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<!--
<!DOCTYPE preface PUBLIC "-//GNOME//DTD DocBook PNG Variant V1.1//EN">
-->

  <preface id="introduction">
<!-- =============Introduction ============================= -->
    <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>&mdash; 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>