[Kolab-devel] Kolab Support for the Toltec Connector

[Bernhard Reiter]

On Thursday 06 November 2003 19:33, Joon Radley wrote:

> > Did you actually implement or design that feature of OL? ;-)
>
> No, but I do agree with it. I believe that the server must be the ultimate
> authority. The client must only present what is on the server. Creating
> client side mapping means that the server is not the utimate authority.
> Each person can agree or disagree with this.

A proposed solution to have attributes to folders in a standard way,
would still have the information of the server being authoritive.
I guess that Bo correctly complained that using plain names
without some international standard flag indicating the function of that
folder was not a good idea.

In short, I believe communication might have missed the point here so far.

> You tell me what you think is the best mail server on Linux. On a LUG
> mailing list this will start a debate that is totaly amazing :-)

I admit I don't quite get the joke. 
Technical solution are only partly a matter of choice.


> > Well we can set the Kolab standard
> > and then at least all clients can be tested to be compatible or not.
> > So if we come up with a good solution, others will try to be
> > compatible.
>
> But what if each group set its own standard? There will be "standards" all
> over the place and still no one will be able to speak to each other.

To my knowledge Kolab is the first attempt to have a standard
with this design and a reference implementation in Free Software.
Using Free Software is a good way to establish standards.
There is also a high tendency that Free Software has an interest
to be compatible with other solutions.

> Maybe a RFC is the way to go?

There were some efforts to create such an RFC.
Yes we should certainly document good solutions
for the problem and put those ideas up to discussion.


> > > 1)If I have to tell a system administrator that if a virus strikes his
> > > organization he will have to reinstall, map folder types
> > > and rename folders
> > > for 2000 clients, he will not buy my product. ( Actually he will die
> > > laughing. )


> > Why that? Would a virus attack delete folders or the mappings?
>
> No, they would attach the client OS. Reinstall, reinstall, reinstall. In
> windows, viruses are a reality. I worked on anti-virus software at the
> Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa. Trust me on
> this.

Okay, now I get it.
Using GNU/Linux alot I did not directly picture
a redesign after a virus illness.

> I think the Kolab server is brilliant. From the first time I downloaded it
> and used it, I was hooked.
>
> I would love to be able to support the Kolab Clients. But keep in mind that
> this is a massive development on our side. Translating MAPI <-> iCal/vCard
> and incorporating this into the connector will take us approx. 6 months.
> And after all this I will have a product that I cannot sell. MS
> users/admins will not accept this model.

I  believe there is a market potential.
Many organisations want to do a smooth migration.
With OL and plug-in working on the same dataformats as the
KDE Kolab Client, it is possible to just migrate some users
on the KDE Kolab Client and after a while move more.

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