Mozilla Lab has introduced a new tool called Raindrop that integrates different messaging systems like email, Facebook, Twitter, IM etc using a web browser like Firefox, Chrome, Safari etc. The project is open source and is led by Thunderbird team.
According to Mozilla, A central principle behind Raindrop is that messaging should be personal — we want Raindrop to be people-centric both in how we process messages, and in how we can help give people control over their personal data and experiences.
The idea behind Raindrop is, according to Mozilla, when a friend’s link from YouTube or flickr arrives, your messaging client should be able to show the video or photos near or as part of the message, rather than rudely kicking you over to a separate browser tab. Notifications from computers and mailing lists should be organized for you, not clutter your Inbox or require tedious manual filter setup.
The development platform for Raindrop includes front-end support for applications of various kinds (including mobile), but Raindrop’s flagship applications will be built entirely for any modern web browser that supports Open Web technologies. Version 0.1 embeds Bespin to support a fast, iterative development style. It also provides front-end widgets and back-end code that supports important high-level concepts such as people, conversations, and mailing lists, with more to come. CouchDB and Python are key parts of our prototype architecture as well.
If you want to try it, you can download Raindrop from here.
Update: First look: Inside Mozilla’s Raindrop messaging platform.