[sugar] The futur of the mesh view

[Eben Eliason]

> I don't know where it should go, but do we need a classroom view? In a
> school I would expect it to be useful to have a view of all laptops in
> the same classroom. For example, use the filter expression on the
> neighborhood view to create a virtual class: If I have a filter
> expression #myclass, the view shows all laptops which also have that
> expression set. Sort of like IRC channels?

This is the whole intent of groups, where the current "Friends" view
is actually supposed to be the "Groups" view.  Groups can be formed
around anything, such as a class, a study group, etc.  Selecting a
group from one of the filters will do just what you suggest, revealing
everyone within the group and their activities.  Friends is also shown
as a "group" since to each individual they behave the same.  The one
semantic difference between "Friends" and "Some Group" is that the
membership of "Some Group" is shared, whereas the "Friends" group is
local to each kid's machine.

> I know a textual expression may be a poor choice for those who can't
> write yet, so maybe the teacher sets such an expression and a special
> icon appear in the view, colors derived from the name?

We haven't decided how to color groups yet.  It could be implicit
based on the name, or defined by the initial creator.

- Eben