Zimbra now Yahoos! thoughts

[amnz]

My thoughts....

A good thing for Zimbra share owners
A bad thing for Zimbra community

Why? Well, the first one is obvious.
The second is because I don't believe on wolfs with a sheep dress. In some time we will see Yahoo ads on mails sent from the Open Source release. Also, Yahoo wants all of us using Yahoo Mail, so Zimbra is a contender...I suspect they only want/need the technology behind the scene to improve its mail platform.
As usual, they take profit from all the efforts made by people that believed on a really usable, fancy and (why not) cool Open Source mail platform....

I hope, really, thing will come in a different way, but as I said...I don't believe on sheep dressed wolfs.

My next step....see and wait.

[jholder]

Hey Guys-
Thanks for the thoughts. I want you to know that we have read each and every one.
If you ever want to chat one on one, feel free to e-mail me: jholder@zimbra.com with questions or concerns. I'll make sure they get heard.

While I wish I had better answers for you about everything here, here's what I can say that I know:
This deal isn't only about Yahoo expanding, but also about Zimbra expanding.

Just like Comcast, it isn't only about the money. I don't think a single person today @ Zimbra has said: "Yippie, I have Zimbra Stock".
This is about: "What puts Zimbra in the best position to provide the very best technologies to our customers, both FOSS and Network Editions?"

We're not being eaten by Yahoo, we're joining forces. We're a team now. Yahoo has it's faults, and Zimbra has it's faults. Together as a team, we'll be able to contend and be a better solution than other e-mail providers.

Some of you (myself included) have been with the Zimbra Community since Zimbra started and have an investment here. Personally: of all the possible companies that could have bought us, I'm glad it was Yahoo.

We have a commitment to you, and we're going to live up to it. I'll personally make sure of that.

Sincerely,
john

[tgx]

I wish you luck, but being bought by an internet senior
citizen doesn't seem like that great of a deal. Yahoo!
needs you more than you need them. Will be interesting to see
how many Zimbra folks bail into early retirement or
leave for 'personal reasons' money bags in tow. I'm happy for them,
sad for ZImbra.

We've been fence sitters with Zimbra for a long while,
I think this will probably sway us onto something else.

Will have to see, investing in an email solution IS a big deal for companies,
particularly since it's something that impacts day to day operations
and I have strong reservations that Yahoo! can maintain any level
of enterprise capability. Heck they can't seem to figure out how to make SSL work. It's the only site I know of that regularly fails a certificate check.

[langs]

Originally Posted by Chewie71

Meh....I don't like Yahoo! either...

We're a paying customer for Network Edition.

If it doesn't negatively impact the development and support teams at Zimbra...then I'm indifferent. If we have to rebrand all our support info and documentation because the Zimbra name is no longer valid....that will be a PITA.

If support and the product itself goes to pot due to Yahoo! mismanagement after we've gone through the immense headache of migrating thousands of users....we are going to be freaking pissed to say the least.

I guess we'll see...the proof is in the pudding as they say.

Good Luck Zimbra...(did I say I hate buyouts?)
Matt

This pretty much sums up how I feel as well as a paying client. I had a mild heart attack when I heard the news this morning.. Yahoo is not a company I would ever consider to be the in best interests of my setup.

I feel this will end in tears for Zimbra's existing business clients. I have nightmares of the zimbra client including the Yahoo toolbar an crap etc.

[__proto__]

congratz zimbra. This are bad news for me/community.

Free yahoo hosted zimbra mail? yahoo corporate mail?

I'm very disapointed that every good company now ends up being bought by a giant instead of drawing their future.

I'll try to plan on how to keep our mail server stable with zimbra until i found a replacement for it.

[chalkboy]

I hope that zimbra does not change but I feel that it will and we will have to switch to a new email solution. I can not see yahoo providing a non hosted solution for email. I fear that they will integrate the parts they like then kill zimbra. I hope I am wrong I love zimbra and had dreams for it. I wish they could provide us with what their long term plans are for zimbra.

[Cryophallion]

While this is great news for Zimbra, (and I am definitely happy for you guys, you have definately earned it with a wonderful product) I must admit I am a little nervous due to the text in the blog:

"We are committed to keeping the current source open and available for use and we will continue to offer the network version that will contain value added proprietary features on top of the open product."

What makes me nervous is that only the current source will stay open - which means no updates for the community version.

I work with a small company (5 salespeople), and once I found zimbra, I was thrilled. We can't afford much, and the community version gave us everything we hoped for, and we are looking forward to 5.0. However, there are still a few irritations (although none as irritating as Exchange), which we would love to have the fixes for available to us.

I am next planning on rolling it out at my church, as they are all using pop3, and I am wary of system crashes.

I am by no means a computer expert or hacker. I know a little, and try to get by, but the IT in my company just happened because I am interested in it, and because I'm the most knowledgeable in my area. I love the fact that zimbra is a suite, and has all the capabilities meshed together in one package, and with the same theme.

So, if at all possible, try to keep the community version alive. We just might be your next paying customers too, and the word of mouth from the community version (everyone I know has seem it demoed by me) is invaluable advertising.

[riogd]

First of all congratulations to all parties involved! I hope the outcome will be positive for Zimbra and all of its customers.
As an NE customer I am glad you put together the acquisition FAQ like you did! It answered all of my burning questions except for one:

1. Does this mean the integrated Google search will go away and be replaced by Yahoo! Search ?

Of course that doesn't rate particularly high on a list of priorities but at least it might give someone a smile. And I would nonetheless be interesting in knowing the answer.

Cheers,

RioGD

[Stergil]

Originally Posted by Cryophallion

"We are committed to keeping the current source open and available for use and we will continue to offer the network version that will contain value added proprietary features on top of the open product."

What makes me nervous is that only the current source will stay open - which means no updates for teh community version.

That right there is the meat and potatoes of my misgivings about this buyout. Given the track record of these types of deals it's hard to imagine this doesn't end in disaster for the community.

Grats on the payday, but well.. we'll see I guess.

[tcnj]

I don't remember "Be acquired by Yahoo" as a feature I voted for