Calendar & LDAP

jennis · 13 Jan 2005, 10:39 AM

The two most important features that I would like to see would be some sort of LDAP address book and a calendar utility.

Even a simple calendar utility would be very useful :-)

crispinb · 23 Jan 2005, 09:43 AM

Yes, LDAP is imo the most important feature missing with fastmail. With Fastmail I can now easily maintain a common pool of all email-related data between my different mail clients (web-based and 'real'), *except* for contact info. It's becoming a bit of a pain.

I notice that there have been a few LDAP threads in the past. Anyone know why they've gone dead? Is there really not much interest, or have the Fastmail folks signalled their intentions already?

**Shelded** · 23 Jan 2005, 10:59 AM

I like the Sunbird (Mozilla) calendar well enough as a start, can you integrate with it somehow?

steventay · 3 Mar 2005, 09:45 PM

i hope to see it 2..

trew · 3 Mar 2005, 09:54 PM

When Fastmail does a LDAP of Hotmail, will hotmail then recognize that it is fastmail and not me personally. Will it be seen as a real log in or do I not get recognized. Do I ahve to log in using the web on MSN and do hotmail there to keep the account within the 30 days?

Does hotmail http via FM work now?

trew

spiderman · 6 Mar 2005, 04:08 AM

We've actually started to use SunBird at work at it's actually *very* flaky. It's a pity: it looks quite nice and has a good few nice features, but it's hardy usable :-(.

Eric

steventay · 6 Mar 2005, 10:30 AM

what is hotmail ldap server address?

marcus0263 · 10 Mar 2005, 06:33 PM

Here, Here, I would also love to see an LDAP address server and calender service. I use Mulberry and the next rev has a calender. These functions would definitely be the cat's meow.

My two bits

tbenest · 10 Mar 2005, 07:38 PM

If you want to use an external calendar program like Sunbird, Apple iCan or the new calendar functionality in Mulberry, without a web interface access in FastMail, one could publish your calendars to a WebDav server, I am not sure if fastmail file space is webdav enabled, maybe someone could chip in and confirm one way or another.

There is a new standard in the offing called CalDav (WevDav for calendard). The homepage for this can be found at
http://ietf.webdav.org/caldav/home.html

If and when FastMail add calendaring functionality to the web interface, I thing the calendars should be subscribeable from a CalDav compatible client in much the same way as IMAP works.

marcus0263 · 10 Mar 2005, 08:47 PM

I see the calender functionality , LDAP and the ability to sync with a desktop client as a very powerful tool. To be able to access your info and have it all in sync whether you're at your desk, home, office or on the road very useful and an outstanding feature to market. Then being able to publish/share your calender to friends/family or business another advantage.

Again, my two bits for what it's worth.

registered_user · 11 Mar 2005, 12:55 AM

I like added functionality as much as the next guy, but I sure hope people understand that what they're asking for with LDAP is a potential security risk and I hope they're willing to accept certain restrictions along with any new LDAP service that gets implemented in the future.

I for one would like to see LDAP, but only secure LDAP. If any other customers want to have unencrypted access to LDAP (because some clients don't support secure LDAP), I hope FM does the right thing and tells them, "No!" (though maybe without the exclamation point). Even if I never use a unencrypted connection to my LDAP service, the ability to do so presents a potential vulnerability.

There's an analogy with SMTP when you think about it. I'm not sure if users can or can't use FM's SMTP proxy without sending a username and password to the server. I would hope not (and I think not) because then anyone could use it, possibly getting FM labeled as a spammer in a blackhole list which would effect everyone here immediately. I know that you can use the SMTP proxy without SSL encryption, but I would hope that most users don't do that (since doing so would send their password to the server in plaintext).

It's a good thing we have an SMTP proxy with this service, but it's a better thing that we have a good SMTP proxy (which both authenticates users and supports encypted connections).

The same would be true for any LDAP service. This would unfortunately lock out some popular LDAP clients that don't currently support secure LDAP, but that's the price you pay for pretecting your data (and my address book is data I want to protect). I just hope that if and when FM decides to add LDAP to their address book (I'm kind of ambivalent toward the idea personally), that they do it well (as I would expect them to since they do most things well) and that the users who asked for it don't complain about their favorite LDAP client not working with it because it only allows secure connections.

I know it's normally not considered good customer service to say "no" when people request things (like unencrypted connections to the server), but when it really really is in the customer's best interest, I hope FM decides to do it.

andrew82net · 29 Mar 2005, 03:53 AM

I would love to see a FastMail feature where I could synch with my Outlook 2003 calendar. This is the number 1 feature I wish I had that I don't have yet with FastMail. I run Outlook 2003 on my desktop computer and on my laptop. It's no trouble keeping my e-mail in synch courtesy of FastMail's IMAP. But, I have no automatic way of keeping my calendar in synch.

--Andrew

R/TO · 30 Mar 2005, 12:07 PM

I'll just ditto the above with a few additions. I used to have a Visto email account a few years ago before they dropped the email function. They had a great feature that allowed you to synch not only your Outlook Calendar, but also your address book, task list and bookmarks/favourites. This was a service that was available at least 5 years ago, so you'd think it was old technology and easily implementable now... I noticed in the upcoming features that synch'ing the contacts with Outlook Express is on the list, but I hope that will include the full-blown version of Outlook as well...

I just checked out Visto's website... they still have this function but it's now only available commercially... www.visto.com

Spin · 2 Apr 2005, 12:50 AM

A calendar feature would be awesome. Im just using Yahoo's calendar right now, and hope that fastmail will eventually get one.

--
SpiN

13 Jan 2005, 10:39 AM	#1
jennis Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Raleigh, NC USA Posts: 15	Calendar & LDAP The two most important features that I would like to see would be some sort of LDAP address book and a calendar utility. Even a simple calendar utility would be very useful :-)

3 Mar 2005, 09:54 PM	#5
trew Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Sweden Posts: 836	Hope it is ok to jump in with this Q When Fastmail does a LDAP of Hotmail, will hotmail then recognize that it is fastmail and not me personally. Will it be seen as a real log in or do I not get recognized. Do I ahve to log in using the web on MSN and do hotmail there to keep the account within the 30 days? Does hotmail http via FM work now? trew

29 Mar 2005, 03:53 AM	#12
andrew82net Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 39	Synch with Outlook Calendar I would love to see a FastMail feature where I could synch with my Outlook 2003 calendar. This is the number 1 feature I wish I had that I don't have yet with FastMail. I run Outlook 2003 on my desktop computer and on my laptop. It's no trouble keeping my e-mail in synch courtesy of FastMail's IMAP. But, I have no automatic way of keeping my calendar in synch. --Andrew

23 Jan 2005, 09:43 AM	#2
crispinb Junior Member Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 3	Yes, LDAP is imo the most important feature missing with fastmail. With Fastmail I can now easily maintain a common pool of all email-related data between my different mail clients (web-based and 'real'), except for contact info. It's becoming a bit of a pain. I notice that there have been a few LDAP threads in the past. Anyone know why they've gone dead? Is there really not much interest, or have the Fastmail folks signalled their intentions already?

23 Jan 2005, 10:59 AM	#3
Shelded Moderator Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA Northwest Posts: 3,849	I like the Sunbird (Mozilla) calendar well enough as a start, can you integrate with it somehow?

3 Mar 2005, 09:45 PM	#4
steventay Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 187	i hope to see it 2..

6 Mar 2005, 04:08 AM	#6
spiderman Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Cork, Ireland Posts: 802 Representative of: Fastcheck.org	We've actually started to use SunBird at work at it's actually very flaky. It's a pity: it looks quite nice and has a good few nice features, but it's hardy usable :-(. Eric

6 Mar 2005, 10:30 AM	#7
steventay Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 187	what is hotmail ldap server address?

10 Mar 2005, 06:33 PM	#8
marcus0263 Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Seattle Posts: 594	Here, Here, I would also love to see an LDAP address server and calender service. I use Mulberry and the next rev has a calender. These functions would definitely be the cat's meow. My two bits

10 Mar 2005, 07:38 PM	#9
tbenest Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 22	If you want to use an external calendar program like Sunbird, Apple iCan or the new calendar functionality in Mulberry, without a web interface access in FastMail, one could publish your calendars to a WebDav server, I am not sure if fastmail file space is webdav enabled, maybe someone could chip in and confirm one way or another. There is a new standard in the offing called CalDav (WevDav for calendard). The homepage for this can be found at http://ietf.webdav.org/caldav/home.html If and when FastMail add calendaring functionality to the web interface, I thing the calendars should be subscribeable from a CalDav compatible client in much the same way as IMAP works.

10 Mar 2005, 08:47 PM	#10
marcus0263 Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Seattle Posts: 594	I see the calender functionality , LDAP and the ability to sync with a desktop client as a very powerful tool. To be able to access your info and have it all in sync whether you're at your desk, home, office or on the road very useful and an outstanding feature to market. Then being able to publish/share your calender to friends/family or business another advantage. Again, my two bits for what it's worth.

11 Mar 2005, 12:55 AM	#11
registered_user Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Posts: 164	I like added functionality as much as the next guy, but I sure hope people understand that what they're asking for with LDAP is a potential security risk and I hope they're willing to accept certain restrictions along with any new LDAP service that gets implemented in the future. I for one would like to see LDAP, but only secure LDAP. If any other customers want to have unencrypted access to LDAP (because some clients don't support secure LDAP), I hope FM does the right thing and tells them, "No!" (though maybe without the exclamation point). Even if I never use a unencrypted connection to my LDAP service, the ability to do so presents a potential vulnerability. There's an analogy with SMTP when you think about it. I'm not sure if users can or can't use FM's SMTP proxy without sending a username and password to the server. I would hope not (and I think not) because then anyone could use it, possibly getting FM labeled as a spammer in a blackhole list which would effect everyone here immediately. I know that you can use the SMTP proxy without SSL encryption, but I would hope that most users don't do that (since doing so would send their password to the server in plaintext). It's a good thing we have an SMTP proxy with this service, but it's a better thing that we have a good SMTP proxy (which both authenticates users and supports encypted connections). The same would be true for any LDAP service. This would unfortunately lock out some popular LDAP clients that don't currently support secure LDAP, but that's the price you pay for pretecting your data (and my address book is data I want to protect). I just hope that if and when FM decides to add LDAP to their address book (I'm kind of ambivalent toward the idea personally), that they do it well (as I would expect them to since they do most things well) and that the users who asked for it don't complain about their favorite LDAP client not working with it because it only allows secure connections. I know it's normally not considered good customer service to say "no" when people request things (like unencrypted connections to the server), but when it really really is in the customer's best interest, I hope FM decides to do it.

30 Mar 2005, 12:07 PM	#13
R/TO Junior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 19	I'll just ditto the above with a few additions. I used to have a Visto email account a few years ago before they dropped the email function. They had a great feature that allowed you to synch not only your Outlook Calendar, but also your address book, task list and bookmarks/favourites. This was a service that was available at least 5 years ago, so you'd think it was old technology and easily implementable now... I noticed in the upcoming features that synch'ing the contacts with Outlook Express is on the list, but I hope that will include the full-blown version of Outlook as well... I just checked out Visto's website... they still have this function but it's now only available commercially... www.visto.com

2 Apr 2005, 12:50 AM	#14
Spin The "e" in e-mail Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Tampa, FL (Cincinnati, OH in the Summer) Posts: 2,446	A calendar feature would be awesome. Im just using Yahoo's calendar right now, and hope that fastmail will eventually get one. -- SpiN