Outlook + Thunderbird + OpenLDAP = Fail

So, I've tried to build an OpenLDAP directory that can be viewed by both Outlook and Thunderbird clients.

The idea is simple enough, but Microsoft's insistence on re-writing standardized protocols makes the task VERY difficult. This makes sense, why would Microsoft's Active Directory want to be compatible with an Open Source system that's free?

Here's the breakdown, Outlook 2007 searches for the following fields when accessing an LDAP, diregard the first line, that's the connection:

conn=521 op=1 SRCH attr=
cn
commonName
mail
roleOccupant
display-name
displayname
sn
surname
co
organizationName
o
givenName
legacyExchangeDN
objectClass
uid
mailNickname
title
company
physicalDeliveryOfficeName
telephoneNumber
homephone
Telephone-Office2
facsimileTelephoneNumber
mobile
Telephone-Assistant
pager
info

And here's Thunderbird's query:
conn=0 op=1 SRCH attr=
o
company
mail
mozillaUseHtmlMail
xmozillausehtmlmail
mozillaCustom2
custom2
mozillaHomeCountryName
ou
department
departmentnumber
orgunit
mobile
cellphone
carphone
telephoneNumber
title
mozillaCustom1
custom1
mozillaNickname
xmozillanickname
mozillaWorkUrl
workurl
fax
facsimiletelephonenumber
mozillaSecondEmail
xmozillasecondemail
mozillaCustom4
custom4
nsAIMid
nscpaimscreenname
street
streetaddress
postOfficeBox
givenName
l
locality
homePhone
mozillaHomeUrl
homeurl
mozillaHomeStreet
st
region
mozillaHomePostalCode
mozillaHomeLocalityName
mozillaCustom3
custom3
birthyear
mozillaWorkStreet2
mozillaHomeStreet2
postalCode
zip
c
countryname
pager
pagerphone
sn
surname
mozillaHomeState
description
notes
modifytimestamp
cn
commonname


The funny part is the free and open source search by Thunderbird is much more detailed and thorough. Outlook's search on the other hand defies standards. The "Company" field for Outlook is "company" in the LDAP. However this is INCORRECT. The field Outlook should put in as the company is "organizationName" or "o". A newbie reading this might think Microsoft is just being intuitive. Nope, their encouraging their proprietary systems so they cannot interact with open source systems.

As far as I know LDAP has been around a very long time and Microsoft should not ignore the basic schema and standards currently in place. At the very top (the core.schema) the organizationName (or 'o') has been there for a very long time.

Anyway, a work around is to define the 'o' for open source as the same as 'company' for the mega evil giant, Microsoft.

-Andy

Running

Housing....

The Great American Bubble Machine:

The Great American Bubble Machine:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/28816321/the_great_american_bubble_machine

Peter Schiff

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/06/peter-schiff-on-tds/

One Command: "sudo apt-get install ndisgtk"

Ugh, the online forums are such a waist of time!!! IF you want to install a wireless PCI card on Ubuntu run the above command and download the "inf" driver from the vendor's webpage.

The above command can also help if your Ubuntu system freezes after installing a PCI card. The key is to use the intended driver for any card AND install the driver using NDIS wrappers before installing the PCI card. The generic Linux drivers are just too generic, Windows can't even keep a list of reliable drivers and the hardware manufacturers builf their equipment for Linux!!!!

-Andy

Edicts to Live By

Ten principles for a Black Swan-proof world

1. What is fragile should break early while it is still small. Nothing should ever become too big to fail.

2. No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains. Whatever may need to be bailed out should be nationalised; whatever does not need a bail-out should be free, small and risk-bearing. We have managed to combine the worst of capitalism and socialism.

3. People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus. The economics establishment (universities, regulators, central bankers, government officials, various organisations staffed with economists) lost its legitimacy with the failure of the system.

4. Do not let someone making an “incentive” bonus manage a nuclear plant – or your financial risks. Odds are he would cut every corner on safety to show “profits” while claiming to be “conservative”.

5. Counter-balance complexity with simplicity. The complex economy is already a form of leverage: the leverage of efficiency.

6. Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning.

7. Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to “restore confidence”. Be robust in the face of them.

8. Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains. Using leverage to cure the problems of too much leverage is denial.

9. Economic life should be definancialised. Citizens should not depend on financial assets or fallible “expert” advice for their retirement.

10. Make an omelette with the broken eggs. We need to rebuild the hull with new (stronger) materials; we will have to remake the system before it does so itself.