Re: OpenGroupware Questions

On 28. Sep 2005, at 02:39 Uhr, David Benstead wrote:
> Does OpenGroupware provide clients for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux?

No, the OGo project itself only provides server side software  
(besides the "web clients"). But it can connect to clients on all of  
the mentioned hosts.

Windows:
- Outlook using the (commercial) ZideLook connector
- Mozilla Sunbird using HTTP/iCalendar (and later CalDAV)

MacOSX:
- Apple iCal using HTTP/iCalendar
- Mozilla Sunbird using HTTP/iCalendar (and later CalDAV)
- Kontact (X11) using GroupDAV or HTTP/iCalendar

Linux:
- Mozilla Sunbird using HTTP/iCalendar (and later CalDAV)
- Kontact using GroupDAV or HTTP/iCalendar
- Evolution with Noodle connector (GroupDAV), alpha quality

The quality of the connection depends mostly on the used protocol. Eg  
if Sunbird finishes support for CalDAV, it will gain much better  
support for OGo.

> Does OpenGroupware provide a client for PDAs and if so which PDA  
> operating systems are supported?

The OGo project itself provides direct support for the Network  
HotSync facilities of PalmOS.
Windows based systems can be supported using one of the clients above  
or possibly with the MultiSync connector for GroupDAV (alpha quality).

> Does OpenGroupware provide support for use of Microsoft Outlook as  
> a fully featured (e.g. email, calendar, tasks)?

Yes.

> Does OpenGroupware provide a means of synchronising calendar/task  
> information? If so which PDA systems are supported?

Already answered above?


> Can OpenGroupware be configured to use a central LDAP compliant  
> directory service for authentication and address book information?

For authentication yes, for address book information you need to use  
a replicator script (some examples are provided on the developer site  
and on the docs site).


> Is it possible to enter into a commercial support relationship for  
> support of OpenGroupware?

Of course.

> If so are there any support providers in Australia?

Two companies asked for getting listed:
   http://www.opengroupware.org/en/users/support/commercial/

Note that there is no validation of listings, so we depend on  
feedback to know about the quality/capability of the local support  
provider.

> Is it possible to enter into a commercial support relationship for  
> implementation of OpenGroupware?  If so are there any support  
> providers in Australia?

Whats the difference to the previous question?


> Has OpenGroupware been implemented at sites with 70 000 + users?
> If so will the site act as a reference for OpenGroupware?

Depends on your actual "style of use". General information is  
available here:

   http://docs.opengroupware.org/Members/helge/numberofusers/ 
document_view

In short: the "regular" OGo is targetted for some hundreds of users,  
not tens of thousands. The focus is on providing a lot of  
functionality, not on raw scalability. However, in your setup OGo can  
probably by used by deploying "department" level servers (either in a  
hosted way or on-site), groups are usually not "70.000" users in a  
single database.


Further, Skyrix and Linagora are running a project to provide a  
collaboration solution for a large French ministry (65.000 office  
workers against a small cluster). The project is called "Agenor" and  
the software being used/developed "Scalable OpenGroupware.org" (SOGo  
in short).
This OGo variant uses the same base technology like OGo (SOPE), but  
is focused on raw scalability at the cost of depth in functionality  
(and ease of installation). Another feature which matches your  
requirements is that SOGo fully integrates with the already deployed  
directory server at the ministry (for the deployment-wide addressbook).

 From the website:
---snip---
2005-07-22 17:04: Agenor 0.8 / Scalable OGo

The sources of Agenor 0.8 got released after a 21 day hack-o-ton in  
July. Agenor is the codename of a current customer project lead by  
Skyrix partner Linagora which has the goal to produce a massively  
scalable variant of the OpenGroupware.org server.
The software dubbed SOGo (Scalable OpenGroupware.org) is in  
development since Summer 2004. Note that the Agenor branch is non- 
trivial to install and not yet intended for public consumption. Stay  
tuned for a shrink wrapped version of SOGo.
Contributors: Marcus Müller, Laurent Pierre, Maxime Wacker, Francois  
Armand, Sylvain Lhullier and Helge Heß.
[Website], [Subversion], [ViewCVS], [Announcement], [Overview],  
[Subscribe ML]
---snap---

Once the project is fully implemented we expect the site to be  
available as a large-scale SOGo reference. The first test group will  
start working with SOGo in Q4/2005.

SOGo is currently no shrink-wrapped solution (well, no 70.000 user  
solution really is) and requires more work (aka funding) to be of  
general purpose use. If you are interested in supporting the work, we  
would be pleased to discuss that with you.

best regards,
   Helge Heß
-- 
http://docs.opengroupware.org/Members/helge/
OpenGroupware.org

-- 
OpenGroupware.org Discussion [email protected]
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