[Novalug] Need recommendations for office server packages

[Crawford Rainwater]

Tom and company:

(Pardon the top posting in advance. ;-) )

There are a few ways to go here depending on how much integration and mixing you would like for requests (1) and (2) noted on your original post.

- Zimbra (Open Source or Network Edition), http://www.zimbra.com
This is basically a groupware suite that will cover email, calendar, contacts, and even shared documents.  The differences between the Open Source and Network Editions is (1) paid support (annual or perpetual) with the Network Edition; (2) a few less "bells and whistles" such as connectivity via MAPI or mobile devices.  However, there are some "add ons" (aka "Zimlets") that IMHO surpass the Network Edition's functionality for mobility and backup.  Down side is that this is Java based, and a bit of a resource hog.

- Horde, http://www.horde.org
Another groupware suite that is PHP based and has been around for a while.  You would have to build up your backend as you wish (e.g., Exim, Sendmail, or Postfix for an MTA, go from there).  There are some mixed feelings about v3 versus v4 in the community, but it is a strong community based project.

- ownCloud, http://www.owncloud.org
I think I might have mentioned this to someone else on the NoVALUG list late last year or early this year (or one of the other DC area LUGs).  This will provide a "DropBox like" file repository, but also have calendar and contact sharing (and then some).  PHP with a database backend.  No email integration though save the system emails for the "admin" user(s).

All of the above have a web based GUI that have a look and feel of Outlook.  Zimbra has its Zimbra Desktop which is like Outlook (minus the price tag) for those wanting to do offline work as well.

On item 3, I have personally build and rolled out Zimbra (Open Source and Network Editions) and ownCloud systems in an hour or two.  With Horde, I have one of the Linux ETC consultants roll that out as well in ~2-3 hours using Exim for the MTA and Postgres for the DB (among other items to parallel Zimbra).  These were on Ubuntu 10.04LTS for the most part with a Gentoo implementation for the Horde suite, and some CentOS ones as well for ownCloud and Zimbra Open Source (Network Edition is not supported on CentOS, RHEL is).

<shameless plug>
Linux ETC also hosts and manages VPS systems for clients running such as well as a few "on site" implementations via remote.
</shameless plug>

HTH and let me know if folks wish to have further elaboration on the above.  For reference, I do receive this email list in Digest format, so pardon any delays in responding in advance.

--- Crawford
 
The Linux ETC Company
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----- "Tom Gutnick" <tag at sunny-banana.com> wrote: -----

<...snipped...>

> 1.       Are there any good open-source shared calendars?  I found
> something
> called Web Calendar that looked promising, but we absolutely have to
> be able
> to easily synchronize with Outlook, and Web Calendar seems to be weak
> in
> that regard. They all love their iPhones, but I've determined that
> Apple's
> iCloud service isn't really workable in this context. So far, the
> best
> option I've come up with is Google Calendar, which will synchronize
> with
> Outlook, but I'd prefer something that's not proprietary. Any
> suggestions?
>
> 2.       What's the best way of managing shared e-mail address books
> that
> can be accessed through Outlook?  Is that something that an LDAP
> server will
> do?  (Her network is ~very~ simple, and we don't need to manage
> things like
> domain logins.)  Any recommendations for something that's easy to set
> up and
> use?
> 
> 3.       Assuming that the answers to #1 and 2 above mean that I need
> to
> have a Linux server running, which is likely to be quicker and easier
> to get
> up and runnning:  running a Linux distro within VirtualBox on the
> existing
> Windows server, or moving from Windows to Linux and using Samba to
> provide
> the file and printer sharing?
>