Rev Simon Rumble wrote:
This one time, at band camp, Phil Scarratt wrote:
Places always say they want all this stuff and generally never use
anything beyond email.
- requirements are generally:
+ email
+ private and shared calendars
A lovely idea, nearly always implemented wrong so it doesn't work. I
worked at one place (one of Australia's most famous dot.bombs) where the
clocks on all the computers were wrong by up to ten minutes and the
computers were locked down so much individual users couldn't change
their own clocks. So you'd have people arriving to meetings over a
period of twenty minutes.
I regularly get global emails at my current work saying that the
resource-booking system is broken and to use bits of paper stuck to the
doors of the meeting rooms instead.
Do they use Exchange?? ;)
On large scale, calendars probably don't work too well, but with
relatively small numbers (such as staff only at a school), it seems to
work. The issue will be though that only some people will use it. Having
said that, the ethos is changing as we get more and more tech-savy
teachers - as in happy to use and expect to use technology (though of
course they may not be able to but that is beside the point).
+ sync to PDA (typically a Windows one of course)
Who really ever does this?
I know several people who do. Unfortunately at one particular site, the
decision maker does so it's a must of course.
+ private and shared contacts
Yeah like this will ever be accurate or up-to-date. I worked for a big
corporate once who had an _amazing_ LDAP infrastructure. You could
build an Org chart from it. Implemented in OpenLDAP. Never seen a
place with Exchange where there hasn't been something seriously wrong
with the data.
For large contact lists (such as large corporations) sure they probably
won't ever be up to date. A school is different, particularly if the
school does not have student email, just staff. We're only talking a
relatively small list, easily maintained. With the current system, I
have a shared list that works.
+ home folders available for download only
Not quite sure what this is and I've never seen it implemented in the
real world in Exchange.
Neither have I. In fact I don't even know if Exchange can do it, but I
have been told it does (although they could be getting confused with
public folders). I may be able to get away with this as a separate
option as opposed to integrated with the mail and calendar system.
Fil
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