Mike Douglass    
to hartsook
    More options     Jul 5 (6 days ago)
Came up with this first draft of points:

Why are we implementing caldav?

    * It's an enterprise class protocol and gives us access to enterprise class clients.
      We run a public events server which is accessible to all - currently only through a web interface.
    * Opens up the possibility of getting out of the client business.
      The availability of high class clients all communicating through caldav means much less work for us.
    * Increases the attractiveness to other institutions - assuming caldav takes off.
    * The caldav synch features look very attractive
      We already have a pre-production synchml implementation. Caldav synch appears to offer a simpler method. Need to see some implementations out there.
    * Possibility that vendors will implement features we can use - e.g. room scheduling.
      Resource scheduling is difficult. Meeting maker have features to handle that. With caldav perhaps we can persuade vendor to build caldav aware packages which use cladav enabled calendar servers.
    * Outlook
      Important client. People want to see their calendars in outlook.
      openconnector.org have a sub-project for caldav interoperability - join in.
    * Interoperability.
      Institutes or organizations within an institute may have a lot invested in an existing calendar server. Caldav provides a way for us to access and share.
    * To summarise
      Caldav will allow institutions to buy into out product while minimizing the risk. They don't have to replace what they currently have, just interoperate.
      It allows us to enfranchise multiple platforms and clients, Outlook, Apple, Mulberry, Mozilla, so institutes don't have to force their users down a particular path.

How can we ensure interoperability?

    * Calconnect is a major player. A mix of implementors and standards people. Impressively high standard. Very collegial.
    * We need high quality, realistic, usable standards.
      Be prepared to upgrade rfcs where they are clearly inadequate.


I hope to have our server up on a globally available machine this week. Just got the authentication stuff straightened out.

We have the basic caldav functions working, add, modify, delete events.

The report functions work to a decent extent.

Just added attendee and organizer support. We also support alarms.

We do not yet support recurrences and timezone information is mostly lost. No sharing or access control features.