looks like it could work - problem is, its deployed using ClickOnce which uses weird "CirrusNote.application" files that windows recognizes but WINE wouldn't. Seems like the only way around that is to deploy the application using clickonce inside a windows environment and then copy the executable files into your wine environment - which will need the windows version of MONO installed in it as well.

It's a bit of a runaround...

Edit: Also thanks for all the replies so far!

[plmacchi]

Is your software "USB-Portable" (or can it be easily adapted to be)? In other words, does it need to modify the Windows Registry? Can it store all of its settings in its own self-contained folder and avoid writing anything to the "system drive"?

When using Windows, I try whenever possible to use programs that are stored on my favorite flash drive and require no installation. For notes "on the Cloud" this would be of particular importance, because I need to be able to simply take my drive out of my pocket, plug it into any computer (in an internet cafe, friend's home, etc.) running Windows XP or higher, and access my notes "on the Cloud" (without having to install anything).

If it can be USB-Portable I would definitely test it out frequently and provide feedback.

[Nico]

plmacchi said:

Is your software "USB-Portable" (or can it be easily adapted to be)? In other words, does it need to modify the Windows Registry? Can it store all of its settings in its own self-contained folder and avoid writing anything to the "system drive"?

When using Windows, I try whenever possible to use programs that are stored on my favorite flash drive and require no installation. For notes "on the Cloud" this would be of particular importance, because I need to be able to simply take my drive out of my pocket, plug it into any computer (in an internet cafe, friend's home, etc.) running Windows XP or higher, and access my notes "on the Cloud" (without having to install anything).

If it can be USB-Portable I would definitely test it out frequently and provide feedback.

This feature would make the software very interesting indeed.
Also I'd like to ask with what level (if any) of data encryption are the notes protected. I don't like the idea that anyone at all could read my personal notes and things like that.
By the way: really nice website, I love neat designs!

Keep up the good work!

Nico

[wwarren]

Hi Guys, thanks for the responses

Quote

Is your software "USB-Portable" (or can it be easily adapted to be)? In other words, does it need to modify the Windows Registry? Can it store all of its settings in its own self-contained folder and avoid writing anything to the "system drive"?

When using Windows, I try whenever possible to use programs that are stored on my favorite flash drive and require no installation. For notes "on the Cloud" this would be of particular importance, because I need to be able to simply take my drive out of my pocket, plug it into any computer (in an internet cafe, friend's home, etc.) running Windows XP or higher, and access my notes "on the Cloud" (without having to install anything).

If it can be USB-Portable I would definitely test it out frequently and provide feedback.

Currently CirrusNote is deployed using ClickOnce. After it has been deployed, you can simply copy the executable and supporting files to a USB stick - however, the current version would NOT allow you to store your notes or settings on the USB stick. They would both be stored on whichever computer you are plugged into at the time.

I like this feature, and will definitely look into it for a future release.

Quote

This feature would make the software very interesting indeed.
Also I'd like to ask with what level (if any) of data encryption are the notes protected. I don't like the idea that anyone at all could read my personal notes and things like that.
By the way: really nice website, I love neat designs!

Keep up the good work!

Nico

As far an encryption goes, your notes are stored locally in an encrypted SQLite database, and on the Cirrus Cloud, they are stored on servers that are only accessible via the CirrusNote protocol which is secured with your username/password.

As this project is a work in progress, steps are being taken to ensure that the security surrounding the cloud is constantly improved.

There is one thing you should be aware of at the moment. Beware of using CirrusNote via unsecured WiFi networks as the connection between the CirrusNote client and the Cirrus Cloud is currently NOT secured using SSL/TLS. SSL certificates cost money, and as of now, CirrusNote is operating at Zero cost. Once interest has been generated, we will add SSL encryption to the connections, rendering them virtually un-hackable.

Thanks again for your interest, and I hope that I've answered some of your questions sufficiently.

[wwarren]

Nearly a year since I last posted about this, and since then, the client and server have both undergone a complete rewrite from the ground up!

Major Changes:

• The CirrusNote API is now based on Apache Thrift
  
• Notes are now stored in HTML instead of RTF (yay for embedded images!)
  
• The software is much more stable as a whole
  
• Note synchronization now happens over SSL (albeit unsigned SSL)

Anyone who feels like doing a bit of Alpha testing can sign up on the (VERY work-in-progress) website at https://wdwarren.dyndns.org/cirrus (you will need to ignore the SSL security warning - I haven't shelled out for a signed certificate yet - still operating at zero cost!!).

The website will feature a blog etc in the future, but for right now, its a lot of lorem ipsum...

You also need to make sure you use a valid email address.

Disclaimer: This service is currently hosted on a server in my basement - I therefore make no promises about uptime, power outages etc.
If someone wants to rent me a decent-spec VPS, and pay for an SSL certificate, I would be happy to move the service to it

Thanks