Groupware Solutions - Any Good Ones Under Linux?
 

I'm looking at Groupware solutions that can run on Linux. Unfortunately, Groupware solutions are still quite primitive under Linux. OpenExchange sounds interesting but I'm waiting for the project to become a little more mature. On the other hand, commercial offerings are somewhat lacking. The only commercial package that I could find that had a Linux client was Novell's Groupwise and unfortunately, their cross-client is miserable and lacks crucial features such as support for their document management system and client-side filtering. So I was wondering, what do you recommend as a groupware solution? The key features that I'm looking for are:
I found several high-quality open-source products, but I'm looking for a solution that I can integrate with LDAP to get a SSO (Single Sign-On) behavior that you get from Active Directory under Windows. Even if it's not an integrated solution, what would you recommend for each of the categories above? Thank you for your time.

Have you already taken a look at:


http://www.opengroupware.org/

Client:
http://www.kontact.org/

Server:
http://kolab.org/

Got much more favourable reviews (the ones I've seen) than OpenGroupware, and doesn't smell of Sun.

Edit: Document management system - I think you want something like subversion: http://subversion.tigris.org/
Corporate instant messaging - unless you require video conferencing, you really should consider IRC.

I had a look at almost all the open-source groupware applications and after looking at them and reading several reviews when compared to more mature products such as Exchange and Dominos, I got a feeling that none of them seemed complete. At the same time, I believe that there are mature open-source applications in all of these fields. For example, having a quick look at freshmeat.net for document management systems revealed several mature applications. So basically what I was thinking about is taking these applications and trying to integrate them with LDAP so that I get the same behavior that you get with Active Directory + you don't suffer from any of the weak points founds in the open-source groupware offerings. What I was asking is: has anyone of you devised such a solution for a customer? My customer wants a solution that is basically like Exchange and unfortunately, none of the open-source groupware offerings match up. I think that a combination of other offerings, if integrated well with LDAP, would be much more powerful. Unfortunately, Lotus Notes which in my opinion is more powerful than Exchange has no linux client (although I've heard rumors that you can get the Windows client running under 'wine') and GroupWise is pretty poor (I actually installed it and tested it). Has anyone tried a combination of collaboration applications and successfully integrated them with LDAP? If so, could you please tell me what your impressions were? Thanks for your time.

SuSE OpenExchange is your best bet by far. Since Novell bought SuSE, they made OpenExchange GPL and as a result, you can get it for free. The development community is very active and it's a great solution.

Link:
http://mirror.open-xchange.org/ox/EN/community/

I'll have a deeper look at OpenXchange. However, as I mentioned in my first post, I'm waiting for the project to become a little more mature. I feel that there are very mature oss products in the fields of:
but was wondering if anyone has been able to successfully integrated them with LDAP to give a Single-Sign On system.

check out http://www.ignalum.com
(ignalum linux)

not very mature, but they are attempting LDAP integration, and it's supposed to work out of the box as far as possible.

Samsara

Lotus Notes 6.5.1 is supported by CodeWeavers Crossover

But you then have to pay to get a license for both Lotus Notes and for Crossover. Let's hope that IBM includes a native client for Linux in its next update of Notes/Dominos. I tried out Groupwise. Unfortunately, I could hardly recommend it to anyone although the windows client is decent. The linux client is much worse and doesn't include support for crucial features such as saving filters and shared documents.

Great info in this thread! :)

Given the amount of time that has passed since this thread was started, I presume Open-XChange and Kolab have both matured and are more functional. Which do you guys think is better? I'm looking to provide Outlook calendar sharing on a FC3 based server running Samba.

Thanks!

Peace...

well, we're using Domino and the notes client under codeweavers cxoffice, but if that's an issue I thought users can use the browser with Domino instead of a notes client.

Personally, I like CommuniGate by Stalker Software. It provides collaborative calendaring, MAPI/webmail access, and an integrated SIP server, which can be used for VoIP and/or Video Teleconferencing.
www.stalker.com

Two Things
 

:twocents:

1. I am presently running a quite robust IBM/Lotus Notes Client native in SuSE Linux 10. It exists and is downloadable from IBM Passport.

2. I've found the Gartner 4Q2006 Magic Quadrant article on, "Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Wireless E-Mail Software 4Q06," outlining the players and how they fit into the enterprise perspective at:
http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/rep.../article1.html

I'm not sure if Open Source Mobility Groupware: is ready to come up from the minors yet. I'm presently running a Domino/Sybase_iAnywhere_OneBridge_Mobility_Server combination. I'm dissatisfied with the OneBridge and am looking seriously at CommonTime, Motorola GoodTechnology and RIM for replacement bridge servers to talk to my mobile devices.

It seems to have boiled down to a race between CommonTime's mSuite for Domino and Motorola/GoodTechnology's GoodMobileMessaging. At least CommonTime has a Linux roadmap. Is there really no Enterprise strength Linux offering for a shop that's trying to transition itself off of Windows and onto Linux without traumatizing the business? It has to be manageable to a person who's understaffed and has been driving Win for too long.