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More on KDE Groupware
e8johan writes "The KDE PIM Team will integrate all their applications into one common interface and create an Outlook-like application.This is being done in the Kroupware project commissioned by the German government. There is a prototype of KOrganizer with KMain embedded into it (shots 1, 2), and another prototype with KMain running as a KPart in Kaplan (shot 1, 2, 3). This looks hopeful and if they manage to build the application as flexible and modular as other KDE projects this will hopefully mature into something great." Kroupware is a catchy name, but I wonder if the KDE team is aware of the English word croup.
This is exactly what KDE needs. Best of luck to the PIM teams because this is the final piece of the KDE on the desktop puzzle that businesses need to supplant outlook/exchange. If it hooks into a nice backend as easily as Outlook does to exchange then we're looking at a contendor.
Have a Happy.
A large part of this project is the server-side, grouping together existing applications (cyrus IMAP, OpenLDAP, etc) to provide a "Groupware server".
You should be able to use Evolution with all of those parts anyway (and actually, currently I don't think Evo supports stuff like LDAP and shared calendering, a project like this might influence support for such things).
God Fucking Damnit
if you feel you can be a respectable KDE user while using software that doesn't start with "K", then go ahead...
MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
Kroupware is a catchy name, but I wonder if the KDE team is aware of the English word croup.
;-)
Hmmmmm.....
A viral disease, often caused by..
Well, it _is_ supposed to be an Outlook replacement, isn't it?
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
If we all stopped at the point where somebody says "It's been done before" we wouldn't have Linux, KDE or GNOME and I'd be posting to /. in IE.
Why not compete? I bet with a little pride on the line, Kroupware and Ximian could take turns leap-frogging each other, possibly resulting in having TWO products that outstrip Outlook!
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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...
While you definately have a point, it's also the developer's choice. Most KDE development is in framework, i.e. you can embed the Kmail component into Kaplan. The requirement for this is that the component was designed with this framework in mind, or is ported to do so.
Application development with KDE is fast, because you get to build on a great framework with many components to choose from.
There is very little duplicate code in KDE, although much of the KDE code does the same as similar code in other projects. What you have to remember is that this KDE code can be plugged into any other KDE program, and KMail for example is a shell for the (now) KMail component which is built on SMTP, POP, IMAP, etc kio-slaves.
KDE's architecture is very advanced, and very well planned. To make full use of it, it needs to be considered from the start. Hence re-doing something for KDE as opposed to slapping KDE menu's on an existing program.
The reason KMail is part of KDE is that any KDE app can embed and control KMail components and vice versa. If you need IMAP in your application, it's trivial to add it.
The reason Xchat is part of Gnome is that it uses Gtk and some other Gnome libs. If you want to include IRC in your Gnome app (along with all Xchat functionality), is it also trivial?
There's a difference. And no this does not say anything about wether Gnome or KDE is better, bless both projects. I'm just pointing out there *are* others reasons than NIH.
Man oh, man, if I hear another person say OpenOffice isn't ready for prime time, I swear I'm gonna yank out their odbc and hit them over the head with it.
In my experience joe-generic office drone, when faced with OpenOffice or MS Office, is gonna make all the same mistakes independent of brand.
Try MS Word/Writer:
He's going to double carriage return to put spaces between paragraphs. He's going to indent with spaces. He's going to to use the B I U and font settings to change heading's characteristics (which are double carriage returned as well). He's going to freak out if you mention ODBC and mail merge. He's going to tediously type out envelopes and form letters ("testing" them in the printer to align them correctly). After you teach him how to mail merge off of a DB, or that documents are easier to update when you define styles etc., he will thank you. When you return a few weeks later, he will be back to his same tried and true plodding slow-wittedness.
Powerpoint/Presenter
He's going to make a presentation by first deciding on a background and header style. Then he's going to mess with borders for 30 minutes. Then he's going to play around with slide transitions. Then he's going to import some useless graphics. Eventually he will think about content. Once there, he will repeat steps used to make MS Word document.
Excel/Calc:
Will pour over columns of numbers for hours, hand editing and typing values. He will alt-tab between his spreadsheet and his calculator program to add numbers. He will select some columns and make a chart, spending 15 minutes to find the pie/scatter/bar configuration that looks prettiest, and then proceed to misname the dependent and independent axises. Then he will select fonts, backgrounds, borders... and then spend no less then three hours trying to get his 40x129 monstrosity to fit on ONE page. He will waste no less then 40 sheets of paper to accomplish this. Upon success he will make 56 copies for distribution.
Did I miss anything? I'd say both products let people do their work as they normally do. I've observed for some time and both products give you equal levels of functionality.
This has been my experience for 95% of all office workers, and I also find that their adamance towards MS is inversely proportional to their competence with it.
Toddlers are the stormtroopers of the Lord of Entropy.