Re: [Evolution] [Fwd: Re: Evolution-Connector W/ Exchange 2007]

["Veerapuram Varadhan" <vvaradhan novell com>]

On Thu, 2007-06-21 at 07:23 -0500, Peter Van Lone wrote:
> On 6/20/07, Veerapuram Varadhan <vvaradhan novell com> wrote:
> > > It would be ideal if it could bypass OWA and just access the MAPI
> > > interface.  Maybe the Openchange MAPI libs will help to achieve this.
> > >
> > > http://www.openchange.org/
> > That is definitely the future direction of Evolution-exchange.  We will
> > be evaluating this in couple of weeks and update go-evolution.org with
> > the same.
> >
> > V. Varadhan
>
>
> so using the open-exchange lib is now the direction of the eds
> project? Is this a new direction (ie you just heard about it, and
> think it's a good idea)? Or, was it a strategic decision taken by the
> entire team some time ago, and just in the next couple weeks your time
> has cleared to get started on it?
It is isn't a new direction.  We have heard about it little long back
and I personally have been following their development and milestones
closely.  All strategic decisions are taken after careful evaluation and
as the current Exchange connector has evolved over the years to the
extent that now it can connect out of the box for most of the user
scenarios - any decision to adapt to new framework will have to undergo
a series of brainstorming.  

Couple of weeks time is for us to arrive at a plan/roadmap and publish
it for the hacker/user community that are interested in Evolution.  This
roadmap will not throw-away the development of Evolution-exchange
connector, rather serve as a place holder for openchange hackers to work
closely with our team/community.  Once the plugin evolves and stable
enough to take the place of Evolution-exchange connector - a decision
will be made based on user feedbacks.

> Frankly I don't see much commitment here to get this done ... why is
> that? I am not criticising you in this Varadhan ... but rather
> wondering out loud why for so long this project has had such little
> commitment of resources?
If you are talking about commitment on supporting Exchange 2007 - Yes,
we are committed to support it and we even have mentioned to support it
in 2.12 release.  Let me know if you have any other ways of giving a
commitment.

> Perhaps not enough people within Novell/Gnome really "get" just how
> badly the evo exchange connection is required in order to get traction
> with a linux desktop?
Every one, both at Novell/GNOME, understands that Evolution - Exchange
connectivity is quite vital for Linux desktop adoption and we are
committed to fulfill it.  If you would have closely watched the
development of Evolution-exchange connector atleast for the last three
releases, 2.6.x, 2.8.x and 2.10.x - it has become quite stable and
getting better and better with every release.  We have fixed loads of
issues - both functionality and performance wise and are committed to do
better.

As of this moment, I am collecting some data-points on my recent
optimization work that will make most of our evolution-exchange users
stand on their toes and even out-performs MS Outlook.

> Hopefully this open exchange lib will provide so traction, quickly too
> .... it is ridiculous that I have to have a windows vm and Outlook in
> order to view a shared calendar or function even reasonably well with
> exchange.
Evolution does support shared calendar and public folder
subscription/other user folder subscription are the areas that we have
worked extensively in the recent past and are quite stable now.  

2.11.5 will be one of the rock-solid releases in the history of
Evolution-exchange connector.  If you are not an user of Exchange 2007
and have issues, feel free to direct to us.  I think Reid and others
would agree to me on this - we will work on the issue and resolve it.

> I've said it before, and can only re-enforce the message ... right now
> it is a deal breaker for wider corp adoption of linux desktop. Please
> get some resources on it and make it a PRIORITY.
If you are mentioning about Exchange 2007 - Yes and Yes, we are
committed to resolve it before we release 2.12.


Thanks,

V. Varadhan
-- 
Veerapuram Varadhan <vvaradhan novell com>

 Novell, Inc. 
Software for the Open Enterprise™
http://www.novell.com