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Opengroupware
An anonymous reader writes: "From the OpenGroupware.org site: the OGo project announces its formation and the release today to the worldwide open source development community of its groupware server software. Gary Frederick, Leader of the OpenOffice.org Groupware Project says: 'Just to be perfectly clear, this is an MS Exchange take-out. OGo is important because it's the missing link in the open source software stack. It's the end of a decade-long effort to map all the key infrastructure and standard desktop applications to free software.' There are also plenty of screenshots of Outlook, Evolution, Korganizer, iCal etc. accessing the server."
Be it by code of bytes or code of law?
On the screenshots page it says:
Microsoft Outlook using the ZideLook plugin and Ximian Evolution using the Connector for Exchange
So does this mean Outlook will work natively or not?
Hmmm...The site seems to be lacking any decent documentation as to functionality. Is this just a drop-in replacement for Exchange? Or, do I have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get Outlook, et al to connect to it?
It sure would be nice to see these features in an open source alternative!
Microsoft didn't start out at the enterprise level. Their apps started small and then they (tried, some people say) to scale them to the enterprise.
I'm glad to see you're at least giving these guys a chance at the "mid-sized" business market.
"We're sorry, but the website you're trying to reach has been disconnected."
If you notice, the screenies of Outlook are using a plugin called Zidelook. They dont mention whether this is requisite to get full compatibility (i.e. drop-in replacement for exchange), but they DO mention that OpenGroupware base is not compatible with Zidelook.
To use Zidelook, you must use SKYRiX, and "enterprise distribution" of OpenGroupware. I.e. it's a commercial plug-in.
Of course, I could be wrong, but that's just how it reads.
Janie took my gun...
Don't forget the Kolab 1.0 server which is supposed to be released during LinuxTag too.
As a consultant to small- to miz-sized companies, this has been the place where Linux has fallen short of a "complete" server solution. Everyone wants what Exchange can do, but can't break the bank to buy it. And to top it off, the archive is about 20mb!
One concern is the selection of client programs. Most need an additional connector ($) or are less then functional (Mozilla Calendar or the web--people always complain about the web access for some reason). It would be my vote that the new split Mozilla works closely on their calendar features with this project. They have a good start already.
Thanks to all the developers and companies that put OpenGroupware.Org together!!!
-m
http://www.invisik.com
I'm working for a "big enterprise" firm and we tried out Groupware several times. All the projects more or less failed not because of technical problems, the real problem is that using Groupware also means that the user has to be "open-minded". Our users unnfortuantely were afraid that by using Groupware others could do some "data mining" on their work and that they have no secrets anymore. Everybody could see what they are working on, how much they do and so on. And they didn't want that. As long as people don't want to share their knowledge and data about their actual jobs you won't get Groupware working, no matter if its proprietary Groupware solutions or OpenGroupware.
How secure is a system like that? Where I work, you cannot have a PDA that has any form of wireless connectivity because of security concerns. Security would even like to keep people from bringing their cell phones in to work. I finally got a nice job and I cannot even get my cell phone / PDA.
The cancel button is your friend. Do not hesitate to use it.
I've been (forced into) using Domino/Notes for about 5 years now, mainly because at the time we migrated, the guy in charge saw Notes as the "easy" way to move away from cc:Mail.
I've been itching for something like this to come along for a long time, so I can show the Directors what they are missing. OGo, coupled with OTRS to replace our in-house fault-tracking system, and OOo to replace MS Office, and we'd be almost set. All that is left is somce decent Open Source CRM software to replace ACT! for Notes, and I could probably drop Notes on it's head! Heck, with all that, I could probably drop Windows on it's head for half the company!
Unfortunately, I may have to go with Exchange proper anyway - the management are planning a Microsoft Project server for centralised project scheduling of many projects and resources, so unless I can get Project server running an non-IIS platform, talking to OGo, or I can find a replacement for Project Server that talks to OGo, I'll be stuck
Bah! Management - what do they know anyway! Can't wait to try OGo out...
Disclaimer: I meant what I thought, not what I wrote! What? You can't read my Mind? Oh dear!
So when you get a voicemail message it comes via e-mail.
Let's not put the cart before the horse. Get a solid open-sourced replacement for basic Exchange Server functionality (Contacts, Calendar, Email, etc...) and the add-ons will happen FAST.
Like this? I'm not saying it's perfect (closed source MAPI connector), but everything and I mean everything is stored in pgsql and 99% of it is in plain English. I've just been playing with it these past few days (importing 4000 contacts, about 2500 emails, shared folders, calendars, etc.) and checking it out... works over CORBA. Server runs Python (ick). So far so good though, but man do you need a beefy system (fast disks a necessity!) for this to work. My existing P90 Exchange 5.0 server takes this out (on a dual Cel466) at the knees for speed, but I'm positive it's disk-bound.
Umm.... Why do I have to use a closed source plugin to connect an open source client to an open source server?
We all go a little mad sometimes.... haven't you?
But the (apparently) relevant page on their site is just a walkthrough of the major system components, with a note saying
Which means that, apparently, the old ./configure && make && make test && sudo make install is unlikely to work here.
So -- has anyone tried this yet? Has anyone tried it on a non-Linux machine?
DO NOT LEAVE IT IS NOT REAL
Exchange has nothing to be proud of!!
Exchange is a horrible product... The groupware calendar sharing isn't even real time. Updates are sent in the message queue. I hate Exchange... people are stupid... The only reason it does well is the same reason people buy a combo TV/VCR/DVD/DirecTV/Tivo that is all together... It's simple if it's all in one package.
I think the answer to Groupware problem is not new software; but to create a new protocol standard. Something to replace in a groupware environment by either have many servers that talk with the new protocol... or you can still have the one server that does it all.
The combo idea should only be in the protocol.
I think the protocol should be some kind of query protocol...
A new protocol is needed for many reasons right now anyway. People want to make a new e-mail protocol to make sure we never see spam again. LDAP is good for contacts; if you don't ever want to update it. I think it's dumb to make a Calendar file format. (MS was one of the main developers in the iCal standard by the way.)
It would be no problem to run a web, WAP, VoIP, or whatever service you want to add... just as long as it ask for you centralized information...
Okay... I said enough... maybe I shouldn't be sharing this great idea with all of you...
-Brazil
Oh... make be in XML too..
I'm not necessairly a fan of Oracle and I'm definitely no fan of Exchange (out of experience), but I watched a little Oracle Collaboration Suite marketing demo on their site and for a moment, just a moment, I put myself in a biz guy frame of mind and thought "wow, that actually looks pretty kick ass". They have it intergrated not only with pda/phone but also with voice commands - everything. The whole enchalada.
Of course, I have no idea about the stability, hardware costs, and licenses. But, it seems as tho Oracle is already ahead of Titanium - not that that matters much to M$ customers. Still interesting nonetheless.
While I commend the Opengroupware product, I'm not too sure when the OS community will be able to come up with something like the Oracle Collab Suite. Not that they have to, but I guess biz types will be looking for features that exist in a shrink wrapped solution.
Exchange really isn't very good at groupware. It does nice calendaring, but calendaring isn't groupware. It's also very rigid in terms of functionality and not terribly flexible.
Notes would be a better template for a groupware solution. From a server point of view anyway.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Starting with the launch of OpenGroupware.org, SKYRiX becomes an enterprise distribution of the OpenGroupware.org software...
The SKYRiX distribution also includes some additional software which is not available as part of the OpenGroupware.org project
[snip]
Outlook Support for ZideStore
So it is not Open Source. However the OGo wire protocol is documented & available; so it is possible to write an Open Source Outlook plugin that can interface to OGo. Now wether someone does that is another matter (No one has written any Outlook plugins for any other OSS groupware projects yet).
You're right about the functionality difference between Notes and Exchange - Notes wins hands down. Also, the latest version of Notes fixes most of the "ugly interface" issues previous versions suffered from. Another bonus: if you don't like the look, or even the functionality... you can change it. The folks at OpenNTF have even released an open source version of the template that looks/acts like MS Outlook on steroids.
This is not your father's Notes.
Sean
P.S. I have no business connection with IBM/Lotus... just a fan.
If you read the FAQ, they mention that the ZideStore server is open-source, but the Zidelook plugin for Outlook is *NOT*. that's what maps the MAPI calls to WebDAV calls, and is the part you would really want to have for free.
So this is really just another half-assed payware product. ugh. I hate exchange, I want it's abomination gone, but I'm not going to replace it unless it's with something free, open and stable.
If I'm going to buy closed source products from someone, it's going to be from somewhere that at least HAS a QA department...
EOM
I sure do. The UI for FC is sweet, but the back end server is a mess. We migrated off to Lotus last year, because FC was so far behind the curve. From a user point of veiw FC was great, but from the admin side it could be extremely painful to deal with(for instance, client level mail filtering was just implemented in the last year, well after we migrated; they were way behind the curve on that one, so spam filtering was rather more difficult-the gateway could tag it but the client couldn't use that information to dump it somewhere). All that being said, for a small company or some such it might be useful still; the good part is the server end was generally fairly robust(though feature poor and several years behind modern) so the admin needs were infrequent.
ehintz
And why? Because it's Open Source? That is no reason to throw previously invested money out the window.
I think you're forgetting that it is possible that an MS Exchange outfit may very well have a higher TCO than an open source solution. As a result, companies may choose to switch simply because it's cost effective. For example, suppose it cost you x to switch over to another system, but in the long run, it'll save you 2x every year. Sounds like a great deal to me. After all, it's arguments like this that are allowing Linux to displace more proprietary solutions in the rest of the server space... why can't groupware be the same?
My experiences are a little different than yours. Where I presently work, we use Exchange/Outlook for groupware. Some of the folks use it and use it well, however most use it as email (similar to your experience) or because they are forced to use it by their manager.
However, at my previous job, we didn't use a groupware package. We had a real X.500 directory server for addressing within the organization, we had an email system that was best of class that tied to the X.500 DSA, we had a calendaring system that was best of class that tied to the X.500 DSA and the email system (at the server). We had shared email folders via the email server and shared addressbooks via the email server also.
EMail as based on IMAP, SMTP, and IMSP and came from a company then known as Esys, later ExecMail, not sure if they even exist anymore). Their server was basically the same as the cyrus code. The calendar was CorporateTime (later Steltor and now Oracle). We used Palm Pilot handhelds that sync'ed with the calendars just fine. And later even added support for Windows CE (I left there before it was renamed PocketPC but I am sure that it worked as well).
We had about 3500 email users (all the full time employees of the organization) and close to 1000 calendar users (most of the professional and management type employees). We had about 90% of the users actually using the systems. Everyone was given a training class on proper usage of the systems by our in-house training staff and everyone was confident that they knew how to use the systems.
I attribute the usage of the systems to three things. First was training the users to use the systems (not every bell and whistle, but what they needed). Second was the fact that we didn't look for everything in one package, but got the best of class for each individual area. Third was that the packages would actually loosely integrate together.
That is what I would look for today, if I were assigned to get a groupware system together for a company. Unfortunately, with too many people interested in getting everything under one hood, it is getting difficult to get best of class applications. This is true in everything including office suites, office automation (otherwise known as groupware), etc. I have, to this day, never found an email client that I liked as well as the client from ExecMail. It had features that I have never found anywhere else. WordPerfect still tries to fall under my fingers occassionally for WordProcessing (however, I never really liked the rest of their suite.
I have no sig, does anyone have one to spare?