The KDE PIM team has made available a beta version of the next-generation groupware client suite Kontact. The new Kontact is built on the Akonadi framework, sharing infrastructure for syncing with online services across applications. While the first bits of Akonadi integration already made their entry in KAddressBook as delivered with 4.4, this beta includes Akonadi versions of most of the other Kontact components, including email using the new KMail2.

Over on his blog Sebastian Kügler talks about the status of Akonadi, how the migration of Kontact to Akonadi is going, and in general where the direction of development is leading.

As a status update, sebas notes "Initially, we had planned to release the new Kontact along with the rest of the KDE Applications 4.5. This did not quite work out, so we pushed the release back a bit, and are planning to release it along with one of the 4.5.x updates. The current plan is to release the Akonadi port of Kontact still this year. In contrast to our usual releases, this step is a bit different. We want to avoid hassle for the end-user as much as possible, so we are extending the beta phase until we think the quality is sufficient for the high demands of users, which is especially important in Kontact, where you likely spend a lot of your time."

Today a new Free Software business was launched with the goal of strengthening the Kolab groupware solution ecosystem. The former Kolab Konsortium now has a new charter and thus a new name: Kolab Systems AG. Offering services, packaging and quality assurance based on a partnership model, Kolab Systems builds its business on the proven Kolab groupware solution. This leads to a continued focus on supporting and deploying KDE personal information management (PIM) applications and server infrastructure on a variety of platforms.

This weekend the A-Team (Akonadi, not Amarok) gathered in KDAB's office in the heart of Berlin to push the Akonadi PIM storage database to the next level.

On Friday afternoon, after everybody arrived, the meeting started with a series of presentations to get everybody on the same page with respect to progress in various parts of Akonadi.

Computerworld covers progress in OpenChange, the Microsoft Exchange server and client replacement. He looks at integration work being done in Akonadi and how that will arrive in KDE 4.3. "Speaking at the Linux.conf.au conference in Hobart last week, Canberra-based OpenChange and KDE developer Brad Hards said 'We're working with the Microsoft Exchange protocols and work it mostly does.

This Sunday (8th June), the KDE Bugsquad will host a KDE PIM Krush day. The aim of the day will be to find and document as many of the bugs in the PIM applications (including KMail, Kontact, Akregator and many more) of the upcoming KDE 4.1 release as possible. The day will begin at 0:00 UTC on Sunday and continue until the day is over throughout the world. Krush Days are an excellent opportunity for KDE users keen to make their first contribution to the KDE project. You don't need to set aside a huge amount of time - as little as ten minutes will be enough to do some testing - nor do you need to have any programming experience. All you need is a recent version of KDE. KDE 4.1 Beta 1 will do, or a newer version from SVN. If you don't want to install KDE 4.1 on your system, then the Virtual Machine Image kde4daily is ideal. Just come along to #kde-bugs where the Bugsquad will help you get started. More information can be found on the Krush Day Techbase page.

Last weekend a group of developers gathered in Berlin at the KDAB office for an Akonadi sprint. The goal was simple, getting Akonadi in shape for the first public release of Akonadi when KDE 4.1 is released. In the couple of days they met, they made an amazing amount of 270 modifications to the KDE repository, and worked on average from 10am to 3am to make a big step into reaching that goal. Read on for details.

The KDE PIM crew met again at Osnabrück for three days of hacking, discussing and community building. The big topics were Akonadi and KDE 4.1. The team settled on the plan to release KDE PIM with KDE 4.1 based on the traditional backends and include the first platform release of Akonadi as the future base for PIM applications in and around KDE. The meeting was kindly hosted by Intevation and supported by the KDE e.V. and KDAB. Read on for a report or see the notes on the website.

...but now Blue-GNU is showing you the way with Kontact, in an article titled Stay In the Know With KDE's Kontact. The author says "I finally settled on Kontact to keep me in touch with the reality of my hectic daily schedule." Blue-GNU breaks down their use of each application integrated into Kontact, starting with KMail and then going through KAddressBook, KOrganizer, and KNotes. It concludes, "...Kontact is one of the best PIMs I've seen. I even prefer it to Outlook, which I used to prefer over the GNU/Linux tools in the past."

Last weekend was not only the time for the KMail Hacking Days but
also for the second Akonadi·
Hacking Meeting in Berlin, Germany. 7 KDE-PIM developers came together for 2 days at the KDAB offices in Berlin's Kreuzberg district and
continued to improve Akonadi, the personal information data storage for KDE 4. Meeting the other developers in real life and discussing issues face to face
always helps to find new solutions and implement crucial features in a short
period of time.