Fwd: RE: [Evolution] Redhat 7.1 Ximian Gnome 1.4 and Evolution with MS Exchange

[Tom Cooper <tom_cooper bigfoot com>]

> Date: Fri, 04 May 2001 20:51:07 -0400
> To: clahey ximian com
> From: Tom Cooper <tom_cooper bigfoot com>
> Subject: RE: [Evolution] Redhat 7.1 Ximian Gnome 1.4 and Evolution with MS 
> Exchange
> Cc: forrestx taylor intel com;evolution ximian com;bapper piratehaven org
>
> > On 02 May 2001 16:09:58 -0700, Brian Pomerantz wrote:
> > > IMAP will work as well.  Though, it would be really swell if I could
> > > assign my sent and trash folders to an IMAP folder instead of a local
> > > folder.  If I could do this and have real LDAP support, I would ditch
> > > Netscape Mail in a real hurry in favor of Evolution.
> >
> > What's not real about the LDAP support?
> With all due respect, from my perspective it's not real until I don't have 
> to download sources and compile evo from scratch with LDAP support.  I 
> have read and in fact, participated in the philosophical discussions about 
> LDAP support and licensing.  I simply don't consider LDAP support to be a 
> part of this product until it's a part of the binaries.
>
> I am not asking that OpenLDAP be distributed with your code.  It's fine 
> with me if your build simply considers it a dependency for LDAP to 
> work.  I love Linux, and evo shows great promise.  I have simply come to 
> the place in my life where I won't compile software from source.  It's too 
> complicated, takes too much time, and I can't tell you how many hours I've 
> spent chasing dependencies and libraries.
>
> In my peer group, I'm considered a Linux zealot.  I run Linux at home.  My 
> wife uses it exclusively.  Were it not for MS Money's electronic 
> transactions and a best friend who works for a game company, I probably 
> would not run Windows at all at home.
>
> I have been using Linux since 1994.  I have a degree in CS and am quite 
> competent to compile software from source.  I even used to write software, 
> back in the day.  I'm a rebel in my Fortune 100 company because I run 
> Linux on my desktop.  At this stage of my life, I just don't want to spend 
> hours dinking around with editing makefiles and hoping for the best.
>
> I'm telling you this because I think that my perspective has validity in 
> terms of target customers.  If I, as an enterprise customer, want to 
> consider the feasibility of replacing Outlook with evo, I need global 
> address book access.  This is available through LDAP.  I need it available 
> in the binaries.  The number of potential customers who might download and 
> futz around with evo's LDAP support is FAR greater if the LDAP support is 
> built in.
>
> Your competition is MS.  They make life EASY.  Getting my wife to convert 
> from Word to SOffice a few years ago was difficult because of typeface and 
> clipart selection.  It was VERY easy  for my wife to connect to MS' 
> website and find indexed downloadable clipart.  Finding similar tools for 
> Linux is challenging.  You're going to have to make it easy to try your 
> product if you're interested in product adoption.  RC and XimianGnome are 
> HUGE strides in making Linux for the masses, and I'm glad to see that.
>
> The next step is to make evo as simple as possible to snap in as a 
> replacement for Outlook.  This is complicated by the lack of group 
> calendaring support.  I'm looking forward to the day when that is possible 
> from my Linux box.  Barring the calendaring support, giving access to LDAP 
> so that I can use the Exchange GAL would greatly assist in snapping evo in.
>
> Hope this helps.  Thanks for reading my posting.
>
> Regards,
> Tom Cooper