Interoperability Testing at CalConnect XXIII

Our next Interoperability Testing Event will be at CalConnect XXIII, January 30-31 and Wednesday morning February 1. CalConnect XXIII will be hosted by Apple in Cupertino, California.

Testing scenarios at this event will continue to evolve but at this point we are looking at the following possibilities:

• CardDAV testing
• iCalendar/iMIP/iTIP testing
• CalDAV testing, especially CalDAV Scheduling
• CalDAV/CardDAV SRV Discovery and Well-Known URI
• WebDAV Sync Report for CalDAV and CardDAV
• Timezone Service Protocol and Timezones by Reference
• xCal, the XML Format for iCalendar
• Task Scheduling
• (from client side typically don’t have organizers and attendees)
• Extended query
• Recurring tasks for alarms and regeneration
• Timerange query with no DTSTART and DUE
• CalWS-REST and CalWS-SOAP, the web services protocols for calendar
• iSchedule (new draft planned by testing event)
• Mobile CalDAV client/server testing
• If there is interest, synchronization testing for mobile clients in general

What we actually do test will depend on who registers, and what (and with whom) they wish to test, so early registration for the test event would be appreciated.

Additionally, we are offering two special BOF sessions during the the Interoperability Test Event over lunch on Monday and Tuesday the 30th and 31st.

These BOFs will be focused on implementation issues of interest to calendar developers. Monday will be on Updating versus Replacement of Calendar Data; Tuesday will be on Auto-discovery and Account Provisioning.

The information page for the Interoperability Test event is at http://www.calconnect.org/iop1201.shtml. For a short descripttion of the BOFs at the test event please see http://www.calconnect.org/iop1201.shtml#bofs.

For general information and logistics about CalConnect XXIII, please see http://www.calconnect.org/calconnect23.shtml.

CalConnect XXIII at Apple in Cupertino California – January 30 to February 3, 2012

CalConnect XXIII will be the week of January 30 to February 3, 2012, at Apple in Cupertino, California. As usual, the first 2.5 days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday morning) will be devoted to the Interoperability Test Event; the Roundtable Technical Conference will start with lunch on Wednesday, and continue until mid-afternoon on Friday.

Registration is now open for both the IOP Test Event and the Roundtable Technical Conference; see the logistics page referenced below.

Logistics and registration information may be found at http://www.calconnect.org/calconnect23.shtml including a general schedule for the week: a more specific schedule with the slots for the various TC sessions will be posted in mid-December, and topical agendas for the sessions should be available before mid-January.

More information about the Interoperability Test Event will be posted to this blog shortly; in addition to the regular interoperability testing, it will feature two implementation BOFs, one on updating iCalendar files (DIF versus replace) and one on Audo-Discovery and provisioning.

For more information please contact Dave Thewlis at dave.thewlis at calconnect.org.

CalConnect Statement on the Olson Timezone Database and related suit

CalConnect has always been interested in timezone data because accurate and timely timezone information is essential to calendaring and scheduling. We have done considerable work in the area and have always been impressed by the Olson volunteer team and Olson Database.

The Timezone database, edited and managed by Arthur David Olson, provides a comprehensive source for timezone data including daylight savings rules, which often change at short notice in many regions of the world. Many editions of the Timezone database are produced each year to address these changes as quickly as possible.

The Timezone database has been the trusted source for timezone information for a very long time and is a critical component of nearly all major computer systems and Internet operations. This includes desktop computers, servers, databases, mobile devices, telecommunications equipment, logistics, embedded control systems, and many others. Online, web-based applications such as payment systems, package tracking, airline reservations systems also depend heavily of timezone data.

Many of these issues were exposed not just for calendaring systems but systems on all forms of devices in 2005-2007 as a result of the passage of the Extended Daylight Savings Time legislation by Congress. The potential impact even then was widespread although the impact was primarily on countries in North and Central America and to some degree South America. This was only a single change to a few timezones, admittedly that affected a good portion of the world. In one sense this was the reverse of the problem we are facing now, but the probable impact today is much larger, especially as enormous numbers have mobile devices which offer services that depend on currency of timezone data.

Disruption to the publication and availability of the Timezone database will cause significant harm to individuals and organizations using computer systems, either directly or indirectly. This harm will get worse over time as changes to timezones and daylight savings time rules fail to be tracked by the database. Computer systems will continue to use the last available database, or perhaps even splinter into groups who manage their own updates separately. The later situation will cause even more confusion as different systems may have different times even though they are in the same location.

It is the opinion of CalConnect that the Timezone database MUST be re-instated, made publicly available, and continue to be maintained in an open, inclusive and consensual fashion. This needs to be done as soon as possible so that the discussions on pending changes can continue, and appropriate database updates produced in a timely fashion.

Basic information about the Olson Timezone Database and the lawsuit may be found on Wikipedia.

Dave Thewlis
Executive Director, CalConnect – The Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium

Friday afternoon: wrapping up CalConnect XXII in Prague

The meeting is drawing to a close with the last Technical Committee session, followed by the wrapup and our Plenary meeting. It’s been a great five days, although quite tiring as always. We are very happy with the European involvement, including the presence of representatives from four non-members, which has injected new perspectives and concerns into the technical discussions to the benefit of everyone.

Additionally the “CalConnect Internationally” discussion, about what CalConnect should do to better support and allow more involvement from people based in Europe, produced a number of ideas in a variety of areas, and we have suggestions for our Technical Committee operating processes, our Steering Committee and our Board on possibilities going forward.

We are also delighted to announce that Apple will host CalConnect XXIII, which will be held the week of January 30 – February 3 in Cupertino, California.

CalConnect Roundtable as of Thursday afternoon 6 October

The Roundtable technical conference is going well. We have 20 participants which for our very first full CalConnect event in Europe is pretty respectable, and this includes four non-member organizations (ARC Informatique, DHL, Intel open source lab, and Stylite AG.

We moved the regular Technical Committee sessions to the afternoon to allow people in North America to join the sessions via GotoMeeting, which gave us time for symposia and workshops Thursday and Friday morning. This morning the symposia were “The Evolution of Internet Calendaring Standards” and “Integrating Internet Calendaring Systems into products and services”.

Friday morning we is a workshop on Tasks (VTODOs) and how iCalendar should be extended to support new requirements such as project management, energy scheduling, and so forth. And we will have a BOF on “CalConnect Internationally”, to discuss how CalConnect can make itself more accessible and available to international members (in particular Europe, at the moment). I’ve heard some good ideas so far and look forward to the group discussion, as it will certainly inform CalConnect’s decisions about going forward internationally.

Dave Thewlis
CalConnect Executive Director

Interoperability Testing Underway at CalConnect XXII

Today is the second day of the interoperability testing event at CalConnect XXII in Prague, hosted by Kerio Technologies. Fifteen people present from eight organizations and individual members, plus one testing remotely.

• Andrew McMillan – DAViCal server and aCal Android client
• Apple – Apple clients and servers
• Intel – SyncEvolution open source client
• Kerio Technologies – Kerio Connect
• Oracle – Oracle Communications Calendar Server
• RPI – Bedework open source CalDAV server
• Stylite AG – EGroupware
• Synchronica – Synchronica Mobile Gateway

The test event will continue until noon Wednesday; the Roundtable Technical Conference begins at 13:00 on Wednesday.

Kerio Interview with Dave Thewlis, CalConnect Executive Director

Kerio Technologies, our host for the next CalConnect meeting in Prague, October 3-7 2011, has posted a short Q&A interview with Dave Thewlis, the Executive Director of CalConnect. You can find the Q&A on their blog at http://www.kerio.com/blog/qa-dave-thewlis-calconnect.

CalConnect server back in service at 1730 Eastern 7 September 2011

Our server is has power and is back in service. Apologies to all for the inconvenience.

CalConnect server unavailable due to flooding, power outages

Our server became unavailable shortly after midnight Eastern time yesterday, Tuesday the 6th, due to flooding and a citywide power outage. As of 0930 Eastern on Wednesday the 7th it is still down; thus our website at http://www.calconnect.org, and the companion sites caldav.calconnect.org and carddav.calconnect.org remain unavailable. CalConnect mailing lists and e-mail addresses are also unavailable.

Additionally if you are trying to register for the upcoming CalConnect event in Prague, the registration service is also unavailable.

Until our service is restored you can contact us by e-mail at the alternative e-mail address of calconnect.forward@dcta.com. You may also send information to allow us to process your registration without the regular registration form.

Our apologies for the inconvenience and for late notification; yesterday we kept hoping this would be back to normal. When service is restored we’ll post again to the blog.

Dave Thewlis
CalConnect Executive Director

Symposia and Workshops at CalConnect XXII in Prague

In addition to our regular Roundtable Technical Conference sessions, CalConnect is offering special Symposia/Workshops Thursday and Friday mornings October 6th and 7th. These sessions are covered by your Roundtable Conference registration fee and are open to all registered participants.

The Symposia Chairs, presenters and discussion leaders will be principal authors of key calendaring and scheduling specifications such as CalDAV, xCal, and CalWS, and are major contributors to leading calendaring and scheduling applications.

Update: The workshop on locations has been eliminated as the material will be covered in other places, and we have scheduled time for a BOF (Birds of a Feather) session.

The Evolution of Internet Calendaring Standards (Thursday 0830-1000)

An introduction and overview of Internet Calendaring Standards at a protocol level. This presentation will cover the major internet calendaring and scheduling standards and related standards, including iCalendar, CalDAV, CardDAV, iSchedule, xCal (iCalendar in XML), and CalWS (Calendaring for Web Services, both REST and SOAP specifications). We will also touch on new capabilities such as VAVAILABILITY and consensus scheduling. The goal of this session is to provide an overall functional understanding of the major calendaring and scheduling standards and their relationship to one another, and to solicit feedback from current and future implementers in regard to problems and issues they would like to see resolved.

Integrating Internet Calendaring Standards into products and services (Thursday 1030-1200)

An architectural view of the internet calendaring standards discussed in the earlier session, focused on how to select architectural pieces and put them together to meet your needs. We will examine a model product or device which would use calendaring data for its function, as a means of determining what standards are relevant, how to select the right parts, and how to put the architectural model together to solve the needs of the device. The goal of this session is to give its participants a base and grounding in the ways in which the standards form an overall architecture and how to structure the use of them in devices which use calendaring data or participate in calendaring and scheduling in some fashion. Time will be reserved for people to discuss their own implementations and problems they have encountered.

Workshop on Tasks/vTODOs (Friday 0830-1000)

iCalendar offers both events and tasks (VTODOs) for basic task management such as PIMs. However there is increasing interest in using iCalendar tasks in more advanced applications such as project management. What requirements must be met and what extensions are required to iCalendar to address the needs of an emerging set of more diverse and capable products? The goal of this session is to identify these needs and help CalConnect determine whether and how to address them by defining the necessary extensions. This session is a follow-on to an initial discussion at the last CalConnect meeting in May; the slides from that discussion may be found at Tasks Workshop May 2011.

CalConnect Internationally – Next steps (Friday 1030-1115)

What are our next steps for CalConnect Internationally, in Europe or elsewhere? What sort of meetings or conferences would be most useful, and how frequent? What can CalConnect do to make it more practical for people based in other countries to participate in CalConnect technical committees? The goal of this session is to provide concrete guidance for CalConnect in planning for its future and hopefully your
involvement.

BOB (Birds of a Feather) Sessions (Friday 1115-1200)

What are we not talking about or addressing that concerns you? Here’s a chance to propose topics of interest and get a discussion going that may lead to future CalConnect work.