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Originally Posted by dickmorrell  Guys I know right now the news (that I've been sitting watching for about 15 hrs or so since waking up to it UK time long before the US PST timezone guys woke) is going to shake a lot of people who will assume that a licencing change is going to be a necessary step to make but right now you should hold fire.
I've done consultancy on the Zimbra payroll, I've sat and worked with the employees in San Mateo and I've sat across the table from Scott D who I trust implicitly and talked to him in depth about both the licencing model and the commitment and dedication that goes into each and every release. Whilst any change of direction or financial input there is always nerves. I've been through this at Linuxcare and then VA Linux imploding. I've also turned down acquisition attempts by Red Hat and two household US brand name companies for my own company SmoothWall which some of you may remember/use.
This is very very early days. Zimbra has revenue, Zimbra has mindset and it has customers. A MS acquisition of Yahoo would need to go through months and months of federal regulatory approval and also would result in no massive changes to a trading organisation in the first 12-18 months post any successful acquisition.
Anyone assuming that this is black and white needs to temper this with a sense of realism.
I don't need the money - I took Scott D at his word and I believed in his licencing stance and bought into Zimbra as an individual, I also use the product.
Manning the lifeboats and talking about forking is more than premature. A sense of balance and realism is why successful people use Open Source - if you're already lined up in the midst of that mix of people then don't make the sort of assumptions your proprietary colleagues staring like rabbits at headlights make. You're different for a reason which is why you care about what happens next. |
Actually, it IS pretty much black and white
No one here thinks that changes will happen overnight, but, the more the waiting, the more of Zimbra will advance under not so nice YPL license.
I'm not afraid of what will happen in 6 months, I'm afraid of what will happen in three years. How will you sell Zimbra in three years? "Look, we have a better product than MS Outlook, it is MS Zimbra"?
Zimbra and MS don't mix together, that is why it is black and white. Some of us have to make decisions and commit resources to Zimbra. Some people use it, some sell it, and some are building products with or around it.
Second and third category are screwed if this deal goes, and first probably screwed after two or three years.
Second and third category need exit strategy right now. We can not afford wait-and-see attitude, because it may be to late.
That's why I'm glad there are some versions on MPL. That's also why I really like true open source licenses.