collaborations

The remarkable thing about software that just works

The best software might be the software you barely notice. You open a document, synchronize files or check your email, and everything works exactly as it should. In practice, however, this is not always a given. For Arjan Widlak, researcher and director of the Kafka Brigade Foundation, digital tools do not necessarily have to be remarkable. In fact, he prefers to notice them as little as possible.

That is exactly why his experiences with Nextcloud and ProcoliX Mail stand out. Not because of spectacular features, but because they do what they are supposed to do. “It may not be extraordinary, but the fact that it isn’t extraordinary is what makes it extraordinary”, said Arjan.

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A diverse group of professionals having a collaborative meeting in a modern office setting.

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Daphne Alderliesten

Daphne Alderliesten •

September 22, 2026

Collaborating on large documents

Throughout his career, Arjan has worked with many different systems. The ICT company he ran for 25 years, OpenOffice was used. At the university, where he is a PhD student, he has to use Microsoft Word. And at his current employer, Kafka Brigade Foundation, LibreOffice is used, except when working with multiple organizations on a single document. Then Nextcloud is used.

One moment when Nextcloud truly demonstrated its value was while writing a book with six authors working on it simultaneously. Editing large documents with multiple people can quickly become slow and complicated. But in this case, it turned out to be surprisingly smooth. As Arjan puts in: “A book naturally contains many pages. The fact that such a large document, with version control for six people, simply kept working flawlessly was something I honestly did not expect.”

Files and calendars in one place

In his daily work, Arjan uses Nextcloud to synchronize files between Apple and Linux systems. The migration took some time, but eventually everything was transferred within a few days and has been running reliably ever since.

He also managed to bring together multiple calendars from different systems (Microsoft Office, Apple calendar and Nextcloud) in Nextcloud. This was not necessarily easy, but it was possible. As Arjan explains: “The fact that it is even possible is fantastic. Try doing that with Microsoft, and you will be on the phone with the helpdesk all the time.”

Email that simply works fast

Arjan previously used Gmail, and he is clear about its quality: “Google as an email provider is simply a top product in terms of quality.”  However, he eventually decided to switch. While he appreciates Google's technical quality, the influence of large technology companies played an important role in his decision, as did the question of how much he wanted to contribute to that ecosystem. In addition, the price difference has become much smaller in recent years. That combination ultimately convinced him to move to a solution that offers more control and independence.

The most important thing: that it works

Ultimately, the value is not in spectacular features, but in reliability. The migration took a few days of work, but after that everything ran smoothly without him needing any support. Files, email and calendars do exactly what they are supposed to do. And according to him, that is more remarkable than it sounds: “The simple fact that it just works perfectly without any complaints is actually a selling point in itself.”

Experience for yourself how convenient it is when your digital environment simply does what it is supposed to do in the background. Discover more about Nextcloud and ProcoliX Mail.