Gnome PIM Integration

Every desktop environment has its own methods of bringing PIM information to the forefront.

In Linux, sometimes you have very tight integration of this information because a developer needed the ability to view calendar items on their desktop when the email program is closed.

In the Gnome desktop (default desktop of Ubuntu), if you use Evolution, you will find several of these niceties.

Events in an Evolution calendar will appear in the date drop down on the right-hand side of the screen (for today’s events).  The calendar can either be a local file, a web calendar or a Google calendar.  This is in addition to the normal pop-up reminders, which also do not require the Evolution client to be running.

Your contacts can also be integrated with various online services.

Pidgin and Empathy can also connect with Evolution to flesh out your address book items.

All in all, it works pretty well, and offers something that is unavailable on other platforms.

Next, we’ll look at KDE.