[Fedora-directory-users] Calendar server
Kevin M. Myer
kevin_myer at iu13.org
Thu Dec 1 21:40:36 UTC 2005
Quoting Jeff Clowser <jclowser at unitedmessaging.com>:
> It's not that I see caldav creating any kind of relationship between
> FDS and Calendar. It's more along the lines that I want to deploy a
> FOSS messaging solution around FDS, based on open standards -
> something feature wise comparable to Exchange, but using
> non-proprietary protocols so that I can pick and choose clients (and
> everyone seems to want integrated mail and calendar groupware). That
> requires at least a directory server, email server, and calendar
> server, implementing SMTP, POP, IMAP, LDAP, and something for
> calendar (caldav). The one piece that is missing in the FOSS world
> is a true enterprise Calendar server (other than web cals...).
I'll put a plug in for a piece of software that might do the trick,
depending on your needs. The Horde Project (http://www.horde.org) is
an overall framework for web applications. For the most part, the
modules developed for it are essentially web-based clients for existing
services (for instance IMP is a mature webmail module). It has a
calendar module (Kronolith), which moves beyond simply being a
web-based calendar client and essentially has elements of being a
full-fledged calendar server, at least in development versions. This
bug tracks WebDav integration: http://bugs.horde.org/ticket/?id=3032
and there has been thoughts/discussion about CalDAV and GroupDAV.
I agree that a FOSS "groupware" solution is much needed, to break the
hegemony of the current state of affairs. A calendar server has
definitely been the missing link for some time, probably due to a lack
of standards. But being able to couple an email server, LDAP server,
and calendar server together, to provide non-propietary, open-protocol
access to data from any client (fat, web-based, handheld, whatever)
opens up a whole new market for FOSS, one that Red Hat has already
identified, judging from John's post about a small-business product
(the K-12 education market would probably be pretty happy too).
Have a preference for one mail server over another? Plug in your
preference. Like OpenLDAP over FDS? Use that instead. The point
being that control goes back to the user of the software. You have a
bunch of blanks that you can fill with the modules of your choice, both
server and client side. Want a monolithic fat client? Well, as long
as it supports standards well, you could use that. Or a pure web-based
client. Or mix and match.. With a calendaring server, I see almost a
generic groupware infastructure emerging, for creating groupware
solutions, using FOSS, in much the same manner as LAMP/WAMP did as a
stack for creating web applications. Maybe its just one of the next
layers in the LAMP/WAMP stack - MAC (Mail, Addressbook, Calendar) - not
catchy enough though.
Kevin
--
Kevin M. Myer
Senior Systems Administrator
Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 http://www.iu13.org
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