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Recently GroupWiseR conducted an interview with Dean Lythgoe, the Director of Engineering for Novell GroupWise. Here are some quotes from this exclusive interview:
- "... most excited about Bonsai ...most anticipated release ... end-user focused ... delivers on a whole range of end-user requests, enhancements and must haves......"
- "... GroupWise will continue to support NetWare and our customers on NetWare. We also expect a lot of them to migrate to newer operating systems that will take advantage of the latest hardware advancements. Our customers will find that GroupWise is just as stable and reliable on Linux...."
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Q: Can you introduce yourself to our readers? What exactly is it that you do in your daily work? And apart from that, any hobbies?
My name is Dean Lythgoe. I have been with Novell for 17 years and I have worked on GroupWise for 14 of those years I have worked as a developer, manager and now Director. I have been mostly involved with the Windows Client, but I have also worked on WebAccess, Linux/Mac Client, Administration, etcetera. Most of my time is spent on Engineering schedules, Testing coordination, Support Issues, Customer briefings, Business plans, Design meetings, Defect reviews, Partner relations and Technology reviews. However, I also spend a great deal of time doing People management, Product promotions, Analyst reviews, Outward-bound communications, Writing articles, Reviewing business plans and proposals, and Reviewing contracts.
In my personal life, I like to play a lot of basketball. I coach my daughter's soccer team and I love to watch my son play football. I watch a lot of movies and am a big TV drama fan. I also love to watch the Utah Jazz (the local basketball team)!
Q: As Director of Engineering, your predecessor Ken Muir was a very outward-bound communicator, with a lively presence at events like BrainShare, GWAVACon en the GroupWiseR EMEA Tour. This was very well received by the audience, will you be following his lead on this?
Absolutely!! I have been an active participant in several events including BrainShare Salt Lake, BrainShare Barcelona and South America. I have recently presented at GWAVACon Asia Pac (May) in Australia. This fall I will be at the GroupWise Advisor in Miami and later in GWAVACon Berlin. I will also be making plans to participate in some of the GroupWiseR events and tours.
Q: Can you say something about the GroupWise future directions?
GroupWise has a very bright future with a lot of very exciting things that have recently happened, that are currently happening and that are planned for upcoming release. I am, obviously, most excited about Bonsai: It is the most anticipated release of GroupWise ever! It is end-user focused and it delivers on a whole range of end-user requests, enhancements and must haves. It will make you more productive and make your job easier. From the Windows Client to WebAccess to Linux/Mac - there is something for everyone!!
Beyond Bonsai is also very exciting In the next release, code named 'Monterrey'. We will deliver on our administration story, further expand our APIs and will flush out ideas and cutting edge features around teaming and conferencing.
Q: When you say teaming, how does that compare to the functionality that already is in a product like Virtual Office?
Teaming builds on several of the ideas that you probably began to experience in Virtual Office However, teaming is much more than portals into data It is workflows, wikis, web meetings and blogs, Team Calendars, document management, and coordination and interaction with people on teams that are made up of individuals inside and outside your organization.
We are currently in BETA with Novell Teaming and Conferencing. In addition, when we go to BETA with GroupWise later this year, we will use Novell Teaming as the tool to conduct the BETA. If you are a participant, you will see first hand just how useful this technology can be for your existing organization's teams within your enterprise and in teams that exist outside your enterprise.
Q: Do you consider GroupWise to be a product that can gain more market share in the future?
The opportunity for GroupWise is tremendous! Yes, I see market opportunities as our competitors concentrate on new markets and other competitors exit this business. GroupWise and its partners have a fantastic window to grab market share and grow the GroupWise ecosystem. Collaboration is still key to every single organization and basic email and calendaring are at the heart of that collaboration. As you all know, GroupWise is so much more than just email and calendaring.
Q: Do you see people migrating away from Exchange already?
We have had several large customers this year and the demand and use for the Exchange Migration Utility is very high. People will continue to look for alternatives as they move from Exchange and from Windows. GroupWise is the obvious choice for anyone facing that decision.
Q: What about Linux? Have you dived into that already yourself?
Linux is growing. As it does, GroupWise is poised to be the only enterprise choice. I do have SLED on my laptop. I use SLED and Windows regularly, I also run WebAccess often. It is important for me to use and understand as much about each GroupWise client as I can.
Q: According to your vision, is there any functionality which isn't completely ready on Linux yet? -or - What do you think about the complaints about the GW client on Linux?
There are a lot of features and functionality that have not come to the Linux Client yet. The Windows Client has had at least a 10 year head start. It is catching up fast. In Bonsai, there will be such features in the GroupWise Linux client like Notify, Change To, Home Folder, Multiple Calendars, Navigation Bar, Find, Categories and many many more.
I understand that those on Linux want everything that Windows has - We are moving in that direction as quickly as possible.
Q: What do you think is the worst feature of GroupWise that really needs some improvement very fast?
Difficult question - I would hope that we don't have a 'worst' feature I guess that might be a little too naive. I believe the feature that needed the most work is Contact Management. Bonsai will deliver on major improvements in this area I know you will be pleased!
After Bonsai - the biggest area that needs attention is Administration.
Q: And what do you think is the best feature?
That one is easy - Name Completion!! (I'll explain in person when I meet you!)
In Bonsai, there are so many cool things it is difficult to choose: Vacation Rule, Pictures and Maps in Contact Management, Easy Categorization and Task Management, RSS feeds, Web Pages in Panels, etcetera. You'll see!!!
Q: How do you feel about the shift that GroupWise has made from NetWare to Linux? -or- Is there any future for GroupWise on NetWare?
GroupWise will continue to support NetWare and our customers on NetWare. We also expect a lot of them to migrate to newer operating systems that will take advantage of the latest hardware advancements. Our customers will find that GroupWise is just as stable and reliable on Linux.
Q: What about new GroupWise features, will they be all Linux or still available for NetWare as well?
We will continue to develop features to be available across all of the supported platforms. On the server, we have just one code base that we natively compile on all supported platforms We will continue this practice to support all current Server operating systems and to leverage new ones as they appear.
Q: Do you consider to release the GroupWise client as a standalone client and allowing everyone to use it for free?
We have considered this and have engineered the GroupWise client to run as a POP/IMAP client only. Current versions of GroupWise can be run like this today. We continue to discuss the advantages to making this type of decision.
Q: How difficult is it supporting clients / Win Lin Mac Web OL and what is the priority?
Having so many clients is a strain on engineering resources. On Linux/Mac/Windows, we share a lot of common code With WebAccess, we are exploring ways we can leverage backend technologies like SOAP. Outlook is the most difficult client to support. The engineering can be difficult at times.
However, there are also a lot of advantages. Our customers have more options and can deploy the operating system of choice and we will have a solution on that platform.
Thank you Dean for this interview, we hope your energy and devotion to GroupWise can be of significant influence and hope to see a lot of improvements.
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