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Add-in: Project Umbrella – Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09)

By on January 30, 2010 in Add-ins & Apps, Windows Home Server

Back in the summer, Jared Finkenbinder won the We Got Served/Home Server Blog Add-in Idea Challenge 09 with his idea for a centralised database stored on the home server, with a family calendar, contacts and tasks lists:

Home Calendar, Tasks, Contacts – Jared Finkenbinder
This add-in should use universal data stores such as ical and vcards to share data to multiple productivity suites such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Entourage, etc. This does not need to serve email, it is simply a way to have a centralized database for shared, common items for the family or home office.

Whilst Jared walked away with a shed load of swag for winning the competition, the winning entry was also to be developed into a community add-in by ace developer, Felix Kollmann.

As you’ll remember, the winning idea will be developed into a full Windows Home Server add-in, and developer Felix Kollmann has already started on initial ideas for Home Calendar, Tasks, Contacts (I hope it gets a new name too!). Work will continue on the add-in through to the end of the year at which point it will be released to the community.

The first preview of the add-in was due to be released at the end of the year, but a few bugs delayed its release. However I’m delighted to announce that Felix has released the first beta of the add-in, now called (for now) Codename Umbrella, and the add-in has now developed into a full implementation of Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 for Windows Home Server.

The add-in is available in English and German and fully automates the process of downloading, installing and configuring Sharepoint in the Windows Home Server Console.

ubrella1 thumb Add in: Project Umbrella Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09) umb2 thumb Add in: Project Umbrella Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09) umb3 thumb Add in: Project Umbrella Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09) umb4 thumb Add in: Project Umbrella Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09) umb5 thumb Add in: Project Umbrella Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09) umb6 thumb Add in: Project Umbrella Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09) umb7 thumb Add in: Project Umbrella Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09) umb8 thumb Add in: Project Umbrella Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09) sp sp thumb Add in: Project Umbrella Home Calendar, Contacts and Tasks (AIC ‘09)

Please note that this preview release is a proof of concept and for experienced users only. The add-in itself is not complete and there are UI elements missing (e.g. uninstallation has no dialog UI at this point). Bugs, issues and feature requests can be submitted over at the project website.

We’ve set up a dedicated forum over at WGS Forums for discussion about the new add-in.

Download: Codename Umbrella | Discussion


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About Terry Walsh

Terry Walsh is the founding editor and owner of We Got Served. Since February 2007, the site has provided detailed coverage and analysis of the emerging home server category, and has subsequently grown into a trusted outlet for digital home news and reviews.
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  • master_marcel

    Interesting add-in. Going to install this add-in…

  • http://twitter.com/Dieharder @Dieharder

    Decided to give it a try. I had to get the uninstall.bat from their website to uninstall my old version, wanted to keep things neat. Then I ran the addin, installed fine. Got back in to start the Sharepoint install and got an error message the as master_marcel

  • BuckDanny

    Interesting concept. I'm generally not into beta testing, so I 'll give this a pass for now. Does anybody have an idea how this is going to work out in terms of licensing ? In order to use this add-in (once it comes out of beta), will users have to pay a license fee for the Sharepoint components ? Or is "Sharepoint services" a free download on any licensed copy of Windows Server, including WHS ?

    • Kyle

      Sharepoint Services is a free download.

  • http://twitter.com/KyleIT @KyleIT

    At this point I'm assuming that it's up to us to set up the calendar, contacts, etc. Am I right?

    • jared Finkenbinder

      yup. this is a stock Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 install. no extra templates. Im sure that will change eventually. Right now I am trying to learn how to use sharepoint (now that ive got it :-) ).

  • Joakim

    Is there a default login to the Sharepoint site after installation?

    • jared Finkenbinder

      servername:38080

  • Sam

    Microsoft advises against the running of the Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 on the WHS + it is a violation of the MS EULA. For business and paranoid WHS users like myselfs THIS IS NOT AN OPTION! Looks more like a quick fix and it is not really an add-in either! FOUL!!!

    What qualifies Felix K. to be designated as "ACE" developer?

  • Kevin

    I agree with Sam, FOUL!
    Not only does this add the overhead of WSS, but there has to be some form of MS SQL back there as well.
    I haven't looked at the "add-in" in any depth yet, but how can writing a wrapper around the WSS installer and then just using the default features of WSS be considered an add-in? Not to mention the fact you're setting us all up for more WSS and SQL patching in the future and dumping the load of both on our poor WHS boxes. I would have to say, try again.

    • http://twitter.com/Dieharder @Dieharder

      I agree, although I have SharePoint on my WHS to give me this functionality, I agree that using Sharepoint in a wrapper to create this addin is not what I expected. If the developer wanted to create a SharePoint addin then I would say this is ok. I would then expect all the overhead of SQL and such.

      But I was expecting a addin that would be viewed in the Console similar to the WHS Outlook addin, but then again I don't want to have to install Office on my server. Again if I wanted Outlook on my server then WHS Outlook addin is what I want.

      So give me something in between that is lightweight.

      • jared Finkenbinder

        That is true Dieharder, this isnt initially what I expected either, but I can see this is a way to make it work. what is now needed I think is to expose the calendar, contacts and task lists to be easier to get to and to link to – without alot of tinkering…Ill wait and see.

        But I also see alot of future benefit to this method, with WHS Vail probably being 64 bit and Windows Sharepoint Foundation 2010 being 64 bit working with outlook 2010 this should be preety sweet. It is a preview…we'll see!

        • http://twitter.com/Dieharder @Dieharder

          Using Sharepoint, I was able to view my WHS Sharepoint Calendar with Outlook, but it would only show up as a separate calendar. I was not able to merge my existing calendar. So until syncing both as 1 calendar is possible, I'm not using the calendar option.

          • jared Finkenbinder

            As that is the way it would be if we had exchange, so I don't see this as a deal breaker – yet. I can view the calendars side by side or overliad in outlook 2007 (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA01230157... You would have had this limitation in WHS Outlook too I'll bet.

            But you are right this isnt the syncing we had envisioned. Maybe the technology isnt quite there yet. We need something like Active Sync here for this towork like that. Mabye there is more under the covers that we dont see yet, I'm just jazzed to see something happening.

          • Wesley

            Nothing new for Sharepoint as that is the way it functions.

            There are a couple of neat tricks though. You can add a task to your calendar by right-clicking. You can sync between Outlook and the SharePoint calendar (still separate calendars).

  • Chris

    I have been waiting for this since it was annoced, as it would fill a hole in my setup, i would be able to keep track of the appointments etc of the wife and I.
    I know that i can do this in other ways, but if this does what it promisis then i will take it on, despite the load on the server.

    I am surpised it has taken 6mth to only get to a first beta. I have to say i was expecting development to be a bit further along from the tone of the compertition.

  • jared Finkenbinder

    I DONT see anything that says this violates a license or eula. Not supported means if it breaks MS WONT fix it. Here is what I found on the subject of licensing of Windows Sharepoint Services and the Windows Home Server.

    http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/how-to-buy/Pages/...
    Licensing Notes
    Free download for Windows Server customers. Organizations using WSS must be properly licensed for Windows Server.

    http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/9408…
    Installing Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a Windows Home Server-based computer is currently not supported…We are investigating this issue and will release more information about support for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a Windows Home Server-based computer.

    http://wiki.wegotserved.com/index.php?title=Insta…
    …SharePoint Services is free software provided by Microsoft for all Windows Server installations. It provides a "home-base"-type collaboration suite with a web interface…You do not need Microsoft Office SharePoint Server to take advantage of WSS. MOSS is an expensive product intended to be installed on to top of WSS to enable "additional features".

    • http://twitter.com/Dieharder @Dieharder

      I agree here Jared, it's not a violation of the EULA. I could see why it's not supported because if you install WSS as is, it will replace the WHS Remote Access Web Page. So you would have to make the necessary changes.

      • jared Finkenbinder

        The Share Point Services is on port 38080 so the default remote web page is still working. I used WHSIIST to place a link to the Sharepoint site on the private side of my homeserver remote access web page.

        I did have to forward the port in my router and in the WHS firewall and add a user account to Sharepoint access it remotely.

        Felix has said that the database does reside on the c drive for now, but a future build may allow easier relocating of the database. Remember this is just a preview, it will only get better.

        • Wesley

          SharePoint Services by the way does NOT use the full-blown version of SQL, it uses a version of SQL Express which grew up from the old MSDE product. It's light-weight and should not have the impact of SQL server (it's big brother).

          While you can move the database, or rather you can create an installation that uses a copy of SQL that was previously installed OR during the installation actually point to a different location for the installation of the databases.

          That is really not something the typical home server user will want to do or play around with.

          On the other hand, I think using WSS takes care of some of the backend stuff you would normally have to deal with but allows you a clean interface to customize or program against for a real custom product.

          I would not sell the chose of WSS short just yet.

  • autodrivel

    The real trick will be to get something that will read the "Month-on-a-page" calendar that my Wife maintains in the kitchen and automatically update the Umbrella calendar.
    What is Sharepoint like at handwriting recognition? :D

    Unfortunately I think developing such a utility is more realistic than getting the Wife to give up her Calendar and type stuff into a web page :(

    Hmmmm… Maybe what is needed is a tablet format Netbook showing the Umbrella Calendar in a Month-on-a-Page format complete with pictures of the kids and hang that in place of her Calendar.
    Just got to wait for the price differential to erode – Netbook: £300, Calendar: £5 ;)

    • Vileda

      " more realistic than getting the Wife to give up her Calendar and type stuff into a web page :( "

      That's exactly what happened to me, I installed WSS basically to learn sharepoint safe in the knowledge I could break it without any business impact, however within 24 hours my wife had copied everything from her paper calendars and they've never been used since. It's now the most important service (in her eyes) the WHS gives.

  • Vileda

    What would the umbrella add for me? I currently have the following set-up

    1. WSS Installed with SQL DB on D Drive
    2. Internal http access on port 80xx external https on 444, Normal WHS page, remote access etc etc.
    3. Hmailserver installed and WSS Mail Enabled through IIS SMTP drop folder (protected via linux MailScanner running in a VM on vmware server).

    Leaving the Email part to one side, a single calendar/contacts list accessible anywhere is a great featureand should really have been thought of as a standard feature of WHS. If a sharepoint add-in makes this a simple (and secure) install then wonderful, however it would be nice if this does something else on top rather than just wrap the already widely available install routine into an add-in.

    • Allan

      Don’t want to hi-jack the topic, but I’ve gone completely the other way, ditched my mail server and Windows SharePoint Services from my WHS and moved to Windows Live Custom Domains, with mailboxes (which includes Calendar and Contacts) for each family member. I was originally a strong advocate that shared contacts and calendars should have been included in WHS from the beginning.

      These are accessed by a mixture of web (Windows Live Hotmail), Windows Live client software and Office Outlook Connector, with calendars shared between us.

      Nice and geeky as it was running my own mail server and WSS, there were several occassions when things went astray (I mean, we geeks like to fiddle with configurations) and family were unhappy about lack of access.

  • Geo

    Are you kidding? A installer for sharepoint is what the developer came up with and it took this long? Sharepoint isn't that hard to install on homeserver, there are step by step instructions out there. Sharepoint has everything the winner asked for but it's not really meant to be used for family it is more a business tool and can be very confusing if you don't know how to manage it. Better luck next time……..

    • jared Finkenbinder

      Since Felix hasn't posted anything here, and since some of us are a bid underwhelmed by the whole Sharepoint thing, Ill copy what Felix emailed to me a while back – for what it is worth.

      Part 1
      At this moment we’re working on our second proof-of-concept which already takes place inside the WHS console – unlike the first one. What we did not want to do was to invent a new technology for sharing emails, tasks and contacts, because there are so many already and in fact I always felt like they’re being limited – too specialized to put in other words.

      Continued…

  • jared Finkenbinder

    Part 2

    The next step was to choose a platform which already has a lot of support, is common and accessible to everyone and might already provide an integration into at least one mail client. After looking around for some days we came up with the idea of using Microsoft SharePoint as base for… well… sharing. Outlook already has the ability to sync contacts and tasks with SharePoint and it further provides a full web interface which could easily benefit the “single sign-on” structure of the WHS.

    So the main goal currently is to get a clean installation on the WHS of SharePoint followed by stuff like backup and WHS website integration. Having this as a base we can then provide sync functionality for e.g. Google or Hotmail directly on the WHS syncing with the SharePoint. It might be that this decision seems a bit odd in the first moment, but it allows us to make this add-in a long-term development taking the facts in account that some of us (read: MVPs) know about WHS v2.

    • jared Finkenbinder

      I suppose I too am a bit dismayed at the whole "just a sharepoint installer?" thing too. I hope there is more – a whole lot more – to this than what we see now.

      I suppose I was hoping for something more like this: http://www.codetwo.com/public-folders/

      This one is $160 and the company told me that they didnt see why their sync server couldnt reside on the WHS. Usually they have one of the workstations also act as the sync server so that function is really lightweight supposedly.

      To those that have sharepoint installed what are you using it for. Can you share details, templates, pages anything? I want to see the potential in this. :-)

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  • importedprogrammer

    I use Cosmo Sharing Server which runs in it own tomcat container, all i then did was to do a iis to redirect.

    OVERVIEW:

    The Cosmo project aims to provide a web calendaring application to support the Chandler project. In addition, it is a content/calendar sharing server to support collaboration with Chandler users. Chandler users will be able to share calendar collections with friends who do not use Chandler, iCal or any other desktop clients by providing them with Cosmo URLs for the collections.

  • scoob101

    Can someone who understands sharepoint explain whats possible whith this type of solution?? I mean, my wife syncs her phone calendar to her laptop`s outlook – so will I be able to view SELECTED appointments or ALL of them? What about appointments marked private or confidential ?
    I hope the process isnt going to be too cumbersome (syncs need to be automated), otherwise its not going to get WAF, and my hopes of shared calendars will be dashed again.

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  • scoob101

    Reading the post below (talken from the Umbrella website), it looks like development has stopped because of bugs in WHS.

    Error when retrieving WHS users
    by fkollmann 20/02/2010 00:36:57

    Unfortunately I am currently stuck on an important feature: synchronizing users with SharePoint.

    The issue is a bug in the Windows Home Server client library :-/ . But a bug has been filed so please feel free to vote for that bug since there is currently no workaround :’( . The bug applies to the German and French version.

  • Bob Scherer

    I think you should request the WHS that was awarded back.
    I am forced to wonder if this person is capable of proving the solution he won the contest with. This has taken far too long, especially when it appeard virtually nothing was done for most of last year.

    I had high hopes, but they are clearly dashed!

    • http://homeservershow.com diehard

      Jared Finkenbinder won because his addin idea was chosen as the best to be turned into an addin. The developer that was chosen to write the addin in the person who dropped the ball here. I don't think Jared should return his prize.

      • Bob

        My misunderstanding. And he has my apologies.

        The developer needs a major kick in the Ass then!

        Bob

      • Jared Finkenbinder

        Thanks Diehard. And NO they CAN'T have my WHS back! Felix has quit and isnt developing ANYTHING for WHS anymore: http://TwitPWR.com/INA/ andhttp://TwitPWR.com/INz/ says he has quit.

        I'm very dissapointed and would STILL hope someone will have the wherewithall to develop a REAL solution to sharing Contacts, Calendars and Tasks via the networked Windows Home Server. I also would like to see a solution that would work with v1 AND v2 WHS installations.

        Amyone have the guts to actually follow through on this? Feel free to contact me and we could discuss how I thought this should work when I entered the contest in the first place!

        • scoob101

          I mailed Felix the other day and asked him to provide an update. I guess that prompted this post.

          Looking back at the state of the other addins he`s tried to develop, this was always going to be bad anyway. Routercontrol was garbage and facebook for WHS was the oddest idea for an idd-in I`ve ever heard. Good riddance. Maybe a real developer can run with the idea and create a new add-in worth using.

  • scoob101

    I have to say I dont understand why development has stopped – theres nothing thats been said which suggests he can`t continue developing for the english version.

    Was this last post by the developer just an excuse to stop working on whats been promised??

  • bob scherer

    Guess we should not be totally surprised by Felix's behavior given the LONG delay between the start and first post with "working on it".

    Very disappointing!

    Maybe someone with the necessary expertise could look at Axigen with the Outlook connector could put together some practical installation guidance for us less expert types. I tried installing & found during the configuration process, my knowledge of mail servers and associated process was lacking.

    The free Axigen solution looks more promising anyway – if you have the expertise.

    Here's hoping.

    Bob