[Kolab-devel] something is not good about kolab

[Richard Bos]

Op Thursday 28 June 2007 09:01:02 schreef Joon Radley:
> a) User interface. This is what the users see and it does not matter how
> good the code is, if the user interface is not slick and shiny they will
> think it is a poor quality product. As an example, many years ago I worked
> on a project, in the one version we worked on the engine and made some very
> nice improvements. From this we had almost no feedback. The next version we
> created a skinned interface and nothing was done on the engine. We were
> flooded with compliments on how we improved our software and how much
> faster and better it was running. Users judge quality firstly with their
> eyes.

The UI is the same whether the backend is MS exchange or Kolab.  That is the 
UI for the client of course, the server differ.

> b) Installing. At the moment to install Kolab on a system you need to have
> very sound Linux knowledge. Currently it is out of reach for people with
> limited or no knowledge of Linux and both Linux and Kolab have a very high
> learning requirement. (This is not a reflection on OpenPKG, which I have
> the highest regards for. )
>
> The installation issue is being addressed by a number of companies at the
> moment and soon we will see a large increase in the user base of Kolab due
> to this. I hope that these companies will be listed on the Kolab site to
> show people without the necessary knowledge and skills to do the install
> that an easy installer is available for them.

On openSUSE the installation is done in some minutes.  Just add the kolab 
repository to the package installer (e.g. yast, smart or apt) and install 
kolab e.g; apt install kolab.  It can almost not easier and faster.  The only 
thing faster is a live-cd.  Which might be possible with the openSUSE kiwi 
project.

Would it be possible to ask the people that made the decision to choose MS 
exchange which other applications they investigated, and why they where not 
good enought?  Does somebody have connections in there (Bundestag)?


-- 
Richard Bos
We are borrowing the world of our children,
It is not inherited from our parents.