Contact management software

Posted by: lectric

Contact management software - 28/04/2005 18:12

Does anyone have a suggestion for a good (decent) calendar sharing program OTHER than exchange server or Daytimer? I've tried Any Time Deluxe and it sucks. Hard. Basically, it needs to be peer to peer with the main schedule file stored on the server in a place that can be accessed by multiple parties.

TIA
Posted by: Dignan

Re: Contact management software - 28/04/2005 19:19

I'm not exactly certain what you're asking for, but it sounds like Sunbird might fit the bill. I've been using it off and on, but I think it has the features you want. You can have multiple calendar files, and it's easy to distinguish each calendar or only make certain ones visible. The UI is also pretty nice.

*edit*
wait, are you asking for software for "contact management" or "calendar sharing"?
Posted by: wfaulk

Re: Contact management software - 28/04/2005 19:21

Sunbird doesn't have any real server support, though.
Posted by: FireFox31

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 00:43

Quote:
peer to peer with the main schedule file stored on the server in a place that can be accessed by multiple parties.

Groove. It's a P2P collaboration program which works *without* servers (clearly, P2P). It gives multiple parties access to "the main schedule file", contact lists, file sharing, discussion pages, document review, project management, simple database forms, and many many custom tools.

I've had my hands in this program for years now and it's really nice. Quirky at times, but since it was recently bought out by Microsoft, things should get.... um..... Download your copy now and don't upgrade no matter what the say.

It's got a free preview edition to let you try it for a month or three. Licenses are cheap. Setup time is minimal because it's simplified to be a "zero IT solution" (so average users can set it up and maintain it).

At last check, it's a resource hog and needs a beefy machine to run. Also, keep an eye on it. Since it stores changes incrementally while synchronizing with other users, you may end up with 500meg to a gig of *stuff* on your drive after 6 months or so. Easy enough to fix; create a new work space and move all your content to it, deleting the old workspace.

If you have any overview questions, feel free to ask them here.... if this is what you're looking for, anyway.
Posted by: lectric

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 01:15

Calendar sharing is exactly what I need. Basically, a councilman wants to be able to check the calendar his secretary is keeping for him. Daytimer did exactly what I want, but they are no longer in business. I will check out Groove, thanks for the suggestion.
Posted by: lectric

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 01:16

I guess what really gets me is that this CAN'T be that hard to design, and I CAN'T be the only one looking for it. I can't understand why it's so hard to find.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 01:46

Perhaps because it's built-in to most email software these days.

Microsoft Outlook includes it, for example, provided that you're company runs Exchange Server (as you said).

Something else you should consider is that there are many web-based calendar sharing services out there, so you don't need to install any software necessarily.
Posted by: lectric

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 03:38

You know... I was just looking at these... Not too bad, so long as you don't mind paing yearly for it.
Posted by: caseyse

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 04:52

Goldmine might meet your needs. They once supportd Oracle, Borland's Database Engine, and SQL Server. A few years ago, they dropped support for Oracle. Had started out w. Borland's sidekick, then moved to Ecco, then Goldmine, which I've been using for about 8 years now.
Posted by: MarkH

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 07:34

Tony

Any particular web service you would recommend as worth looking at (for calendar sharing) ?

Thanks

Mark
Posted by: JBjorgen

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 10:53

Have you checked out Open Groupware or phpGroupWare?

You may want to look at this list, although I'm not sure how current it is.
Posted by: tfabris

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 13:32

Quote:
Any particular web service you would recommend as worth looking at (for calendar sharing) ?

Never tried any of them personally, I just know they exist.
Posted by: lectric

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 17:23

This looks like exactly what I need... Now to see if it supports regular outlook, rather than an open source version...
Posted by: FireFox31

Re: Contact management software - 29/04/2005 23:45

Groove has tight integration with Microsoft Office, so it integrates nicely with Outlook. But for the same non-subscription flat price, you get the entire collaborative office without the IT setup. And end users can quickly create and customize new workspaces for new projects.

Blah de blah, I sound like a commercial. I have just been really excited about this product through the years and think it represents a new age in productivity. Blah blah blah commercial.
Posted by: MarkH

Re: Contact management software - 01/05/2005 10:24

John / Tony - thanks,

Mark