[OGo-Discuss] Open source client recommendations?

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> I've been looking at the architecture diagram, and there are many 
> examples of ways that OGo can be accessed from different clients.
> However, many of the connectors are either alpha (e.g. the Evolution 
> support), proprietary (the Outlook support) or not capable of doing the 
> things I want - mainly contacts and tasks.
> Can anyone recommend a quick way to get started with an open source 
> client that will let me do the following:
> - have my contact list (and maybe tasks and calendar) `mirrored' on my 
> laptop, even when disconnected
> - download my contact list to a program that can print the contacts in 
> long format (e.g. the way Evolution and Outlook does) rather than the 
> list format used in OGo's web interface

Concerning M$-Outlook,  this used to be in the OGo docs plone which is
currently down:

* ZideLook
ZideLook is the commercial client/server solution sold by Skyrix to
connect Microsoft Outlook to OpenGroupware.  While commercial it is
CHEAP (although this depends on the current exchange rate).
NOTE:I have personally used the ZideLook plugin in Outlook 2000 and XP.
It worked in both, although both installation and operation seemed
smoother and more stable in Outlook XP than in Outlook 2000.

* RemoteCalendars
http://remotecalendars.sourceforge.net/
RemoteCalendars is .NET plugin for Microsoft Outlook 2003 that enables
you to use iCalendar files. Since ZideStore provides calendar
information via HTTP in iCalendar format you should be able to view
OpenGroupware calendar information in Outlook using RemoteCalendars.
However this does inherit the vast limitations of the iCalendar format
and using a calendar view model instead of an event view. 
NOTE: I have not tested RemoteCalendars with Outlook as the limitations
of iCalendar render this disinteresting to me. But if you can tried this
solution with OGo please let me know and I'll make note of your
success/failure.

* Open Connector (also known as "Otlkcon")
http://openconnector.org/
Open Connector is a project to develope a true Open Source MAPI provider
and transport. That is an extremely ambitious goal; maybe you need to
know something about MAPI & Outlook internals to understand why, if you
don't, just trust me. It should be noted that this project has been
around since November of 2002. But as of now [ 2006-08-29 ] they appear
to have a snapshot that claims to work with most CalDAV servers. This is
really alpha/beta, that in conjunction with the fact that ZideStore's
CalDAV implementation is not complete (lack of clients)..... you get the
idea.
NOTE: If you try out Otlkcon please let me know how it goes. And of
course open bugs in OpenGroupware's Bugzilla if you discover missing
functionality in ZideStore.

* Dawanlook
http://open-source.dawan.fr/Plug-in-Outlook.html
This seems like a plugin for Outlook for syncronizing via ZideStore.
Documentation is bad and, for whatever reason, there has been almost no
mention of it at all within the 'OpenGroupware community' (lists,
forums, etc...).  And no new release since 2005-09.  So I haven't tested
it, but am always interested in any feedback about this.

* Brutus
http://www.omesc.com/modules/xoopsfaq/index.php?cat_id=3
Brutus tends to come up in lots of conversations about integrating
Outlook with Open Source projects. But that is NOT what Brutus is;
Brutus is the exact oposite. With Brutus you can make MAPI calls (to an
Exchange server) via CORBA. So Brutus really plays no role in
integrating Outlook with an OpenGroupware server - Outlook is already a
MAPI client

* Funambol
http://www.funambol.com/opensource/downloadfile.html?file_id=funambol-outlook-plugin-3.0.15.exe
The OMA-DS (SyncML) server in conjunction with the GroupDAV connector
can sync to Outlook.  I've only tested an older version of the connector
for syncing the calendar,  the new connector supports contacts as well.
http://bionicmessage.net/index.php?q=node/2

I will be testing Funambol with the current version of the connector in
January 2007.