MS offering to buy Yahoo ???

[mintra]

Zimbra is a phenomenon with enough momentum to outlive a lot of hurdles that could be put ahead of it.

The enthusiasm and effort that these people have put into their product has resulted in a rapid development cycle, which is well supported.

Zimbra is a matured product, if development slowed or even stopped, then I have no worrys leaving the existing code in place at clients for at least three years.

Zimbra key people agreed to stay in place for three years after the Yahoo buy out I think they have the strengths to argue their corner.

Worst case is we will end up with an open source version and the Network Edition will fade after its product champions move on.

These are risks in any scenario.

So I am very happy with what is going on now, I for one intent to continue installing Zimbra open source and Network editions.

Novell have made similar efforts with open source and for sale editions, they
also have made some interoperability deals with Microsoft.

Open mentality needs to be absorbed into Microsoft through every possible method.

Let Microsoft own Zimbra, and may be Zimbra can teach Microsoft a thing or two.

[Mike Scholes]

The Zimbra guys could put a stop to all this by answering a couple of simple questions.

1) If MS do end up buying Yahoo Could they kill the free version of Zimbra, yes or no?

2) If MS do end up buying Yahoo Could they kill the proprietary parts of the NE version of Zimbra, yes or no?

If the Zimbra guys don't answer these questions then the logical conclusion is that MS will be able to kill Zimbra. If Zimbra can survive buy spinning it off or dumping parts of code that are restricted by license then let us know so we can all get on with testing, deploying and buying Zimbra.

[raj]

for the post above please read the below response from zimbra CEO

To Our Customers


Raj

[Mike Scholes]

I think this was needed, I have just downloaded 5.0.2 and will be continuing with Zimbra as planned.

[raj]

I truly belive even if Yahoo is bought by MS..zimbra OSS will live on..
How ?
Under What License?
Who will run it?
All those questions I guess will be answered when time comes..so truly i don’t see any reason for OSS community and people who using OSS version to really freak out just yet.

Just my thoughts ..I have been member of Zimbra OSS since 2005 and Zimbra guys are really dedicated and they will do what’s best for OSS Zimbra as it’s there baby

Raj

[aheittman]

One good thing about migrating from Exchange to Zimbra - we've found it makes the switch to Google Apps much easier. Thanks Zimbra!

tecosystems » The RedMonk IT Report: Thanks Zimbra, Hello Google Apps

[centrex]

Originally Posted by aheittman

One good thing about migrating from Exchange to Zimbra - we've found it makes the switch to Google Apps much easier. Thanks Zimbra!

tecosystems » The RedMonk IT Report: Thanks Zimbra, Hello Google Apps

I don't think Google Apps is an alternative worth mentioning. Do you really want your stuff stored on a server you do not control by an organization with a dubious privacy policy ?

A policy that includes fine print which mentions things like "we may never delete your data, even after you close your account".

[agerate]

No matter what will appens in the near future, nor in the long, who is now evaluating zimbra to change his mail server, will switch to a different product or project and this isn't good for zimbra, for yahoo nor for MS.
I think that for the business to continue while Yahoo's board or the antitrust or everyone else decide the zimbra server has to go fully GPL while the zimbra client (web interface) can remain YPL.

[fselendic]

Originally Posted by agerate

No matter what will appens in the near future, nor in the long, who is now evaluating zimbra to change his mail server, will switch to a different product or project and this isn't good for zimbra, for yahoo nor for MS.
I think that for the business to continue while Yahoo's board or the antitrust or everyone else decide the zimbra server has to go fully GPL while the zimbra client (web interface) can remain YPL.

Doesn't need to be GPL. MPL is a very nice license, even more business friendly than GPL.

All of this buyout/disaster talk wouldn't be a problem at all if just server components stayed under MPL, as they were before Yahoo aquisition.

[KermitTheFragger]

Perhaps I'm daft; But I don't understand what all the fuss is all about.

For example look at this part of the license:

1.5 - This Agreement does not limit Your right to distribute files that are entirely Your own work (i.e., which do not incorporate any portion of the Software and are not Modifications) under any terms You choose.

This is way more liberal then the GPL !

So why is this logo part such a big deal ?