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Re: a bit offtopic



Hetz Ben Hamo <hetz@magnifire.net> writes:

> This issue is a bit off topic probably, but I noticed here that many people 
> are looking for an MS Exchange solution..

I do believe it is on topic here.

I am not looking for a Linux solution that will have M$ Exchange
features. I am looking for a way to interoperate with M$ Exchange
without having to educate the unenlightened. 

> Could those people please write back - what features in MS Exchange server 
> they are looking for in a Linux solution, 

What follows is probably not exactly what you are seeking, but you
asked what I was looking for...

The only point of exchange (pardon the pun) is the appointments
calendar. I would like to have the following on the linux side:

1) Ability to see the Exchange Calendar - I would like to see when
   people, or, more importantly, non-human resources (such as
   conference rooms), are busy or free.

   NB: The Exchange web access does not work properly, and normally is
   disalbed by the organization's sysadmin for security reasons
   (apparently it has an inordinate amount of holes even for a
   Microsoft product). That is not a solution.

2) Ability to invite people to (reserve resources/venue for) a
   meeting. This need not be through the interface of item 1 (though
   it might be nice). I personally would be satisfied with a clear
   spec of an email message that I would send, so that the
   Outlook-bound addressees would get it in the way they are used to.
   I would insist on such a spec, because I don't need a "tool" for
   this, I'd like to do it through my normal mail interface. 

3) Ability to acknowledge/accept/reject appointments by email. Same
   comment as in item 2: I want to see the invitations through my
   usual email interface, and reply through the same interface. In
   principle, I'd like to be able to do it through {proc,for}mail.
   The whole thing should be independent of the actual program I
   use to read/write email.

4) It should not rely on the emails residing on the Exchange server.
   I need to be able to fetch all my mails (including the appointment
   invitations) from the server, say with POP3, and still do 1,2,3.

5) I am quite capable of entering appointments into my personal
   calendar myself, so I don't insist on a tool that will do it for
   me. Such a tool, or a spec for it, would be nice, but it will have
   to work with a variety of mail and calendar tools. E.g. currently I
   use GNUS and KOrganizer (sort of trying the latter as a substitute
   for the emacs calendar), so I would like to be able to write some
   elisp code to run inside GNUS so that an appointment will be added
   to / updated in / deleted from the calendar.

All in all, I will be quite satisfied with a protocol, not a tool.
However, if you decide to develop a tool, make it interoperable with
popular calendars, such as KOrganizer, ical, the emacs calendar,
reminder, etc.

> what features they don't like 

I hate the interface - it's way too complicated and cumbersome. To
invite people for a meeting I would like to either click on the time
slot in the calendar or just issue a command in emacs, and get an
emacs frame with a mail buffer with slots to fill, similar to GNATS
bug reports. It should not be difficult to arrange something like that
for the vCalendar format, I guess, but emails I get from Exchange
don't look like vCalendar, as I mentioned before.

> and how much do they think a price are you willing to pay for this
> kind of solution?

Not much - it is not essential at all. It's a matter of slightly more
convenience and interoperability rather than a must-have.

-- 
Oleg Goldshmidt | ogoldshmidt@NOSPAM.computer.org 
If it ain't broken, it hasn't got enough features yet.

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