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Mozilla Calendar really needs to be folded directly into the Thunderbird system. People want a calendar in their email client, and that's that. The sooner this is done, the sooner Thunderbird can start kicking Outlook's butt.

The place where Mozilla Calendar is a bit weak right now is its server support. Sure, you can publish and subscribe using WebDAV, but that's not the same thing as having a true server-side calendar. And you still can't send and receive meeting invitations, or check other users' free/busy times.

Fortunately, there is a group at Penn State working on fixing this. They're writing a new calendar API that can be used to hook into arbitrary servers. That means that modules will be able to be written for any back end, such as Citadel, Sun calendar server, Kolab, or whatever else appears out there in the future.

While we're on the subject of Exchange, the Connector will also enable you to use Evolution with the Kolab server, IIRC, thus allowing you to chuck Exchange entirely.

Just go check it out.

The Kroupware project is what your looking for. Its sponsored by the German Government. Theres the Kolab server (what replaces exchange), then there is the KDE-PIM package for the client, it will be released when KDE 3.2 comes out.

The Kroupware project is what your looking for. Its sponsored by the German Government. Theres the Kolab server (what replaces exchange), then there is the KDE-PIM package for the client, it will be released when KDE 3.2 comes out.

A different solution is to use the kroupware server (kolab) and the InsightConnector plugin from Bynari to enable Outlook to talk to kolab (the groupware server).
This plugin is freely available as a test version.

This is also explained in the FAQs at kroupware.org.

A different solution is to use the kroupware server (kolab) and the InsightConnector plugin from Bynari to enable Outlook to talk to kolab (the groupware server).
This plugin is freely available as a test version.

This is also explained in the FAQs at kroupware.org.

KDE's Kollab Server may make the "large" enterprise project management task become a little easier.

Combine that with PHPGroupWare or OPT and a Wiki (Twiki, ZWiki, etc) and you'll likely be all set to go

You will need to do a bit of scripting though to integrate all that, but that should be more convenient than going with a commercial solution (eg MS Project Server) and moulding yourselves into that

The GNU GPL is, in many ways, the ultimate "cross license." When the German government wants a few more features in KDE, it pays for exactly those features. If you feel the need to stock up on more traditional IP ammo, just make sure you own all the copyrights, like Trolltech, or file some patents, like Red Hat.

Go back and look at the screen shot here. What exactly do you see?

I see an interface design that isn't happy with including everything but the kitchen sink, so it grabbed that, the bathroom sink, tub, and anything else in the apartment that could actually hold water, and threw that in too. Too many menus with uniformative titles, too many buttons with uninformative icons, too many content panes to possible figure out which one you're actually working in. Plus the cheap knockoff of the hierachial view of Windows, which i've always thought was poorly designed from a UI standpoint (and ugly, too!).

This illustrates the worst tendencies of open source software. The first instinct is to do whatever Microsoft does, and it's a bad one. Microsoft's got more employees than it really knows what to do with, so when it comes down to deciding which features to implement, they implement them all. Everything winds up bloated and confusing.

It'll be nice that Linux users have the option of using this, but by shamelessly trying to mimic Exchange/Outlook, these guys have taken away any chance they had of being better than Microsoft.

Check this shot out.

I pose a thread to my neighbors when I keep the window shades open. heh heh.

Kolab, the server :
Architecture paper :
Kontact, the KDE client
Bynari insight connector (not free)LA
Kolab server download :

Kolab, the server :
Architecture paper :
Kontact, the KDE client
Bynari insight connector (not free)LA
Kolab server download :

From the FAQ:
How can I make Outlook talk to the Kolab Server?
You need a Plug-in called InsightConnector from http://bynari.com. This is proprietary software and you need to aquire a license. Demo versions are available. A second company, konsec.com, announced to make a similiar plug-in offering in Q3 2003.

Later on it states:
Is there no Free Software Outlook plugin? Will you create one?
We are not aware of an existing Free Software plug-in for Outlook. Within the Kroupware project we have not been contracted to create such a plug-in. "Kervin L. Pierre" announced to work on it and started sourceforge.net/projects/otlkcon.

I don't know why they would say that, unless it's part of some special functionality in the KMail client. The server side is built on top of Postfix and Cyrus:
http://www.kroupware.org/faq/faq.html

Derek

I guess you've been living partly under a rock then. Commercial alternatives to Exchange already exists and open source versions are under development and will soon be available. Take a look at http://kroupware.org/ and http://opengroupware.org/

Don't forget the Kolab 1.0 server which is supposed to be released during LinuxTag too.

C'mon, Exchange was replaced ages ago, that's what the Kroupware project was all about. The German government funded a replacement server (Kolab) which would replace MS-Exchange, and designed to work with both MS-Outlook ("legacy systems") and KMail (for additional functionality)

Here's the link

The article says that there will be no Outlook Connector for Kolab (= Kroupware). This isn't true, as there are commercial Kolab plug-ins for Outlook.

As mentioned elsewhere, outlook integration is provided via the (commercial) binari connector. The KDE client will eventually have it's functionality integrated with the new KDE Kontact integrated Mail/Organizer, though whether this will make the KDE 3.2 release is uncertain.

As also mentioned elsewhere, one of the major achievements of the project has been to develop open standards (including several RFCs) for groupware interoperation. The documentation can be found here.

It seems like the server is pretty stable and complete (mostly consists of integration of several other projects). The KDE client seems like an interim solution until Kontact is completed, or until functionality can be added to cross-platform projects like Mozilla Mail. There is also a Web client interface under development.

As mentioned elsewhere, outlook integration is provided via the (commercial) binari connector. The KDE client will eventually have it's functionality integrated with the new KDE Kontact integrated Mail/Organizer, though whether this will make the KDE 3.2 release is uncertain.

As also mentioned elsewhere, one of the major achievements of the project has been to develop open standards (including several RFCs) for groupware interoperation. The documentation can be found here.

It seems like the server is pretty stable and complete (mostly consists of integration of several other projects). The KDE client seems like an interim solution until Kontact is completed, or until functionality can be added to cross-platform projects like Mozilla Mail. There is also a Web client interface under development.

As mentioned elsewhere, outlook integration is provided via the (commercial) binari connector. The KDE client will eventually have it's functionality integrated with the new KDE Kontact integrated Mail/Organizer, though whether this will make the KDE 3.2 release is uncertain.

As also mentioned elsewhere, one of the major achievements of the project has been to develop open standards (including several RFCs) for groupware interoperation. The documentation can be found here.

It seems like the server is pretty stable and complete (mostly consists of integration of several other projects). The KDE client seems like an interim solution until Kontact is completed, or until functionality can be added to cross-platform projects like Mozilla Mail. There is also a Web client interface under development.

I don't want to waste what time we have left with the present PC paradigm waiting for open source applications to catch up to the features and quality that proprietary software has TODAY.

How ironic it is then that you're talking about an Ogg Vorbis player--a patent-free encoding scheme invented to provide a competitive alternative to a patented scheme that can not legally be implemented in Free Software.

Peruvian Congressman Villanueva probably doesn't want to wait either, so he's working on Bill 1609 to put Free Software into public administration in Peru. The German government is funding a Free Software replacement for Outlook. These are just a couple examples of the things non-programmers around the world can do to help the cause of Free Software.

Nobody is saying you can't choose which software you want or that you will die if you pick proprietary software, those are straw arguments. I'm saying it is more reasonable to increase the number of people who are allowed to know what's going on with the software you run. We should hold all proprietary software to the same high standard we currently hold Microsoft's (overwhelmingly non-free) software to. Proprietary software, no matter what its ostensible purpose, can do things you would not like it to do. In order to keep the software from doing these undesirable things, we all need to develop and maintain a network of people who will inspect, share, and modify software to suit our needs. Keeping people from understanding how the software works helps these undesirable features stay hidden.

Couldn't geeks have found something better to support than "Free Software"? What was wrong with good old environmentalism or fighting against sweatshops in 3rd world countries?

There is no need to choose just one cause. There are people working on Free Software, the issues you name, and many other socially progressive issues all at the same time. I happen to be adept with computers, I support the Free Software movement, and I work on multiple other socially progressive projects. I think these movements draw like-minded people because their opposites (anti-environment, pro-sweatshop labor, anti-Free Software) usually come as a result of putting more power into fewer unaccountable hands.

Another way in which the anti-sweatshop movement and the environmental movement are both like the Free Software movement is how they all encourage you to think beyond your immediate desires. Sweatshop labor produces cheap goods which are readily available. But sweatshop labor also means people are working very hard and not getting paid a living wage. The anti-sweatshop labor movement encourages you to think beyond buying goods strictly based on price and consider helping poor workers make a fair living. The environmental movement wants you to think more about the car you drive, your heating and cooling system, and the advantages of recycling (amongst other things). In the Free Software movement you are encouraged to think beyond your immediate desire for a particular piece of software (such as the Ogg Vorbis player in this thread) and consider using a Free Software replacement instead. All of these things take a little bit of foresight and a lot of hard PR work to get people to not blindly comply with the latest advertisement.

These causes are not unique in the amount of work it takes to make them practical: it's hard work to make people aware of things and aware of people beyond themselves. It takes a lot of time and effort to provide socially responsible substitutes (competitive fair-wage clothing, low-emission vehicles, and yes, complete free software operating systems). So each of these movements (and many others) want you to volunteer your time and expertise.

MOST PEOPLE ARE NOT NOR EVER WANT TO BE PROGRAMMERS.

That is true, but most people do not want the private information on their computer leaked via a security hole, and most people are unhappy to discover that the secrecy of proprietary software allowed "spyware" (as it is called today) to execute on their machine. We aren't all scientists who understand the finer details of the things we use every day, but that doesn't mean we can't understand that gas hog cars, high pollutant exhausts, certain refrigerants, garbage landfills, and proprietary software are all bad in the long-term.

The Free Software movement has responses to the challenges they face and they target all computer users with their message. The Free Software movement can certainly use help in making their message clearer to non-programmers and getting their ideas out in front of the public. I hope you'll read what the FSF has to say and help them focus their message to reach a wider audience. After having worked on a congressional campaign, I have experienced first-hand how difficult it is to get the media's attention for an ethically-based message. I imagine helping the FSF get their message in front of the public is no easier.

No one is going to di[sic] if they can't copy a piece of software, a song, a video or a book. LIFE WILL GO ON, and it won't be bad.

Ask Lawrence Lessig how bad it will be. He knows a lot about the connections of copyright law, media access, and dissenting opinion. He champions what he calls "free culture", an idea that is well worth hearing. Preserving the freedoms to communicate and increasing these freedoms to allow more dissent to be heard are movements worth fighting for. Criticizing works can require copying portions of works, so if copying is made unavailable, critique and dissent are far more difficult. This might not seem like a big deal to you, but it is to people who want to convey unpopular messages including: not wanting an infinitely long copyright term, not bombing Iraq, and stopping the war of sanctions against Iraq, and no more "software patents". I hope you'll become more politically aware and see the extant connections that govern your life.

The kroupware project and and is supposed to be exchange compatible as well as open source and free of those pesky licencing fees.

Scheduled completion by the end of the year.

As most of you desktop users already know, the KDE Project recently released KDE 3.1beta2, which will be the final development release before KDE 3.1. The good news is, KDE 3.1 is scheduled for release in just a few weeks.

KDE 3.1, the strongest KDE release to date, promises new goodies for just about everyone who gets to enjoy the full KDE desktop experience. Here is a sampling of what is in store for you:

Browsing with Tabs. The many fans of tabbed browsing will be delighted by this new addition to the KDE web browser ( Konqueror ) (screenshot). To simplify downloading a large number of files, a new download manager (KGET), which fully integrates into Konqueror, has joined the network package (kdenetwork). It manages any number of downloads in one window, where transfers can be added, removed, paused, resumed, queued or scheduled. A dialog displays transfer status, including progress, size, speed and estimated time to completion.

Eye Candy. The artistically-inclined KDE contributors have showered us with a basket of new eye candy. As shown in this screenshot, KDE 3.1 will ship with the contemporary Crystal icon set as well as the original new Keramik theme. The screenshot also shows the new drop-shadows. To help manage these stunning themes, KDE will provide a new theme manager with improved theme style and color decoration previews (screenshot). Menus and other desktop windows can also use attractive drop shadows, as shown in the screenshot above.

Personal Information Management. On the PIM front, the email client ( KMail ) has gained several privacy and security enhancements - namely S/MIME, PGP/MIME and X.509v3 support - in collaboration with the Aegypten project, an IT security project sponsored by the German government (screenshot). The calendar / scheduling application (KOrganizer) features a new Exchange 2000 plugin. The address book (KAddressbook) has gained the ability to fetch contact information from one or more LDAP servers. It can also print contact information and import industry-standard vCards.

While not included in the 3.1 release, the next quantum jump in KDE's email / groupware architecture is scheduled for KDE 3.2, when KDE will ship a completely copy-lefted, integrated groupware system. Currently known as the Kroupware Project, it is being sponsored by the German government and will integrate the major KDE PIM applications (screenshot, screenshot). More about this project, and some additional screenshots, can be found on the dot. KDE 3.2 will also feature the ability to use Vim as the mail composer (screenshot).

File Management. The file manager (Konqueror) has a number of new goodies, such as folder icons which reflect a folder's contents, a video thumbnail generator and a number of plugins for providing enhanced- or meta-information about various file types (e.g., images, binary packages, source code). The file search utility can now search file meta-information for searching multi-media files.

Desktop Sharing. For those who switch work stations frequently, KDE offers a new VNC-compatible desktop sharing framework. It enables users to share a KDE desktop across multiple machines (screenshot).*

Enterprise. Enterprises, Internet cafes and similar users will appreciate enhancements to the KDE Kiosk framework (the Kiosk framework provides an easy way to disable certain features within KDE to create a more controlled environment). In addition, the panel (Kicker) now supports fully customized menus.

Multimedia. The multimedia framework (kdemultimedia) has a new video decoder based on Xine. Xine is a video framework which provides support for various video formats, such as AVI, DivX, Cinepak, Sorenson Video, MPEG 1/2 and 4, QuickTime / MOV, ASF and others.

Games. For the playful among us, KDE 3.1 will offer a number of new games in the games package (kdegames), including a golf game ( Kolf ) (screenshot), an Atlantik and Monopoly-type game ( Atlantik ), a Blackjack game ( Megami ). and a Same-like game ( Klickery ).

Ease of Use. A number of other improvements are meant simply to make the desktop easier to use and configure. For example, the application finder (KAppfinder) provides a nice tree view for selecting the applications to include in the KDE desktop menu hierarchy. Two new user notification methods have also been added for providing non-obtrusive informational messages: a passive popup window (KPassivePopup), which pops up next to the application's entry in the panel's taskbar (without stealing the focus), as well as messages which appear in an application's title-bar (KWindowInfo). In addition, the control center (KControl) has received a face lift and better organization (screenshot).

Miscellaneous. Of course work under the hood continues for KDE 3.1 as well. It provides a number of speed improvements, such as Konqueror start-up time, a number of usability enhancements by the KDE Usability Project, as well as almost 1,000 critter fixes.

More information about planned KDE 3 features is available for KDE 3.1 and KDE 3.2.

Some interesting KDE statistics: the KDE CVS source code repository consists of about 2.6 million lines of code (LOC) (for comparison, the GNU/Linux kernel version 2.5.29 consists of about 3.1 million lines of code). The KDE Project consists of hundreds of active contributors, with 300 of them translating KDE into over 70 languages (KDE 3.0.4 shipped in 51 languages). In May 2002 over 11,014 CVS commits were executed. The KDE website has 24 official mirrors in 16 countries and the KDE FTP site has 71 official mirrors in 30 countries.

I skimmed through the architechture paper, and I didn't see much about calendaring on the server. From the specs:

The logic behind the calendar events and their handling is entirely done by the client applications. The server mainly acts as a network storage device in this regard.

An exception to this rule is the dealing with automatic shared ressources (rooms, technical equipement, cars, etc.).

How do you take a screenshot of a server?

BTW: if you read about the server components, you should have noticed that most of these things exist already (postfix, cyrus, apache, inetd, proftpd, openldap2). Kolab is just going to tie them together and slap a pretty administative UI on top.

--
Daniel

You said to wake you up...

From the link in the article...Kolab is the name of the server component.

Archetecture Paper

Once again a /. comment that goes off ranting without folowing any of the links in the story...

The German government has ordered a full-blown open-source groupware solution for KDE...

Actually they explicitly ordered Free Software groupware. Very rarely in the links you pointed us to does the phrase "open source" appear; far more frequent are references to the older Free Software movement. Please stop attributing people's freedom-minded work to the wrong movement.

Take the time to read the links you pointed us to: The concept is prominently listed as a "Free Software Groupware Project" (and descriptions hinging on "Free Software" run throughout); the KDE mailing list entry talks exclusively about Free Software saying this project will "significantly enhance the available groupware functionality for KDE and Free software in general".

The German government has ordered a full-blown open-source groupware solution for KDE...

Actually they explicitly ordered Free Software groupware. Very rarely in the links you pointed us to does the phrase "open source" appear; far more frequent are references to the older Free Software movement. Please stop attributing people's freedom-minded work to the wrong movement.

Take the time to read the links you pointed us to: The concept is prominently listed as a "Free Software Groupware Project" (and descriptions hinging on "Free Software" run throughout); the KDE mailing list entry talks exclusively about Free Software saying this project will "significantly enhance the available groupware functionality for KDE and Free software in general".

Look in :* Architecture Paper 1.0
Search for point "5. Windows Client".