[Calendarserver-discuss] Free Software calendaring and groupware (in and beyond Debian)

[Guido Günther]

Hi,
On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 10:12:19PM +0200, Paul Boddie wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm not completely sure if this is the right place to post this, but since I 
> imagine that this list might have started out as a place to discuss Apple 
> Calendar Server (or just happen to have a similarly generic name), I'll take 
> my chances.
> 
> For a while, I've been looking into the issue of calendaring and groupware 
> integration focusing primarily on Debian. I spent some time looking at 
> furthering the existing unofficial Kolab packages before giving up on trying 
> to get them into Debian, and I've been following other, similar, more 
> successful packaging efforts at a great distance.
> 
> While looking at the all-in-one groupware solutions, it began to occur to me 
> that many solutions are all probably doing similar things internally, and 
> presumably rely on certain common technology choices, but the technological 
> building blocks they provide don't always make it into Debian as packages that 
> can be reused. My feeling is that the technology stack isn't as transparent as 
> it could be, in certain cases at least.
> 
> Meanwhile, I started to wonder what people do actually use if they decide that 
> they want to, say, have calendaring functionality as a complement to their 
> existing e-mail system. Are people satisfied with the existing solutions? Have 
> people put off adopting calendaring and instead use things like Google 
> services for their needs? Where is Debian (and Free Software more generally) 
> arguably letting people down?
> 
> Is there a consensus about improving Debian's calendaring and groupware 
> offerings, and does Debian offer a venue where such Free Software offerings 
> can be developed and enhanced - a bit like the way Debian offers FreedomBox 
> such a venue - to become a more obvious choice for people wanting to take 
> advantage of such functionality?

Although the next meeting/sprint is several months off we have s.th. in
Debian that's exactly for these kinds of topics:

    https://wiki.debian.org/GroupwareMeeting2015-04-24to26
    https://wiki.debian.org/Groupware    

There's also the #debian-groupware IRC Channel on freenet.

I for myself am currently using calypso for calendaring (and somewhat
for contacts). I intend to look into CalDavZAP/Infcloud to get this web
based too.
Cheers,
 -- Guido