OpenGroupware.org Project Uses Open Source SKYRiX Groupware Server

New Project Formed: OpenGroupware.org

SKYRIX Open Sources its Groupware Server

July 10, 2003.

OpenGroupware.org ('OGo') project announces its formation and the release today to the worldwide open source development community of its groupware server software. The software provides the server components necessary for full office collaboration with the OpenOffice.org suite and various other Linux and Windows groupware clients. OGo software runs on Linux and Solaris (www.OpenGroupware.org).

The OGo project is a fully independent open-source project, but will inter-operate with the OpenOffice.org software and other similarly open clients via open standards.

The OGo software is based initially on the contribution of the code of SKYRiX 4.1 Groupware Server, a mature product that has been in development for 7 years, and one of the earliest groupware products for the Linux operating system. The contributor, SKYRIX Software AG, is well known in Germany as a leader in Linux groupware (www.SKYRiX.com).

"We are extremely excited to form OpenGroupware.org and to collaborate with OpenOffice.org to serve the open source community worldwide," said Jens Enders, president and CEO of SKYRIX Software AG. "By configuring the OpenGroupware.org server together [after install] with the OpenOffice.org office suite and other leading groupware clients, our customers will be able to implement a comprehensive and integrated collaboration environment wholly composed of free software."

The OGo software provides document sharing capabilities for OpenOffice.org documents and will enable users of MS Outlook (97/2000/XP), Ximian Evolution, Mozilla Calendar, OOo Glow (OpenOffice.org Groupware Project's client product), Apple's iCal and other standards-based groupware clients to collaborate.

OGo software will enable users to share calendar, address book and e-mail information; they can communicate via instant messaging, share folders, exchange documents, track changes, share a whiteboard, and browse the Web all at the same time -- all upon open Internet standards and without paying or managing cumbersome licensing fees.

Says Gary Frederick, Leader of the OpenOffice.org Groupware Project: "Just to be perfectly clear, this is an MS Exchange replacement. OGo is important because it's the missing link in the open source software stack. It's the end of a decade-long effort to 'map' all the key infrastructure and standard desktop applications to free software. OGo offers users a free solution for collaboration and document management that, despite being free of charge, will far surpass the quality and level of collaboration found on Windows (through integration of MS Office, Exchange Server and SharePoint). Today marks the completion of 'OpenStack'."

Adds Stu Green, Managing Director of Open Source Professional Services, "The release of OGo means the OpenOffice.org suite is ready for the enterprise complete with full-featured and mature groupware solutions. These capabilities once and for all show how free software betters proprietary solutions that require licensing payments on both the client and server sides. Also, OGo provides multiple file format filters for creating, storing and sharing data in an open and flexible fashion. It's possible now to completely avoid proprietary file formats and non-standard XML throughout the desktop stack and infrastructure. Licensing fees and license management are gone. And with OOo + OGo, no remote activation is required." (www.OSPSnet.com)

OGo has extensive and broad support for XML based APIs: an XML-RPC 'Webservice' API, support for SunONE XML based WCAP, support for HTTPMail/MS Exchange-based WebDAV, and finally for iCalendar files in XML notation (according to the xCal drafts). Given the XML based storage format of OpenOffice.org the OGo document storage will be able to perform feature rich team based collaboration and content management. OGo uses a WebDAV-accessible relational database management system to make document storage accessible from the OpenOffice.org office suite.

OGo is licensed under the open source dual licenses, Lesser General Public License (LGPL) and the General Public License (GPL). Libraries and components are licensed under the terms of the LGPL and applications are licensed under the GPL. For users, this means in part that the OGo software can be used, improved and redistributed at no cost. For developers, the licensing implications vary depending on the type of code contribution that is contemplated.

If you would like to join OpenGroupware.org to contribute code, development or marketing resources to the project, please contact marketing@OpenGroupware.org.

About OpenGroupware.org

Mission: To create, as a community, the leading open source groupware server to integrate with the leading open source office suite products and all the leading groupware clients running across all major platforms, and to provide access to all functionality and data through open XML-based interfaces and APIs (www.OpenGroupware.org).

About SKYRiX

SKYRIX Software AG, the contributor of the OGo code, is a leading developer of Linux based groupware solutions in Germany. The product OGo is based on, SKYRiX 4.1 Groupware Server, is a mature solution being in development for about seven years. OGo consists of about 600,000 lines of object oriented C code and about 100,000 lines of reusable Web components (www.SKYRiX.com).

The original author of the OpenGroupware.org reference server software was MDlink GmbH, founded as an Internet service provider (ISP) in Germany in 1994. The company started development on the LSOffice application server in about 1996 to extend it's Internet offerings with a powerful collaboration platform usable over the Internet. Some years later LSOffice was renamed to SKYRiX 3 and finally in 2000 a separate company, SKYRIX Software AG, was formed to concentrate on the further development of the product.

About OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is the home of the open source project and its community of developers, users and marketers responsible for the on-going development of the OpenOffice.org product. The mission of OpenOffice.org is to create, as a community, the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format. OpenOffice.org 1.1 runs on FreeBDS, Windows (98/2000/XP), Linux (x86 & PowerPC), Mac OS X and Solaris; while ports for other operating systems and hardware platforms, including IRIX, HP-UX, Tru64, Linux (Alpha), Linux (ARM), Linux (Itanium2) and others, are in various stages of development. OpenOffice.org 1.1, soon available in over 60 native languages, is written in C++ and has documented API's licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) and Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL) open source licenses. The founder and sponsor of the OpenOffice.org project is Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun markets an office suite based on the OpenOffice.org code called StarOffice. Download OpenOffice.org 1.1 at http://www.openoffice.org.

About OpenOffice.org Glow Project

Glow is an innovative OpenOffice.org project to create a rich full-featured and integrated groupware client for communication and collaboration to complement the OpenOffice.org office suite. Glow is written using Java which has enabled the rapid development and release of the first internal milestone supporting core calendaring functions, both online and offline. Contacts, mail, instant messaging; P2P and web whiteboard features are planned. Glow is designed to integrate with and complement OpenOffice.org but can also be used as a standalone cross-platform application running everywhere that J2SE does (http://groupware.openoffice.org/glow/).

Links

Evolution http://ximian.com/products/evolution/
OpenGroupware.org http://www.opengroupware.org
OpenOffice.org http://www.openoffice.org/
OpenOffice.org Groupware Project http://groupware.openoffice.org/
OpenOffice.org Glow http://groupware.openoffice.org/glow/
OSPS http://www.OSPSnet.com
Mozilla http://www.mozilla.org/
MS Outlook http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/outannoy/
SKYRiX http://www.skyrix.com/en/products/index.xhtml
StarOffice http://www.sun.com/staroffice
Sun Microsystems, Inc. http://www.sun.com

Contacts

Helge Hess
SKYRIX Software AG
Email: helge.hess@opengroupware.org

Gary Frederick
OpenOffice.org Groupware Project
Email: garyfreder@openoffice.org

Sam Hiser
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project
Email: swhiser@openoffice.org

Jacqueline McNally
Community Contact, Australia/New Zealand
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project
Tel: +61 8 9474 3021 (GMT +0800)
Fax: +61 8 9474 3405
Email: jacqueline@openoffice.org

Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See details in the news story "OpenGroupware.org Announces Open Source Project for Groupware Server Software." See also "OpenOffice.org XML File Format."

SEARCH Advanced Search ABOUT Site Map CP RSS Channel Contact Us Sponsoring CP About Our Sponsors NEWS Cover Stories Articles & Papers Press Releases CORE STANDARDS XML SGML Schemas XSL/XSLT/XPath XLink XML Query CSS SVG TECHNOLOGY REPORTS XML Applications General Apps Government Apps Academic Apps EVENTS LIBRARY Introductions FAQs Bibliography Technology and Society Semantics Tech Topics Software Related Standards Historic	OpenGroupware.org Project Uses Open Source SKYRiX Groupware Server New Project Formed: OpenGroupware.org SKYRIX Open Sources its Groupware Server July 10, 2003. OpenGroupware.org ('OGo') project announces its formation and the release today to the worldwide open source development community of its groupware server software. The software provides the server components necessary for full office collaboration with the OpenOffice.org suite and various other Linux and Windows groupware clients. OGo software runs on Linux and Solaris (www.OpenGroupware.org). The OGo project is a fully independent open-source project, but will inter-operate with the OpenOffice.org software and other similarly open clients via open standards. The OGo software is based initially on the contribution of the code of SKYRiX 4.1 Groupware Server, a mature product that has been in development for 7 years, and one of the earliest groupware products for the Linux operating system. The contributor, SKYRIX Software AG, is well known in Germany as a leader in Linux groupware (www.SKYRiX.com). "We are extremely excited to form OpenGroupware.org and to collaborate with OpenOffice.org to serve the open source community worldwide," said Jens Enders, president and CEO of SKYRIX Software AG. "By configuring the OpenGroupware.org server together [after install] with the OpenOffice.org office suite and other leading groupware clients, our customers will be able to implement a comprehensive and integrated collaboration environment wholly composed of free software." The OGo software provides document sharing capabilities for OpenOffice.org documents and will enable users of MS Outlook (97/2000/XP), Ximian Evolution, Mozilla Calendar, OOo Glow (OpenOffice.org Groupware Project's client product), Apple's iCal and other standards-based groupware clients to collaborate. OGo software will enable users to share calendar, address book and e-mail information; they can communicate via instant messaging, share folders, exchange documents, track changes, share a whiteboard, and browse the Web all at the same time -- all upon open Internet standards and without paying or managing cumbersome licensing fees. Says Gary Frederick, Leader of the OpenOffice.org Groupware Project: "Just to be perfectly clear, this is an MS Exchange replacement. OGo is important because it's the missing link in the open source software stack. It's the end of a decade-long effort to 'map' all the key infrastructure and standard desktop applications to free software. OGo offers users a free solution for collaboration and document management that, despite being free of charge, will far surpass the quality and level of collaboration found on Windows (through integration of MS Office, Exchange Server and SharePoint). Today marks the completion of 'OpenStack'." Adds Stu Green, Managing Director of Open Source Professional Services, "The release of OGo means the OpenOffice.org suite is ready for the enterprise complete with full-featured and mature groupware solutions. These capabilities once and for all show how free software betters proprietary solutions that require licensing payments on both the client and server sides. Also, OGo provides multiple file format filters for creating, storing and sharing data in an open and flexible fashion. It's possible now to completely avoid proprietary file formats and non-standard XML throughout the desktop stack and infrastructure. Licensing fees and license management are gone. And with OOo + OGo, no remote activation is required." (www.OSPSnet.com) OGo has extensive and broad support for XML based APIs: an XML-RPC 'Webservice' API, support for SunONE XML based WCAP, support for HTTPMail/MS Exchange-based WebDAV, and finally for iCalendar files in XML notation (according to the xCal drafts). Given the XML based storage format of OpenOffice.org the OGo document storage will be able to perform feature rich team based collaboration and content management. OGo uses a WebDAV-accessible relational database management system to make document storage accessible from the OpenOffice.org office suite. OGo is licensed under the open source dual licenses, Lesser General Public License (LGPL) and the General Public License (GPL). Libraries and components are licensed under the terms of the LGPL and applications are licensed under the GPL. For users, this means in part that the OGo software can be used, improved and redistributed at no cost. For developers, the licensing implications vary depending on the type of code contribution that is contemplated. If you would like to join OpenGroupware.org to contribute code, development or marketing resources to the project, please contact marketing@OpenGroupware.org. About OpenGroupware.org Mission: To create, as a community, the leading open source groupware server to integrate with the leading open source office suite products and all the leading groupware clients running across all major platforms, and to provide access to all functionality and data through open XML-based interfaces and APIs (www.OpenGroupware.org). About SKYRiX SKYRIX Software AG, the contributor of the OGo code, is a leading developer of Linux based groupware solutions in Germany. The product OGo is based on, SKYRiX 4.1 Groupware Server, is a mature solution being in development for about seven years. OGo consists of about 600,000 lines of object oriented C code and about 100,000 lines of reusable Web components (www.SKYRiX.com). The original author of the OpenGroupware.org reference server software was MDlink GmbH, founded as an Internet service provider (ISP) in Germany in 1994. The company started development on the LSOffice application server in about 1996 to extend it's Internet offerings with a powerful collaboration platform usable over the Internet. Some years later LSOffice was renamed to SKYRiX 3 and finally in 2000 a separate company, SKYRIX Software AG, was formed to concentrate on the further development of the product. About OpenOffice.org OpenOffice.org is the home of the open source project and its community of developers, users and marketers responsible for the on-going development of the OpenOffice.org product. The mission of OpenOffice.org is to create, as a community, the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format. OpenOffice.org 1.1 runs on FreeBDS, Windows (98/2000/XP), Linux (x86 & PowerPC), Mac OS X and Solaris; while ports for other operating systems and hardware platforms, including IRIX, HP-UX, Tru64, Linux (Alpha), Linux (ARM), Linux (Itanium2) and others, are in various stages of development. OpenOffice.org 1.1, soon available in over 60 native languages, is written in C++ and has documented API's licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) and Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL) open source licenses. The founder and sponsor of the OpenOffice.org project is Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun markets an office suite based on the OpenOffice.org code called StarOffice. Download OpenOffice.org 1.1 at http://www.openoffice.org. About OpenOffice.org Glow Project Glow is an innovative OpenOffice.org project to create a rich full-featured and integrated groupware client for communication and collaboration to complement the OpenOffice.org office suite. Glow is written using Java which has enabled the rapid development and release of the first internal milestone supporting core calendaring functions, both online and offline. Contacts, mail, instant messaging; P2P and web whiteboard features are planned. Glow is designed to integrate with and complement OpenOffice.org but can also be used as a standalone cross-platform application running everywhere that J2SE does (http://groupware.openoffice.org/glow/). Links Evolution http://ximian.com/products/evolution/ OpenGroupware.org http://www.opengroupware.org OpenOffice.org http://www.openoffice.org/ OpenOffice.org Groupware Project http://groupware.openoffice.org/ OpenOffice.org Glow http://groupware.openoffice.org/glow/ OSPS http://www.OSPSnet.com Mozilla http://www.mozilla.org/ MS Outlook http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/outannoy/ SKYRiX http://www.skyrix.com/en/products/index.xhtml StarOffice http://www.sun.com/staroffice Sun Microsystems, Inc. http://www.sun.com Contacts Helge Hess SKYRIX Software AG Email: helge.hess@opengroupware.org Gary Frederick OpenOffice.org Groupware Project Email: garyfreder@openoffice.org Sam Hiser OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Email: swhiser@openoffice.org Jacqueline McNally Community Contact, Australia/New Zealand OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Tel: +61 8 9474 3021 (GMT +0800) Fax: +61 8 9474 3405 Email: jacqueline@openoffice.org Prepared by Robin Cover for The XML Cover Pages archive. See details in the news story "OpenGroupware.org Announces Open Source Project for Groupware Server Software." See also "OpenOffice.org XML File Format."