On Thu, 2005-07-28 at 00:50, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-07-27 at 23:46 -0500, Les Mikesell wrote:
> > The recipients don't have to use the same server for meeting requests
> > to work, although when creating one you only see the availability
> > of the people that are.
>
> That's because the servers synchronize their stores. In fact, server
> distribution is why Microsoft doesn't do server-side scheduling. They
> merely replicate the stores.
That's only a factor on the availability side. Often you have
to just pick a time anyway and let the recipients deal with
conflicts. What I mean is that outlook will send meeting
requests to email destinations on servers that don't sync
and it goes into the recipient's personal calendar regardless.
> Now if you're using "Shared Folders" inside of the client itself (client
> attached meta-data for calendaring info), that doesn't require a server
> at all. Of course, most of that automated functionality _breaks_ if you
> install security patches for various Outlook versions and lock them
> down.
Right, but personal calendars still work whether you share anything
or not.
> Evolution supports the standard vCalendar attachment for scheduling
> without a server-store. Unfortunately, pretty much _nothing_ else does.
> |-<
Outlook will do this too when used without an exchange server. However
different versions don't even interoperate with themselves. The
office2000 version has a bug in the mime format that is fixed in the
xp/2003 versions but they don't work right with each other. Evolution
works with these but it was too buggy to depend on back when I tried
to use it that way.
> > However, when using pre-2000 exchange server and evolution working
> > with it in imap mode, all the attachments show up as non-standard
> > tnef's instead of mime vcal/ical format.
>
> AFAIK, Outlook-TNEF don't do vCalendar, but a variation.
Hmmm, I think I was running some tnef->mime converter via procmail
on my mail server when I had it working without exchange, but that
was only needed when the outlook settings were wrong. I haven't
found a way to glue that functionality into evolution itself when
pulling messages directly from an exchange server via imap. I assume
this is unnecessary when using exchange2000 and the evolution
adapter.
> > I'm looking for something that will eliminate the need to keep a
> > windows box on my desk just to beep at me when I'm supposed to join
> > a conference call.
>
> In other words you want a way for Freedomware/Standardware** clients to
> keep up with the moving target of Hostageware** clients/servers that are
> being mandated in your organization.
Yes.
> It's one thing to expect
> Freedomware/Standardware** to work with Commerceware**, because
> Commerceware vendors value their customers and won't break compatibility
> between versions. But Hostageware vendors do precisely that with each
> version, to _prevent_ compatibility.
The email side is moderately standard. I think even the tnef cruft is
understood well enough if someone wanted to deal with those attachments.
> Gartner said it best (paraphrased), "Organizations must be vigilant in
> Open Source adoption, as a vendor will never offer a way out of lock-
> in."
The problem is that there aren't any great alternatives that combine
the features of outlook/exchange and even if some are available now it
is too late.
> > But, exchange2000 will probably work right with evolution as the
> > client. Does anyone know if the notifications and updates get
> > into the evolution calendar when received even if you don't
> > open/accept the request?
>
> Good question.
>
> Because Exchange is _not_ a server-side collaboration system, but only a
> store for client-side collaboration, the question becomes ...
> - Does the Outlook client making the request do this?
> - Or does the Evolution client receiving the request do this?
>
> Now exchange _is_ an e-mail server, with e-mail rules. So it might be
> tied into this and the user store. It's a good question.
As I understand it, the evolution connector to exchange2000 uses the
webmail interface under the covers so the web interface might even
play a part here. We're still on pre-2000 exchange and its web
interface sucks, so I don't know much about how the newer versions
are supposed to work. Anyway, I consider it a feature that outlook
adjusts calendar updates like the time of a conference call when the
mail is received even if you don't open the message.
--
Les Mikesell
lesmikesell at gmail.com