Event details

Beyond Groupware: Thinking Differently About KDE PIM And Kolab

von Paul Adams (Kolab Systems AG)

Thursday, 10.06.2010, Berlin I, 11:00-11:30 Uhr

The public opinion of PIM and groupware has largely stagnated: emails, calendaring and tasks. However, what can we achieve in the management of personal data when we think outside of these confines? Modern advances in both software and hardware make it possible for these ideas to become reality. Personal data in this decade will not relate simply to personal organisation. Real-time communication, document management, social networking, mobile clients will all have a place in modern groupware.

Kolab is a 100% groupware server which has been in production since 2001 and has a strong focus on security. In true Unix tradition, Kolab is a collection of well-integrated components which all perform a specific function: Postfix for mail transfer, OpenLDAP for configuration storage and Cyrus as the storage for all email, tasks and calendaring data. This coupling of separate components allows for easy integration of new functionality to meet changing requirements of users and their data.

In this talk I will describe some of the advances in both KDE PIM and Kolab technologies as well as within the Kolab community and will outline the opportunities for developing the concept of groupware in this decade.

Über den Autor Paul Adams:

Although now working in management, Paul trained as a software engineer and specialised in Free Software process management. Paul's research is focused on novel means to assess the productivity of Free Software communities. Paul's research has been published by a variety of international journals and conferences as well as many community-based events, including PloneConf, FOSDEM, Akademy and GUADEC. Specific topics of his research have covered topics as diverse as Open Source agility and software quality.

Paul is the co-founder and former Chairman of the British Computer Society's Open Source Specialist Group (OSSG). The OSSG was created to help IT managers within the UK better understand issues surrounding Open Source software development and procurement. In addition to his work for the OSSG, Paul is also a full member of the IEEE, including the Computer Society. Paul's other community work includes being a member of KDE e.V., the organisation which supports the KDE community in logistical, financial and legal issues. Paul is a Fellow of the FSFE.

Prior to joining Kolab Systems, Paul has worked in both academia and industry as a researcher and research manager. He graduated in 2004 as a Software Engineer, from the University of Durham, UK. His subsequent doctorate, from the University of Lincoln, was submitted in 2009. Paul was awarded Chartered IT Professional status in the UK, in 2008.