[Kroupware] Free/busy vs. Outlook(s)

[Bo Thorsen]

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On Monday 31 March 2003 18:26, Nicolas Huillard wrote:
> I am wondering what versions of the different Kolab clients will
> provide free/busy lists to the server, and the format of this
> information.
>
> My observations are the following :
> * Outlook 97 will not publish free/busy to kolab (it's hard-wired to
> publish this information to Exchange servers exclusively)
> * Outlook 98 and 2000 start to publish free/busy, when in the "internet
> mode", to an anonymous FTP server, and retreives info in an HTTP
> server, both provided by kolab (while in "intranet mode", Outlook
> publishes the free/busy lists to Exchange servers as 97 did)
> * Outlook 2002 uses the "internet publication assistant" to publish the
> free/busy list through FTP, Frontpage server, etc. depending on the
> assistant's configuration (while in "internet mode"). The format of
> this publication doesn't seem to be the same as Outlook 98-2000...

I'm not sure that you are correct about Outlook 2002 uploading something=20
other than iCalendar free/busy lists - I'm pretty sure we tested that=20
this works on both OL 2000 and OL 2002. As for OL 97 and 98, you're on=20
your own.

> * all of this Outlook stuff is provided directly by Outlook itself, and
> not by the Insight Connector, which have nothing to do about free/busy
> (what a shame ; I expect the free connector from Konsec to handle that
> part)

Why? OL seems to be able to publish the standard iCalendar file type. If=20
it aint broke, don't fix it :-)

> * Kolab KDE clients publish free/busy lists to the IMAP server,
> in a shared directory, using an open format...

No - the KDE client uploads to whatever URL you decide. The standard is to=
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use webdavs://the-kolab-server/freebusy. And this is also iCalendar.

> Conclusions :
> * different clients use different free/busy formats

At least somewhat wrong. OL 2000 fb lists are shown fine in the KDE=20
client, and vice versa. AFAIK, this is also true for OL 2002.

> * they use different locations (I doubt the shared IMAP folder will
> ever be viewable using HTTP)

Wrong again.

> * all that make using different clients in the same organisation an
> impossible task... (if one wants to really use the calendar)
>
> Any thoughts ?

I'm happy to repeat that you're wrong :-) However, there might be some=20
strange options in OL you have to set (I don't consider the upload URL=20
such one). I know nothing of OL configuration, so someone else must tell=20
you what to do. Bernhard, Jan or Michel?

In the KDE client you set the free/busy list options in=20
Settings->Configure KOrganizer->Group Automation. If you use the full=20
kolab server, the KMail wizard will automatically set this up for you.

Bo.

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     Bo Thorsen                 |   Praestevejen 4
     Senior Software Engineer   |   5290 Marslev
     Klar=E4lvdalens Datakonsult  |   Denmark
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