FreeZimbraNow.org

[rusty]

Microsoft can be stopped!

We are not powerless victims to Microsoft's ceaseless appetite.

FreeZimbraNow.org

It is a place for us to join together and stick up for what belongs to us!

Forum members, Zimbra users, Zimbra lovers, Zimbra and Yahoo employees, are all welcome.

Let's start a grassroots movement to save Zimbra and preserve the Yahoo/Zimbra marriage.

Please spread the word!!!

[rusty]

To help, join the forum and contribute to the conversation. I just updated the forum with several categories to facilitate discussion. Let me know of any other categories that would be helpful.

Until we start discussing this, it is just an idea. You can make a difference by joining the forum. If you have nothing to contribute at this time, just make a post saying you support the cause. That will help a great deal!

[RossH]

So if Microsoft was truly going to gain control of Yahoo the day before I would encourage zimbra to open source the entire code base including all the enterprise features so others can continue developing the product.

[daboolz]

Freezimbranow community's online petition is up. Please support by signing it.

Support against Microsoft takeover attempt on Zimbra (part of Yahoo), an Exchange Server alternative Petition

[stock99]

just signed up... but only 38 signatures? Look like not alot of zimbra users care about this...

[jpbuse]

39 now I think everyone is taking a "wait and see" approach to this. I'm all for supporting Zimbra and keeping it free from M$ but I do wonder if a petition will have any affect in the matter.

[daboolz]

Yes 42 now, but this is nothing compared to the 11 million paid mailbox Zimbra boast about. We need to get not only the IT people (zimbra admins) to sign, but all users. For all zimbra admins out there, don't just sign it, spread the word also to your users.

[dagar]

I had an intern that went to Eastern Illinois University and they have Zimbra for their email. They have a huge mail box count per admin. Lets face it, most users don't read this forum and most don't even care. I still have to explain the difference between ram and hd to the VP. (Hey to get his laptop to redraw, I just shake it and it erases the lines. I might have to upgrade him to an Etch-a-sketch 2.0 soon

More importantly, if M$ were to buy Yahoo and Zimbra were to open source everything, would you be willing to support Zimbra development with your time? The people that read these forums are going to be the most likely to support a Zimbra fork with their development time and have or could easily get the technical know how to do that.

[rusty]

Someone please enlighten me because this seems clear-cut to me. What am I missing?

Zimbra is a corporate asset. If Yahoo employees squander that asset by giving it away, then the owners of that asset, Yahoo shareholders, are going to be very upset and bring a shareholder lawsuit against Yahoo and said Yahoo employees.

Do you really think Yahoo employees are going to put their neck on the line for you?

[dagar]

Rusty,
I got to seriously ask you what you are proposing then?
For M$ not to buy Yahoo? And if they do, for M$ not to kill off Zimbra? I had signed the petition for IBM to release OS/2 as open source. That failed. Maybe you might get a couple hundred signatures. Do you think old Billy Boy in Redmond cares about a couple hundred signatures? Will Zimbra go the way of OS/2?
eWeek had an article on this a few weeks ago with a few scenarios:

1) M$ continues to develop Zimbra
2) M$ lets Zimbra die off or
3) merges it with Sharepoint/Exchange

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The article goes into talking about Zimbra being forked by the community.
Now here is the thing, Zimbra is based on many open source products. The open source version is released in the Yahoo Public License which is a variant of the Mozilla Public License. Would someone care to elaborate on a forking of Zimbra and what that means according to the YPL?

I see this as an issue with any quasi open source company that sells a "professional version" of their product that is not open source.
ie: Asterisk and their "Business Edition", Zenoss and their Professional Edition, ...