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Re: a bit offtopic
- To: Hetz Ben Hamo <hetz(at-nospam)magnifire.net>
- Subject: Re: a bit offtopic
- From: Oleg Goldshmidt <ogoldshmidt(at-nospam)computer.org>
- Date: 18 Jun 2001 10:17:29 +0300
- Cc: linux-il(at-nospam)linux.org.il
- Delivered-To: linux.org.il-linux-il@linux.org.il
- In-Reply-To: Hetz Ben Hamo's message of "Mon, 18 Jun 2001 09:18:39 +0300"
- Organization: Speaking for myself only.
- Original-Sender: ogoldshmidt@computer.org
- References: <200106180618.f5I6Ioh08800@magnifire.net>
- Reply-To: ogoldshmidt(at-nospam)computer.org
- Sender: ogoldshmidt(at-nospam)comgates.co.il
- Sender: linux-il-bounce(at-nospam)cs.huji.ac.il
- User-Agent: Gnus/5.0807 (Gnus v5.8.7) XEmacs/21.1 (Cuyahoga Valley)
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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