Open Source Groupware
- Open
Groupware
Open Group 1.1.4 is the fourth official trunk snapshot (alpha) of the upcoming Open Group 1.2. This release has several additions and changes to the last alpha release, OGo 1.1.3. Please check the changes file for a detailed listing. Some highlights include mail templates which are keyed on appointment types, the ability to generate links to open files from the local filesystem as well as highly improved WebDAV support. Remember that 1.1.4 is an API unstable alpha release. OGo 1.1 is under active development. Please use OGo 1.0 releases if you need a higher level of stability.
- Collaborative Groupware Software
This list is focused on open source software projects relating to groupware and collaborative activity. If you are interested in helping in my redesign you can check out my progress. I'm looking forward to providing enhanced navigation, more data about each entry and interactive feedback from users. Please see the Free Software Foundation and Open Source Intiative for definitions of Free Software and Open source respectively. The main URL for this page is http://www.grantbow.com/groupware.html. It was started in April 2001. Thank you to all the contributors who have helped me keep this page updated. Email is encouraged to Grant Bowman <[email protected]> I stand on the backs of giants in talking about collaborative computer use.
- Groupware-Open
Office
Groupware solutions consist of a complex mix of protocols and needs. The OpenOffice.org Groupware project (OOoGW) seeks to enhance and simplify the user's experience by offering rich groupware products, and by working closely with other groupware projects to establish standards and interoperability between these various projects and protocols. The OOoGW project seeks to provide an environment that works from within the OpenOffice.org office suite, and yet is complete enough to stand on it own. We will embrace existing open source projects and will work closely with other groups to provide the most complete, diverse and standards based groupware solution available.
- How do Open Source groupware solutions
Sirius Corporation is one of Europe's leading Open Source consultancies with development staff who have contributed to the success of many Open Source software projects including Samba and OpenLDAP. The company is the founding member of the Open Source Consortium, formed with the assistance of the Society of Information Technology Management - SOCITM , and the Open Standards Alliance to represent the Open Source business community in Europe. Recently, Sirius Corporation successfully implemented an Open Source network infrastructure for a 120 person engineering and risk consultancy business with a number of regional offices in the UK and the Middle East.
The customer wanted an Open Source groupware solution that, in addition to standard IMAP and SMTP e-mail services, would allow them to use group calendars with Microsoft Outlook 2003 as the client.
- New group releases open source groupware
OpenGroupware.org (OGo) on Thursday announced its formation and release of groupware server software under an open source format. An official at OpenOffice.org, a complementary project for building an open source office suite, calls the OGo project a replacement for Microsoft Exchange. OGo's free software provides server components for office collaboration with the OpenOffice.org suite and various Linux and Windows groupware clients, according to OGo, whose software runs on Linux and Solaris. The groupware provides document-
sharing capabilities for OpenOffice.org documents and enables collaboration between users of packages such as Microsoft Outlook, Ximian Revolution, Mozilla calendar, and Glow, which is OpenOffice.org Groupware Project's client product.
- Open Source CRM and GroupWare
Agenda, Calendar, Enterprise Directory, Call Center, Resource Management, Forums, Collaborative Tools. Collaborative tools and Groupware Module
* Private and/or shared calendar and diary.
* Discussion forums, open or moderated.
* Frequently Asked Questions manager.
* Employees directory.
* Reservation of shared resources (rooms, equipement).
- Open Source Groupware Solutions
Popularised by products such as Microsoft Exchange, Novell Groupwise and Lotus Domino/Notes, the concept of Groupware is compelling, enabling groups of people to communicate with email, share contact details and manage appointments and meetings using shared calendars.
The requirements are straightforward: The server must run Linux. The groupware service must be open source and based on open standards. The clients will be both Windows and Linux. A web interface is desirable but not essential. The following were considered for evaluation:
* OpenGroupware.org
* Open-Xchange
* KDE Kolab
* Hula
* Citadel/UX
- Glow - the Groupware client
Glow is an OpenOffice.org project to develop a full-featured groupware client application using Java, eventually covering group calendaring, mail, instant messaging, folders & web whiteboard and P2P content exchange (see Feature Plan below). Glow will function as a network client as well as provide full offline support, including synchronization. The project was launched at OOoCon with the following key objectives:
1.Deliver a full-featured groupware client that works well with OpenOffice.org
2.Extend OOo to be a (more) complete replacement for Microsoft Office
3. Support open internet standards for interoperability
4. Provide features to support interoperability with (and migration from) existing closed groupware solutions
- Simple open source groupware
Need groupware that doesn't require tedious installation and configuration, and is ready for use in a matter of minutes? Lucane can be deployed in no time, and is so simple to use that you don't need to spend hours learning it. Lucane has a modular architecture and includes an impressive range of pre-made modules, including a multi-user calendar, an email client, instant messaging, a white board, forums, notes, shared folders, and an RSS reader. Users can easily add and remove modules to customise their groupware environment, and developers can create additional modules and plug them in Lucane.Unlike many other groupware applications, Lucane does not require the PHP/MySQL combination. It is written entirely in Java, and comes with all the necessary components. This means you can deploy Lucane on Windows, Linux, or Mac OS X without installing additional software. Lucane relies on a database back end, and by default it uses the supplied and preconfigured HSQLDB engine. However, the application also supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server.
- Open source groupware gains SyncML mobile
A small ISP/ISV in Germany has added support for the open SyncML standard to the open-source version of its Internet groupware suite. Additionally, Netline Internet Service says it has added a Microsoft Outlook connector to the commercial version of Open-Xchange.Netline originally developed Open-Xchange (OX) as an intranet project, later offering it as a service product to its ISP (Internet service provider) customers. The technology then became part of SLOX (SuSE Linux Open-Xchange Server), a commercial product co-developed with SuSE. A free version of OX was released under the GPL last year. The newest open source version of OX, version 0.8.0.1, includes a technology preview of support for SyncML, an open standard from the Open Mobile Alliance that aims to provide a universal way of synchronizing mobile devices with servers and desktops.
- Open Source Project for Groupware Server
Software
The OpenGroupware.org Project has announced an initial release of open source server software and the formation of an international development community supporting open-protocol groupware server software. The goal is to create "the leading open source groupware server to integrate with the leading open source office suite products and all the leading groupware clients running across all major platforms, and to provide access to all functionality and data through open XML-based interfaces and APIs. The OpenGroupware.org source code initially includes the technology SKYRiX Software AG has been developing for future versions of the SKYRiX groupware server; the source is written in Objective-C and delivers language-neutral and scriptable functionality, including XML interfaces. OGo software will enable users to share calendar, address book and e-mail information; they can communicate via instant messaging, share folders, exchange documents, track changes, share a whiteboard, and browse the Web all at the same time - all upon open Internet standards and without paying or managing cumbersome licensing fees.
- Open Source Groupware to Take On MS Exchange
OpenGroupware.org has released an open source groupware and collaboration server. The source code for the project is based on the Skyrix Groupware Server software donated by Skyrix Software, which develops Linux-based groupware. OpenGroupware.org (OGo) is a sister project of the OpenOffice.org open source productivity suite initiative, and the OGo group says its software will integrate with OpenOffice.org applications and other Linux and Windows groupware clients. However, the two projects, though complementary, are separate communities, and OGo isn't sponsored by Sun. The group describes its mission as follows: To create, as a community, the leading open source groupware server to integrate with the leading open source office suite products and all the leading groupware clients running across all major platforms, and to provide access to all functionality and data through open XML-based interfaces and APIs.
- Standards for open source groupware
Actually, the emerging standard looks like it's going to be GroupDAV (http://www.groupdav.org), an HTTP-based protocol designed for open source groupware clients to talk to open source groupware servers. On the client side, KOrganizer and Evolution are both going to support it (very soon), and there is talk about eventually getting Thunderbird/Sunbird speaking GroupDAV as well. On the server side, both the Citadel and OGo servers will offer GroupDAV support in upcoming versions. I would strongly suggest that the Kolab developers get on this bandwagon as well - as I've said elsewhere before, I really think the Kolab2 protocol is the wrong direction to go in.
- Hula brings open source groupware to SMBs
Linux adoption by small and medium-sized businesses is being held back by the lack of an open source groupware server that's easy to install and configure. SMBs will see little cost advantage from using Linux after adding in the cost an enterprise groupware product. But this problem may soon be a thing of the past, with the recent launch of the Hula project. Hula is an ambitious, open source project jump-started with more than 200,000 lines of code donated from Novell's NetMail product. The Hula project provides binaries for Gentoo, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandrake, Novell Linux Desktop 9, and SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9. If your distribution is not in this list, or if you just like to install from source, Hula also provides a tarball. I used APT to install Hula on Ubuntu 5.04 without any problems.
- An Open Look at Groupware
Open source groupware is better than ever, but for those seeking to replace Exchange, some caveats apply. Jim Conley examines the state of open source groupware and why it matters in a Microsoft shop.Microsoft pulls the plug on Exchange 5.5 Server on Dec. 31 after eight years of steady service. While most of the Exchange 5.5 population has migrated to Exchange 2000 Server or Exchange Server 2003, some analysts estimate that as many as 25 million seats will still be on Exchange 5.5 at the beginning of next year. Without support from the mother ship, admins are on the lookout for their next platform--which may not be Microsoft. And as Microsoft is finding with Linux, open source alternatives are enticing many of those looking to switch. A quick refresher for the Windows crowd--open source and "runs-on-Linux" aren't synonymous, especially when talking about Exchange alternatives. Bynari Insight Server is an excellent Linux-based Exchange replacement, but isn't open source.
- Open source groupware made easy
Years ago, users expected their electronic mail systems to send and receive messages, and not much else. Today's users, however, are more sophisticated. They expect Personal Information Manager (PIM) functions such as calendars and address books, a choice of access methods, and a variety of groupware functions. Yet the goal of providing an easily deployable open source groupware platform has, until recently, been somewhat elusive. Most of the popular choices have been built as traditional web applications, requiring a system administrator to install and configure a mail server, a web server, and a database server before being able to begin the groupware installation.Citadel is an open source groupware server that has its roots in online communities. You may remember the Citadel BBS's of the 1980's and 1990's; today's groupware platform is of the very same pedigree.