[SLL] Groupware servers

[Dave Dennis]

On Thu, 11 Dec 2008, Jesse Keating wrote:

> On Thu, 2008-12-11 at 14:30 -0800, Derek Simkowiak wrote:
> >
> >     The sad truth is that the OSS community has completely dropped the
> > ball w.r.t. an Exchange replacement.  All of the ones Kurt recommended
> > do not offer a shared calendar that is integrated with email-based
> > invites and resource allocation.  That's the missing feature.
>
> Zimbra does actually offer this.  Not only through the webmail, but also
> through zimbra-desktop (their own client suit) but also through clients
> like evolution or thunderbird due to caldev.  I get email invites to
> meetings and I can accept and have it tossed on my calendar via
> evolution.
>

Depending on your environment's tolerance for learning, if public calendars are
not existent, or need a separate app, or have any difference in look/feel than
Exchange, your users will revolt.  Exchange has exceedingly high mindspare with
regard to calendaring.  I've seen at least one shop fire its admin over
calendaring.

If you change how email works, you won't be lauded as a savior in the least.
You will be the guy that broke email.  Broke is defined as "doesn't work the
same as Exchange/Outlook/Hotmail."  In every regard, with every element (webmail
included / OWA) being exactly the same.

The rest of the world doesn't understand ease of backups, or a lack of dealing
with Exchange and Outlook stupidity, or non RFC behavior, or ease of enabling
full headers, or having vulnerabilities to every dumb email attack out there.
They understand none of this.  What they understand is you broke their email
cause it doesn't let them drag some thing from mail to public folders in
precisely the same way as it lets them in Outlook.  Or they had to click to
attach differently.  Or shared calendaring only worked if they opened a separate
app, which they had to authenticate to again, which didn't remember they were
already logged in.

In most companies and environments, Microsoft experience of email IS email.  If
you break that, you put your career in distinct risk, unless you have a very
high level approval before, during, and after the migration to do so.

Thats been my view as an email admin 1996 to present.  Make of it what you want.


Dave Dennis
Seattle, WA