Kroupware Kompleted [LWN.net]

[This article was contributed by Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

The Kroupware Project, announced last October, has been finished and released as Kolab. The project began last September when three companies, Erfrakon, Intevation GmbH and Klarälvdalens Datakonsult won a bid to create a free software groupware solution for Germany's federal agency for IT security, the Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI). The goal was to create an end-to-end groupware solution, both client-side and server-side software, entirely from free software.

Instead of starting from scratch, which is where many free software projects fail, Kroupware was based on existing projects. The Kolab Server is made up of existing projects like Apache, Postfix, OpenLDAP and the Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL). The KDE Kolab client is made up of several existing programs for KDE, including KMail, Kontact and KDE PIM. Another project is underway to create an all-in-one groupware client for KDE called Kontact and work is being done on a webmail client as well.

The suite supports e-mail (POP3 and IMAP4), calendaring, global and private addressbooks, vacation notices, notes, synchronization with Palm OS devices, task lists and a number of other features that companies and organizations are looking for in a groupware suite. The server is managed using a Web-based interface. Almost all of the protocols used, with the notable exception of Palm's HotSync Protocol, are Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standards.

The project isn't aimed solely at any Linux distribution, or Linux alone for that matter. The Kolab server should run on just about any Unix-like system that runs Apache, Postfix, OpenLDAP and the other components that make up the server. On the client side, Windows users can fully access the Kolab Server groupware functions using Outlook and the Bynari Insight Connector Plugin. Note that the Bynari software is proprietary, but there is work being done by a third-party to create a free software connector. Other Windows groupware clients may work as well if an organization prefers to run Windows, or a mix of Windows and Linux, on the desktop.

It's good to see a fully open source, end-to-end, groupware solution being made available. Particularly one that allows Windows users and Linux users to share the same groupware server and allow companies to deploy Linux in some parts of their business without having to make an all-or-nothing commitment.

It will be interesting to see whether vendors are quick to embrace Kolab after developing their own groupware solutions. A single, standard, open source groupware solution could do a lot to boost Linux though it might hinder sales of products like Openexchange Server or Ximian Connector.

This is yet another piece of the puzzle that could allow Linux to gain significant share of the desktop market. At the moment, installation and configuration of the suite is still a bit rough for companies who are used to buying pre-packaged solutions. However, it should not be difficult for Linux distributors or other vendors to smooth over the installation process a bit and create a value-added product based on Kolab. And, of course, work continues on Kolab even though the Kroupware Project has been declared "complete." It seems as if legal challenges and perception are now the greatest obstacles to adoption of Linux on the desktop.

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What any non-Windows groupware solution really needs badly...

Posted Jul 31, 2003 13:39 UTC (Thu) by eskild (subscriber, #1556) [Link]

... is rock-solid Outlook integration. Without it, no luck. Where I work we have tried out several Linux groupware products, and they all crash and burn on the Outlook integration. Some crash harder than others, but all of them crash.

The key issue here is that some of the most vocal and demanding users are non-tech people. They have a perfectly valid expectation: That things on their end "just work". And, with things like InsightConnector, they don't always.

So now I have perhaps 6 people wanting well-functioning shared calendaring, easy out-of-office, etc., and they want to do it from within Outlook. Then I have some 30 engineers which can live with most things, even if it means they had to leave Outlook. Actually, some of them even run Evolution or Mozilla for mail.

So why bother about the minority 6? Well, because they include the entire management group of the company. They will not stand down, no matter how many arguments I present against Microsoft Exchange. So it looks like I'll have to replace our aging -- but wonderfully stable -- Qmail machine (a 75 MHz Pentium, for crying out loud! :-) with a monster for Exchange. Plus pay through the nose, of course.

Bottom line: In shops with Windows on the desktop, we need rock solid Outlook integration. Otherwise Linux groupware won't get big until Linux displaces Windows on the desktop. And that may take a few weeks still...