On Wed, 2 Feb 2005 03:10:42 +0100, Helge Hess <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> Re: [otlkcon-devel] Re: Exchange 5.5 Server project
Helge - you're right, I was referring to Novell's GroupWise, not
OpenGroupware as I wrote. But your other criticisms, of Open-Xchange
(your competition :), aren't really accurate. O-X is GPL, I build from
source, and I believe that Netline accepts patches (though they do not
offer CVS write access). O-X does not require money to obtain and run -
the commercial "product" is 1> delivering a working app to Novell, and
2> probably selling Outlook (etc) connectors for clients for O-X. All
their O-X network interfaces are open standards: WebDAV, iCal, IMAP,
etc; as are all their data interfaces. In fact, their architecture is
integration, of standards-compliant (and even completely open, if you
choose) server apps, glued together under a comprehensive scheme via
Java app server (eg. Tomcat), SQL DB (eg. Postgres), OpenLDAP and Apache
webserver. The source is open, the software doesn't cost a penny, and it
uses popular F/OSS SW that many of us are already using. And it really
works, delivering lots of PIM functions, community functions, and
stability in lots of actual installations.
As I mentioned, Netline gets paid by Novell to develop/publish O-X.
Novell offers it, and support, to their customers. That completes a
model similar to RedHat: we don't get CVS writes to RH9, or even Fedora,
but it's clearly OSS (and Fedora is F/OSS). Novell has the same model
for their own SuSE Linux, and aren't even proprietary in requiring
either SuSE or the Ximian Desktop/clients to use O-X. Or to use their
proprietary GroupWare, which is a combination of O-X, popular Novell
components (derived from Netware) and components from the previous
completely proprietary versions of Groupware - which are being gradually
replaced by O-X components. So O-X (and Novell in general) don't mean
"vendor lock-in" in any way (except they don't sell support contracts
for other vendors's software). BTW, I note that I have no business
relationships with any of these companies, except that I'm running O-X
(for free, like anyone else :).
The problem with O-X, as I originally posted, is that their connector
is neither free, nor open - nor is it expected to become so. That's why
I'm posting in a thread about writing a new "Exchange server
replacement" in an "Outlook connector replacement" group. O-X is open
enough to matter (except for CVS write, which is not necessary for my
purposes, though the development might go faster with it). Especially
when developing an Outlook connector. Because O-X works well, with
open/standard data formats/protocols, it isn't necessary to change the
O-X source to make a connector - though reading the O-X source will
certainly help. So again, I say that O-X seems probably a better place
to put development time than writing our own competition to O-X, even if
that means asking Netline directly if we can contribute code in their
mostly closed development team model. If enough people want to
contribute that kind of code, they very well might open the team more; I
haven't seen lots of requests for that, though I've seen some offers of
help in their threads, all of which have been met with acceptance in
some format.
Of course, Helge, your OpenGroupware project might be just as worthy as
O-X of contributions - I haven't evaluated it, because O-X is looking
satisfactory to me, and comes with Novell support when I want it. But
I'm really suggesting that we developers not spend as much time on a
*new* Exchange replacement server; rather work on an open Outlook
connector. O-X is very far down that road. So again, completely within
the scope of this group, I say that we would best direct our efforts to
finishing a GPL Outlook MAPI connector. Any real desire to work on a
server for it would be best satisfied working on an existing GPL
Exchange server project, like O-X - or OpenGroupware.
--
(C) Matthew Rubenstein
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