Re: Best groupware

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Date: Wed, 16 Feb 2005 09:56:57 -0700
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org

Peter Sebastian Masny wrote:

> OSS wrote:
>
>> Peter Sebastian Masny wrote:
>>
>>> What are your opinions on the best groupware software out there.
>>> I've looked into phpgroupware, egroupware, opengroupware, horde, and
>>> a few others. Even with the demos, it's hard to get a feel for
>>> which ones work well and which aren't quite there yet. Also, some
>>> have normal apt sources and others have outside deb sources...
>>>
>>> For my purposes, one of the main uses would be a filemanager
>>> functionality that would allow for user and "common" access to the
>>> files on the fileserver (same machine). Scheduling and other
>>> functionality may or may not be used.
>>>
>>> Does anyway have a good feel for which software suite might best
>>> suit my needs?
>>>
>>> Thank you very much in advance...
>>>
>>> Peter Sebastian Masny
>>
>>
>>
>> Peter,
>> You are light on defining needs. Based on what you listed install the
>> first one you find it will provide basic file management and group
>> calendaring.
>> As an off-the-top-of-my head list of follow-up question: In the file
>> manager are you looking for content-based search, categories,
>> flexible ACL, drag&drop, retention cycles & version management? On
>> Scheduling are you looking for common/shared/delegated calendars,
>> integration with PDA, synchronization with off-line calendar, public
>> calendars, alerts/reminders, invitations, alternative times,
>> attachments to calendar? How many clients, do they have a simple
>> group structure or overlapping groups? Do you need integration
>> between modules? Do you need off-line use?
>>
>> Best regards Dave
>>
>>
>
> Thank you for the quick response. I am light on defining my needs
> because my needs are light. ;) You explain that any suite I choose
> will provide basic file management, which is my first priority. I
> would like to be more specific, but our needs aren't really defined yet.
>
> I suppose my question is not so much meant to ask "which has the
> following features", but rather "I have these simple needs. Which one
> works best" By best I would include:
> - installs without too much pain involved
> - works for the users without too much pain involved for them (ease of
> use & nice UI)
> - in active development
> - has a user community (forums, etc)
> - doing the Right Thing (opensource, etc)
>
> Is there a suite or two that stand out in this regard? Alternatively,
> if they are all equivalent in these matters, then that would also
> answer my question.
>
>
>
> Thanks again for your time and help,
>
> Peter

Peter,
Opinion warning - We've been doing groupware/collab for years. Have
built a collection of expectations regarding what is needed to support a
regular business environment. Have not documented them. All that follows
is an opinion based upon needs and expectations in my client-base. You
needs may vary.

Given your advanced list I would suggest eGroupware. It is a fork of
PHPGroupware in active development with one of the best install guides
available (http://sourceforge.net/projects/egroupware/).The interface is
nice and there is reasonable integration between modules. Sadly, the
weakest module is filemanager. If memory serves it uses the X11 licence.
There is a .deb of the current version in testing.

There isn't much between PHPGroupware and OpenGroupware - my evaluator
confused them at one point. It strike us that eGroupware has a more
active development and community. Both are weak in off line use. AFAIK
no usable off line Windows client, we were unable to get Kontact working
(gave it a 15 minute try)

OpenGroupware has more promise but is a bear to install. When I last
looked (November) the docs were out of date, wrong & misleading if
available. I do not believe there are any .debs. Very 'industrial'
interface. We found the admin interface extremely poorly thought-out -
this is compounded by some licencing problems and an angry developer of
one of the admin modules.

Kolab is another alternative. We skipped it in the first eval based on
its website. Looking at it later with an incomplete eval. Our opinion
was like OpenGroupware it holds great promise. My impression is it was
quickly put together to meet a specific German Gvt project with lots of
rough edges for later.

AFAIK, both OpenGroupware & Kolab have connector for Outlook. It was
commercial but I believe has an open release.

If you are really looking for shared documents you might want to look at
KnowledgeTree. Far, far better document sharing (use subscriptions) and
document management. However, other collaboration (like Calendar) will
need one of the collaboration suites (we liked eGroupware/PHPGroupware's
calendars better than the standalone calendars we looked at).

Bottom line, for decent collab/groupware eGroupware is a good choice. If
your needs are more document centric have a look at KnowledgeTree.

Dave

>
>

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• Previous message: Lan User: "FW: "permanent modules""
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