Lessons for the future of Semantic Desktops learnt from 10 years of experience with the IDELIANCE Semantic Networks Manager

In 1993, we started to develop a tool to help people manage structured personal and business information. Initially named ORCCA (Online Resources for Corporate Citizens Action), it was fully implemented as a Semantic Networks Editor and Manager. Initially designed as a personal desktop tool, it evolved towards a collaborative server allowing small groups to share Semantic Networks. It has been marketed under the name of IDELIANCE, and has been used in significant business applications by a variety of users. During all these pioneer phases of design, implementation and usage of Ideliance, we learnt a lot of lessons which could be of interest for the success of the emerging Semantic Desktop domain. Not only did we implement practical tools for semantic networks management, but we also closely observed hundreds of people using Semantic Networks as a new way of writing and reading information. In this position paper, we propose a survey of the key points we encountered. For each of these points, we describe our experience, and we propose some guidelines for future Semantic Desktops design and usage. Note : this paper is not a technical paper about Ideliance, or about its evolution towards the Semantic Web. It is a position paper which aims at expressing the general lessons we learned for the benefit of future designers and users.