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List:       userlinux-discuss
Subject:    [Discuss] KONTACT / KOLAB: The UserLinux Groupware Solution
From:       tackat () t-online ! de (Torsten Rahn)
Date:       2003-12-14 11:14:22
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No Enterprise Linux without a groupware solution. According to:

http://www.serverwatch.com/stypes/servers/index.php/17095

the proprietary Ximian Connector for Exchange will cost $69 per user ($1499
per 25-user license).

But paying this Ximian Royalty is not enough. You also need an Exchange 2003
user CAL (Client Access License). According to
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/howtobuy/enterprise.asp

this will cost you another $67 per Evolution user in addition (that would
make $3174 per 25 users!).

And you need an Exchange 2003 Server Edition for your Evolution users which
costs  $699 - $3999 (depends on choosing either Standard or Enterprise
Edition).

So totally for a company you would need  to pay at least about

                                             $4000-$8000 per 25 Evolution
users

just to get a bunch of proprietary Software from  Ximian/Microsoft!

I know about at least one Fortune 500 company who evaluated Evolution and
they would never in their right mind pay such a hefty Ximian/Microsoft-price
tag for a groupware solution which gives you nothing but a lock-in into
yet-another different flavour of proprietary software.

Therefore I propose that we will use KOLAB / KONTACT as a completely FREE
Groupware Solution.

 According to the news  the upcoming version of Kontact does not only allow
integration with _two_ free groupware solutions. It also features a _free_
Exchange 2000/2003 connector if companies would really like or need to use
MS Exchange.

> The new release appears to have convincing advantages, like meeting
> planning email  formats shared with Outlook.

Bruce, I don't see how this is convincing or rocket science - After all you
just need to
send WebDAV, i.e. clearly readable XML which is even properly documented by
Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=7BD65D0D-A3A4-41F4-9868-E643F4A030B1&displaylang=en \
. Really, this is nothing special.

> r) news-reader - Does anyone use news any longer?
> Probably does not need to be in the solution set.

Of course there are still a lot of people who are using news! And if you
choose KONTACT you will also get a newsreader in a similar fashion as you
can use Outlook as a newsreader. Apart from that you get a fully featured
all-in-one E-Mail client-, Adressbook-, Organizer- and PDA- solution which
is modular (and in opposite to Evolution) fully integrateable into the
desktop. You can easily extend them, skript them via DCOP  or use them
standalone or as an embedded KPart.

Regards,
Torsten Rahn


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