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<preface id="introduction">
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<title>Introduction</title>
<sect1 id="what">
<title>What is Evolution, and What Can It Do for Me?</title>
<para>
Information is useless unless it's organized and accessible;
it's hardly even worth the name if you can't look at it and be
<emphasis>informed</emphasis>.
<application>Evolution</application>'s goal is to make the
tasks of storing, organizing, and retrieving your personal
information easier, so you can work and communicate with
others. That is, it's a highly evolved <glossterm
linkend="groupware">groupware</glossterm> program, an integral
part of the Internet-connected desktop.
</para>
<para>
Without all the hot air, that means it's a tool to help you
get your work done.
</para>
<para>
Because it's part of the GNOME project,
<application>Evolution</application> is Free Software. The
program and its source code are released under the terms of
the GNU <ulink type="help" url="gnome-help:gpl"><citetitle>General
Public License (GPL)</citetitle></ulink>, and the
documentation falls under the <ulink type="help"
url="gnome-help:fdl"><citetitle>Free Documentation
License</citetitle></ulink> (FDL). For more information about
the GPL and the FDL, visit the Free Software Foundation's
website at <ulink
url="http://www.fsf.org">http://www.fsf.org</ulink>.
</para>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application> can help you work in a
group by handling email, address and other contact
information, and one or more calendars. It can do that on one
or several computers, connected directly or over a network,
for one person or for large groups.
</para>
<para>
The <application>Evolution</application> project has four
central goals:
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
The application must be <emphasis>both powerful and easy
to use</emphasis>. In other words, it needs a familiar
and intuitive interface that users can customize to their
liking, and users should have access to shortcuts for
complex tasks.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application> must meet and
exceed the standards set by other groupware products.
It must include support for major network <glossterm
linkend="protocol">protocols</glossterm> so that it can
integrate seamlessly with existing hardware and network
environments.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The project must support open standards and be open to
expansion, so that it can become a development platform
as well as an application. From the simplest scripting
to the most complex network and component programming,
<application>Evolution</application> must offer
developers an environment for cutting-edge application
development.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Data must be safe: <application>Evolution</application>
must not lose mail, corrupt mailbox files or other data,
execute arbitrary <glossterm
linkend="script">scripts</glossterm>, or delete files from
your hard disk.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</para>
<para>
<application>Evolution</application> is designed to make most
daily tasks faster. For example, it takes only one or two
clicks to enter an appointment or an address card sent to you
by email, or to send email to a contact or appointment.
<application>Evolution</application> makes displays faster and
more efficient, so searches are faster and memory usage is
lower. People who get lots of mail will appreciate advanced
features like <link linkend="usage-mail-organize-vFolders">
Virtual Folders</link>, which let you save searches as though
they were ordinary mail folders.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="aboutbook">
<title>About This Book</title>
<para>
This book is divided into two parts, with several
appendices. The first part is a <link linkend="usage">guided
tour</link>— it will explain how to use
<application>Evolution</application>. If you are new to
<application>Evolution</application> or to groupware in
general, this section is for you. The second section, covering
<link linkend="config">configuration</link>, is targeted at
more advanced users, but anyone who wants to change the way
<application>Evolution</application> looks or acts can benefit
from reading it.
</para>
<formalpara>
<title>Typographical conventions</title>
<para>
Some kinds of words are marked off with special typography:
<simplelist>
<member><application>Applications</application></member>
<member><command>Commands</command> typed at the command line</member>
<member><guilabel>Labels</guilabel> for interface items</member>
<member> Menu selections look like this:
<menuchoice>
<guimenu>Menu</guimenu>
<guisubmenu>Submenu</guisubmenu>
<guimenuitem>Menu Item</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice>
</member>
<member><guibutton>Buttons</guibutton> you can
click</member> <member><userinput>Anything you type
in</userinput></member> <member><computeroutput>Text
output from a computer</computeroutput></member>
<member><glossterm linkend="apx-gloss">Words</glossterm>
that are defined in the <xref linkend="apx-gloss">.</member>
</simplelist>
<tip id="example-tip">
<title>Example Tip</title>
<para>
Tips and bits of extra information will look like
this.
</para>
</tip>
<example>
<title>Example Example</title>
<para>
This is what an example looks like.
</para>
</example>
<warning id="example-warning">
<title>Example Warning</title>
<para>
This is what a warning looks like.
</para>
</warning>
</para>
</formalpara>
</sect1>
</preface>
