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Novell To Release Ximian Connector Under GPL
ashmodai9 writes "According to this article on LinuxToday.com as well as this press release directly from their site, Novell announced that its "Connector for MS Exchange Server would be integrated into Evolution 2.0 and made available as open source, beginning today with the current Connector 1.4." Apparently, downloads will be available for the current version of Evolution starting May 14th."
Thanks to reader crafterm, a snippet from Novell's Connector website: "With the Connector for Microsoft Exchange installed, Evolution functions as an Exchange client, enabling users to become full participants in company-wide group scheduling and other collaborative tasks. Linux and Solaris users can access public folders, Global Address Lists, email, calendar, task lists, and group scheduling information." Update: 05/11 17:58 GMT by T :
In related news, ChiralSoftware writes "Codeweavers' long-awaited sequel to Crossover 2.1 is here. Just like the old version, the new version lets you install MS Office on Linux desktops. The new version adds support for Outlook XP, Lotus Notes and Microsoft Project."
But what does this have to do with Apache?
Download the source now!
Another reason for not switching - the need to access an Exchange server - bites the dust.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
This is great news! I put in a request a couple of months ago to have this purchased, and I just cancelled that request. It's nice to have one fewer barrier to acceptance.
Now I just have to convince our NT admin staff to turn on Outlook Web Access...
And there was much rejoicing!!!!
Paranoid tinfoil hat crowd say Y here, everyone else say N.
I always wondered if custom contacts forms would work.
And what about categories? In Windows you have to add them to the registry - there is no such thing in Linux.
Did I miss something somewhere?
"Evolution is Novell's award-winning e-mail and workgroup client for Linux systems..."
When did Novell pick up ownership of Evolution??
Skivvy Niner? Email me!
HEY! Look left just ONE MORE TIME!
Safest spot in the war, is closest to your enemy... or so they say... MS... watch yourself
je suis parce que j'aime
Now that Connector is open-source, it should be interesting to see what MS thinks of this as it will undoubtedly eat into their ability to sell Office as well as they do now.
I also wonder how long it will be before we see some kind of open-source version of Exchange Server itself, replacing MS across the board for Exchange!
That's great news - and for those wondering why Novell would release this open source, whereas they could sell it for cash before: Remember, Novell is not primarily selling software but services. They hope to sell more services by freeing the Connector.
Now only there were some way to access full Exchange compatibility from OS X...
--saint
This is great. A couple developers here at work are trying to get Linux for their workstations. Hooking into Exchange was always a set back. IT did not want to pay for the connector, since it already paid for Outlook.
This is just one less hurdle to overcome. I aplaud Novel's decision.
Compatibility with Exchange is wonderful, seriously.
The promise of exchange - integrated email & calendaring, locks a lot of companies in to MS software.
Say what you will, the ability for a clueless end-user to click "accept" on an email and automatically schedule themselves for a meeting is a Big Deal(tm).
Now, if only we had something affordable that could do that on the Linux server side, with clients on Linux, Windows and Mac platforms...and no, webmail doesn't cut it...
Is there anyone working on this?
-Steve
Okay, you have your connector for MS Exchange right there in the main app now. NOW what's stopping you from seriously considering OSS as a possibility? And, I'm not talking about the 1.2% of the population that needs some bizarre, esoteric feature in Outlook or Word or whatever that 98.8% of the rest of the population didn't even know exists.
Seriously, folks. Linux ain't ready for the home desktop market, but it's high time more people start considering its viability for the desktop in the workplace, especially as lightweight replacements for Wintops that don't do all that much more than word processing and scheduling.
Take most of that money you've been blowing on MCSEs and A/V software, and pay a few competent *nix admins to come in and properly set up the systems, and you just may well alleviate some, or most, of that downtime. How much TCO did YOUR company have to add to Windows from Sasser, anyway?
Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
Stevie-baby, here is your chance to get Mac OS X into the Enterprise! One of the major problems with integrating Macs in most large scale companies is the Exchange Mail Systems in use. In the past, most Mac OS X users had to load up classic to use the G-d awful Outlook client. The new Office 2004 Entourage client is still not as cool as Stickies, Mail, iCal and Address Book working as a team and the best part, those are built into the OS -- as the connector should be.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
I'm a full-time desktop Linux user, and not just for coding, but for every aspect of business, so all this stuff matters to me. This week is going to be a great week in Desktop Linux: Suse 9.1 and Crossover 3 are both coming out at about the same time, and both are huge improvements over what came before.
-------
WAP news
What are you talking about? The connection was out LOOONG before the Microsoft code leak. Besides, it wasn't the entire operating system that was leaked, just parts.
- tom -
Novell, you seriously rock. I know you're doing this for business reasons, but you just bought a lood of goodwill from a bunch of folks in IT departments. Thank you!
OT harp: Now, if KMail would just add IMAP filtering... ;-)
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Well we ended up with an Exchange 2003/Outlook 2003 solution here...an expensive solution, but once they spent the money - well It's actually been quite good! Active Directory seems to be a bit of a headache ;) But Exchange/Outlook really is running well! Two things stand out (well having different mail views in OL2K3 is awesome - for example having a view of "follow up" items, or "unread" items separate from the folders they are in):
One is cached mode - no more online/offline dicking around - it really works *well*. I have not had any screwy problems as of yet. (Basically Outlook caches your email - a seamless synchronization of your folders and it automatically detects a connected state)
The other thing is the RPC over HTTP - so I can get full exchange functionality over the internet, just as if I was using IMAP or POP standards, but with the full exchange server deal: contacts, calendars etc. It's really been handy - no opening VPN connections or using webmail to check my work mail on my laptop.
Are these two features available with Novell's solution? Even if they aren't I'm sure they will be. And having the option is great for the future even though, we are on the MS road for the time being. But for now, Exchange 2003 has worked very well, certainly better than our Linux pilot (Debian/FetchMail/Exim etc. with Thunderbird) - but our Linux pilot was kneecapped by having to operate in a mixed environment (which these new connectors would fix), and obviously going with Exchange cost us a whole lot more money! (Like $20K or thereabouts instead of free - consulting and hardware fees would've been required in both cases - and the Linux consulting was a lot cheaper believe it or not)
Novell has in public beta a GroupWise client for Linux and Mac OS X...and then they give away a connector to make a free client talk to the enemy's mail/calendaring system?
Makes me glad I don't have Novell stock. GroupWise earns them money. This does what?
Groupwise does the trick. I might not fall in your definition of affordable though...
I'd just like to throw that in. I've been waiting for ages and now it's actually possible.
I can actually use my Linux box at work, without relying on my Windows box.
In my particular company, we use Exchange. While I *have* been able to get IE working with Wine, I haven't had any luck with Outlook at all - I need it for its calendar, which everyone else uses. With Evolution plus the connector, I can now throw away my old dusty NT box for good!
We've needed this for a long time, and I am very grateful for this.
You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. The impossible just takes a little longer.
When Evolution 2.0 is released, it will have native support to connect to Novell GroupWise servers. Most likely, Novell plans to use Evolution as a vehicle for corporate adoption of GroupWise. Furthermore, since Connector is now free, corporations who currently run Outlook have an easy migration path to GroupWise because they can now install both servers, and access them freely with the same client. Once the bugs are worked out, they can discard Outlook and stick with GroupWise.
Also this might be of interest
Novell is trying to set itself up to be the premire Linux distributer. The $60 dollars may mean something to Ximian, but it's peanuts to Novell compared to how much money they stand to make if Linux really starts taking off. Novell's thinking seems to be "What's good for Linux is good for Novell", hence the GPL'ing of YaST and Ximian-Connector.
You could write the server-side of the protocol this client expects for instance. That should not be too hard.
Specially if you use something like Mono (plug, plug, plug, plug).
Love,
Miguel
Wow.
This is THE single big reason to NOT switch away from Windows in Office Automation. THE. Wow.
I cannot believe, there are not 10.000 alarm bells ringing in redmond right now.
Notice the tarball already avail in source?
Notice how SOON it will be officially? This looks like a planned hit and run to me.
Prediction: Either MS treatens them and they pull it. But the source is out so -pbbbt-. Or expect the next big free software suit to arrive. And it will be pulled, but the source is out so -pbbbt-
If, on the other hand, MS plays nice about this, well, hell just froze over again.
"/Dread"
I've admined 5.5 over the past few years...and can't get management to switch over to OSS or even newer versions of Exchange that Connector supports. Very annoying...though I do use Evolution to read mail.
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
Really great news ! I decided to migrate to SUSE 9.1 and was very close as regards bying the Connector. Now I will wait till Novel will relese their desktop. THis is really a huge step towards interoperability in large corporations where people use MS server applications.
MySQL Error 1040: Can't return sig, Too many connections!
The big picture for commercial distros a couple years back was:
With RedHat going Fedora (and resigning its mindshare), it wasn't clear what the new scenario sould be. Mandrake was in my mind the great candidate to be the king of the overall distro (from freelading and home users through enterprise solutions), assuming they released more stable corporate versions.
Mandrake did its homework, and they announced a new development strategy with a community release and a later, more stable official release. They probably should add a slower (once a year) corporate option
But now Novell buys SUSE, opens it up and kicks the hell out of the Chess board. RedHat backs up and announces their (late) return to the desktop. Things are getting hot my friends :-)
Now, they only need to release a Windows port of Evolution and even more people will be able to enjoy this awesome program.
I don't consider myself clueless and it's a Big Deal(tm) for me.
I don't get paid for managing my calendar and I don't want to waste my time managing my calendar. If someone or something will do it for me or make my life easier, then all the better.
Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
It looks like the was the missing piece that kept Evolution from connecting to OpenGroupWare. Now that looks to be solved. OGW provides Contacts and Calandar services (an can be integrated with a mail server like Cyrus to provide mail)
I have a feeling that a lot of the companies that have been kicked around by Microsoft in the past are using open-source as a tool just to piss off Microsoft. Witness Sun and Novell.
Engineering and the Ultimate
You could write the server-side of the protocol this client expects for instance. That should not be too hard.
Sounds doable. I'm a developer on the Citadel project, which has an open source groupware server. Now that the Connector is open source, we might give some serious consideration towards implementing the required WebDAV API in our web service.
Tired of FB/Google censorship? Visit UNCENSORED!
So, if you really want to support Novell becuase of its very positive actions of late, here's the way:
BUY something from SuSE, Ximian or Novell!
Ok, this is fantastic news. I'll be taking my work laptop and switching over to linux as my primary OS by the end of the week. (And yes, I realize I'm lucky to have an IT dept that will still support me after I do such a thing.) I'm not a zealot about such things; imho Outlook and IE genuinely suck on their own functional/security merits. The only thing I'll miss from a windows client perspective is Visio (yeah, I think MS does make/maintain some good products), but then there's always VMware.
BUT here's the obvious question: When will there be a viable challenger to Exchange Server? Am I missing something big? Last time I looked, most of the messaging solutions were missing a decent calendaring/schedule solution. Oracle's Collaboration Server is so involved/overkill (9cds for a basic install, iirc) that it's out of reach for most small/med orgs, and makes Notes look svelte. Groupwise was pretty obtuse & closed when I last looked. Open Groupware looks interesting (especially with the knoppix-ogo distro), but feels like Openoffice build 635... i.e. not fully baked.
When is a project going to come up with messaging, calendaring (via ical, mapi, etc etc), a repository that isn't as horrid as exchange public folders (maybe something modeled after/improving upon Opentext's Livelink), flexible event notifications (maybe simple stuff like alerts via email/SMS???). I have hopes for IBM's recent office tools announcement, but we'll see. A turnaround for Groupwise? Maybe? Options, I want options, dammit!
-Jon
I think not...(*poof*)
Is Novell turning out to be a good open source neighbor, or what? I think there is finally a large commercial corporation that "gets it!"
About time.
How long till they open source NetWare and eDirectory?
It seems to me that all the functionality of Outlook could be provided in a browser interface with a bit of clever stuff on the server. If that browser is not IE, then many of the problems simply go away. I don't see that anything Outlook provides can't be done in a better way.
I am looking forward to the next phase of development, a few major breakthroughs on FOSS look like co-inciding with Longhorn being late......
http://www.bynari.net
This product (not free, but cheaper than Exchange) which, by an odd coincidence, I'm evaluating for purchase in an upcoming IT changeover, replaces an Exchange server and supports both standard and Outlook/Exchange clients with all the calendaring bullhockey PHBs can't seem to do without. They have a separate for-cost Webmail product as well, about which I know little.
Insight Server *looks* very good, and the independent info I've seen also likes it. (If anyone has direct experience good or bad, I'm interested in hearing of it.) I'm looking forward with glee to a MS-free server room...
Also, once upon a time, Bynari was making a free Exchange client, but something happened to that plan and they don't mention it on their site any more.
"My strength is as the strength of ten men, for I am wired to the eyeballs on espresso."
Another good news for Linux in the Enterprise came from CodeWeaver's CrossOver Office 3.0. It now supports Lotus Notes 6.5.1 on Linux.
/ change_log/
CodeWeaver is happy to announce that today we have shipped version 3.0 of CrossOver Office.
We've added new, official, support for Outlook XP, Microsoft Project, and Notes 6.5.1. Unofficially, we're excited by users comments that far more applications are working now. These include programs like Framemaker and Microsoft Money. You can see the full list of changes here:
http://www.codeweavers.com/site/products/cxoffice
Further, this version marks some fairly ubstantial changes in our CrossOver Product line. First, we have merged the CrossOver Plugin product into the CrossOver Office product offering, so now all non server versions of CrossOver automatically provide
the Plugin functionality.
For a basic office computer, there is now no excuse for IT to not use Linux, unless there is a specific Windows-only app that is needed.
Linux has any terminal you ever needed, OO.org, and now is fully Exchange-server compatable?
And it's all free?
The only thing that could possibly make your Linux TCO high now is perhaps re-training your tech staff who have undoubtedly been brought up on MS Windows if they went to college in the US, and that's not terribly expensive in the long run...
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
I see quite a few comments about "Now I am going to switch to Linux" or "I have been waiting for this for so long" and I got to thinking. What stopped you from using prior to this? It was available for download for ~30 dollars. I purchased it not only for its functionality but to support a Linux company.
Too late, Emacs has already passed becoming an OS. It is now on its way towards becoming sentient.
Getting tired of Slashdot... moving to Usenet comp.misc for a while.
What would be the advantages of writing the server-side in Mono over Java? Not a flame, I'm sincerely curious.
mp3's are only for those with bad memories
I wonder if thunderbird will be able to integrate the connector into their code?
Some of us are still forced to use windows at the workplace for other reasons (Visio a big one), but would love to have an open win32 email client that can connect to exchange for calendaring reasons.
Exchange connector for Evolution, now free.
SunOne Calendar connector for Outlook, free.
SunOne Calendar connector for Evolution, NOT free.
...a new Exchange license designed to make this unattractive.
Please donate your spare CPU cycles to help fight cancer and other diseases
What would be the advantages of writing the server-side in Mono over Java? Not a flame, I'm sincerely curious.
:)
They would both be nice choices -- Miguel is largely responsible for Mono, however. So, you might say he is biased
Miguel on Mono
(Score:-1, Wrong)
Now, if only we had something affordable that could do that on the Linux server side, with clients on Linux, Windows and Mac platforms...and no, webmail doesn't cut it...
I'm not so sure webmail doesn't cut it. I recently rolled out a web based groupware server based on qmail/vpopmail/phpgroupware and the users couldn't be happier. They do everything they used to do on Exchange and I freed up a sizable chunk of IT's budget by no longer needing Win2k/2k3 Server license, Exchange license, and CALs. That adds up.
I installed Mozilla Firebird on the Ghost build host and have the browser start with all the pages they need in tabs. Aside from some Oracle and AS/400 users, most never have to leave the browser to do their work.
Web applications are great in an enterprise environment, they free up a bunch of my time so I can do useful things like post on slashdot ;)
You've got an easy breezy wind at your back...most of the time.
If you work for a company that would actually spend money on it, DO IT! We should financially support F/OSS companies when we are able to.
Also, remember you'll likely be buying some support which is cheaper than going it alone.
Er, no, don't do that unless you want to keep tracking our ever-expanding knowledge of exactly how Exchange works. OpenGroupware made their server work against Connector 1.2, and then it just failed against Connector 1.4.
Admittedly, if they had had the source, they could have figured out why, and fixed things, but the point is that Connector doesn't really have a real, official, documented "protocol". It just does whatever works best for us at the time, and we're always figuring out new things.
If you're going to try to hack in to one of the Evolution backends, it would be better to use the GroupWise SOAP interface, since that does have well-defined semantics. (Although that API will also be changing over time.)
The best would be to get CAP or CalDAV finalized and out the door so Evolution can support those.
How about this? Building a reputation of releasing formerly commercial products as GPL makes your current commercial products more future-proof. MS has always appeared future-proof because they are the One-That-Won't-Go-Outta-Business (the Highlander effect: there can only be one). Not much consolation to those who want to continue using Win9x, OE, etc., though. But if a company builds a history of GPL'ing stuff, that lowers barriers to adoption even while products are still closed-source commercial.
Specifically, Connector only works if Outlook Web Access is enabled on Exchange. There are a few problems with this approach in the real world.
First, OWA isn't enabled by default in Exchange. That is because, secondly, OWA costs extra for each user. Third, as a result, all places I've worked that used Exchange either disallowed using OWA at all or severly limited its use.
For instance, at my current company, OWA is enabled but only has a few client licenses and is therefore blocked from all internal IPs. It's intended use is for people that are traveling that want to access their email via a web browser.
So, yeah, Connector is very slick and very useful... just not as slick and as useful as the euphoric posts here seem to indicate!
The Kolab Project is a project that was sponsored by the German "Federal Agency of IT-Security". The Kolab server is based upon several open source software pieces: OpenLDAP, Postfix, Cyrus IMAP, Apache and more. Kontact (combines the following KDE apps: KMail, KOrganizer, KAddressbook and KNotes) will soon be ready for use as a Kolab client too. There are other clients too.
Is this a joke/troll? Miguel de Icaza?
Eh, anyway, why would you try to build a new server technology based on a hack of an old one? I mean, if you're going to spend the time an resources to build a server-end-software, why not develop a new open protocol, or extend IMAP? Why would you try to emulate the bass-ackwards way of accessing an Exchange server that Ximian uses, when you could probably develop a server with something superior to Exchange's unknown front-end access and add that protocol to Evolution?
Okay, I'm running gentoo and just built this from source. A couple of things:
./configure (probably should be the same one with which Evolution was built).
Be sure to specify the proper --prefix= to
A few things failed to link. This was solved by adding "-lresolve -lldap" to the proper _LIBS= line in the Makefiles. I only had to do that a couple times.
So, I have it installed and Evolution finds it. It seems to be hung up right now trying to connect to the Exchange server, but at least I got it installed.
1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 -- Mathematics is the Language of Nature.
I have to wonder what Novell's long term strategy is here. This is either A, a clever grab for better karma, or B, a move to provide a gradual upgrade path from Windows/Office/Exchange to Suse/Evolution/Groupwise.
I actually don't expect Microsoft to get too bitchy about this. It seems to me like they're putting their money on virtual office integration. While Novell has a product in this space too, Microsoft's product will probably end up being more polished, easier for the average end-user to use, less secure, but effectively less expensive for clients with enterprise license agreements.
Yes, my only tool is a hammer. And you're starting to look like a nail.
All because Exchange can't be accessed via HTTP internally (here, at any rate), and won't "finger" me.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the Evolution connector uses WebDAV (i.e. HTTP) to connect through Outlook Web Access. It doesn't speak the MAPI protocol that Outlook itself uses to connect to Exchange. If you can't use the webmail internally, the connector won't work either...
This is great news for OpenGroupware. It's a full featured calendar, email and groupware server.
Previously, the only end to end open source solution you could set up with OpenGroupware was using Mozilla Calendar, another iCalendar app, or by using the built in web client. The Mozilla/iCalendar support is good, but "provides little "groupware" functionality and the support for it is to be consider experimental".
There are plugins for Outlook and Evolution, but they were both not open source. It was actually pretty funny, an open source server, an open source client (evolution), and a closed source, very expensive connector to get the two to talk to each other! Look for "Ximian Connector" in their FAQ:
http://www.opengroupware.org/en/users/faq
OpenGroupware will not be able to use this Evolution connector directly, but since it is open source, it will be adapted for this purpose. Helge Hess the main developer for OpenGroupware has said as much.
But I Currently have the opposite problem and have yet to find a solution.
I am looking to replace an exchange5.5 with something a little more controllable. Cost is an issue and I have around 50 clients. webmail a must. Currently, we are evaluating and will probably go with SUSE Openexchange.
But, here's the problem:
We also want to replace the outlook clients and I would love to switch to evolution. But, I cannot switch the clients off win2000 because of some propriatary programs that need to run.
The goal here is to be MS free within the next year. And, with the exception of some programs we are currently porting, If I can get the users off outlook I can switch them from 2000 to Linux or BSD and very few would notice the difference.
It took us 3 months to ween the users from MSOffice to Oo with very little complaints/training.
Any thoughts?
TIME is the Aether...
Will Mozilla be integrating the connector?
Some people may disagree, on the "well, if it's there on Linux, people won't switch".
There are, however, 2 good reasons for building Windows versions. Firstly, people will choose the OSS project instead of a Microsoft one. That's less money for MS to spend on developing lockin, paying lawyers etc.
Secondly, if people have Evolution (to go with Apache, PHP, MySQL, GIMP, Open Office and Mozilla), they can get used to it on Windows. Then, they can pull the plug and continue to use what they've got elsewhere.
If you have Linux and want to connect to the firm's Exchange server.
The next step would be to port Evolution to Windows to help ease the migration to Linux. Evolution needs to integrate with OpenOffice.org so that it can take advantage of a word processor to edit messages better and do a spell check.
the latter only works if exchange has IMAP turned on, which apparently most corporations turn off, and it doesnt support CAL integration. the ximian connector uses the OWA instead of IMAP, and fully supports CALs as long as you have the server license.
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