[Novalug] OSS Calendaring - Zimbra or Scalix - time needed to learn?

[Paul D. Bain]

---- greg pryzby <greg at pryzby.org> wrote: 
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Greg,

      Thank you for your helpful reply.
 
> All I know is getting something up and getting something to meeting your
> needs are not necessarily the same.

      Yes, I should have made it clear that I was trying to draw a distinction between merely installing a software package, on the one hand, and configuring that package well enough to make it useful and error-free, on the other hand. I apologize for not making that distinction more clear.

> That said, I have found that I can use Ubuntu/Debian and get something
> installed and working (80% or more) pretty quickly. Especially a turnkey
> type solution like mail, server stuff, etc. While things where I need to
> generate content and build something (drupal, alfresco, RoR, etc) I can
> get it installed but creating the content is much 'harder'

       Yes, I agree. Thanks again.

Sincerely,
Paul Bain

 
> Paul D. Bain wrote:
> > Ken Kauffman wrote:
> >> With Zimba, you need to make sure you have an SMTP entry in your DNS 
> >> before configuration.  Zimba is not too hard to install as long as all 
> >> dependencies are met.  It helps you sort them out.  If you are going to 
> >> use it with your company, I would suggest you look at a support option 
> >> and pay for Zimbra.  Also, they have additional purchase options such as 
> >> a BlackBerry push plugin among others.  It's a solid product -- plus 
> >> Shawn just said RedHat just rolled it out -- so it's bound to be 
> >> supported for quite some time.
> >>
> >> An experienced admin should be able to get a demo server up in a day easily.
> > 
> > Ken,
> > 
> > 	Thank you for this valuable information. I greatly appreciate your 
> > making this reply. I still do not know how long it might take me to 
> > learn how to configure Zimbra, however, and, in my experience with open 
> > source software (OSS), this period of time can be considerable and 
> > forbidding.  Indeed, these days, I generally do not even like to 
> > investigate an OSS until I know how much time I need to invest in 
> > learning how to configure it. In the past, on many occasions, I have 
> > spent considerable time learning how to configure an OSS but then 
> > abandoned the effort when I realized that the benefit to be gained was 
> > not likely to be worth the cost (in time).
> > 
> > Sincerely,
> > Paul Bain
> > 
> >> On Sun, Jun 15, 2008 at 2:50 PM, Paul D. Bain <paulbain at pobox.com 
> >> <mailto:paulbain at pobox.com>> wrote:
> >>
> >>     Shawn Wells wrote:
> >>      > +1 to that.  We just got done rolling it out internally at work.
> >>      >
> >>      >
> >>      > Ken Kauffman wrote:
> >>      >> Zimbra
> >>
> >>     Shawn or Ken,
> >>
> >>            Could one of you tell me how much time an experienced Systems
> >>     Administrator and Web Administrator would need in order to learn how to
> >>     install, configure, and learn Zimbra? Do the RPM's install fairly
> >>     easily? Is the use of either Yum (or the like) recommended? I suppose
> >>     that Debian packages for Zimbra are still not available, but, actually,
> >>     I have not checked recently.
> >>
> >>            What other investments of time are required in order to get
> >>     started
> >>     with Zimbra? In particular, how much learning is required?
> >>
> >>           I have investigated the various OSS counterparts to M$ Exchange
> >>     over the years, especially these: Zimbra, Scalix, and OpenExchange. I
> >>     have never actually learned any of them due to the investment of time
> >>     that each seemed to require, however, and had hoped that, over time,
> >>     they would become easier to install and learn. Has that happened? Over
> >>     time, have they become easier to install and configure?
> >>
> >>     Sincerely,
> >>     Paul Bain
> >>
> >>      >> On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 3:58 PM, Zakai Kinan
> >>     <titanyen2000 at yahoo.com <mailto:titanyen2000 at yahoo.com>
> >>      >> <mailto:titanyen2000 at yahoo.com <mailto:titanyen2000 at yahoo.com>>>
> >>     wrote:
> >>      >>
> >>      >>     Does anyone know of a server based calendaring system with the
> >>      >>     following features:
> >>      >>
> >>      >>     1.  Has client that sync with server.
> >>      >>
> >>      >>     2.  Client can sync with a smart phone.
> >>      >>
> >>      >>     3.  Server send reminders to different people in an address
> >>     book.
> >>      >>
> >>      >>     So far mozilla sunbird is the best candidate.  Am I missing a
> >>      >>     better one?
> > 
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