Evolution Connector Changes

[jholder]

Hi-

Lately, we've been involved in things like Zimbra J2ME client, Zimbra Desktop, Zimbra 5.0, and many other things we're working on.

We haven't been maintaining the Evolution Connector like we should, so we've made the License LGPL, and have pushed everything to SourceForge. We want to insure that this project keeps going, and doesn't just die.

We encourage anyone interested in becoming a SF Project Manager, to contact me (jholder@zimbra.com), and you can help steer that project.

We will keep our Evolution Forum open, and Zimbra Moderators and Employees will continue to reply to posts as we can.

All bugs from Zimbra's bugzilla have been moved to SourceForge, and all Evolution Connector Downloads will be hosted on Sourceforge.

This way, the connector can keep growing with community backing, along with Zimbra.

Evolution Connector : https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=205508

-The Zimbra Team

[esoleyman]

JHolder,

Is Evolution Connector released under the LGPL or has it been made public domain as listed under the LICENSE file in the SF svn?

[mikelcu]

Just noticed this, so I suppose it answers some things (like why the last checkin of ZimbraEvolution was in 03/07). It doesn't mention why you all decided to drop it though. Let's be serious here. While I think it's incredibly cool to have released the source code, without Zimbra's direct input maintaining the connector, it's basically a death sentence for the project... at the very least it's a hell of a lot harder for anyone outside of Zimbra to create and maintain something like this.

So... Why did you all drop it? Is it a lack of public interest in Evolution? Was it difficult or annoying to write Evo plugins? Is anyone at Zimbra intending to work on this unofficially perhaps?

Sorry if I sound gloomy, but the less attention OSS mail clients get, the less viable they are to replace their commercial competitor(s), which makes them get less attention, etc... it's a bit of a vicious circle.

-Mike

P.S. Big cheers to esoleyman, who submitted a flurry of patches yesterday (I'd be happy to be completely wrong about all this).

[jholder]

Originally Posted by mikelcu

Just noticed this, so I suppose it answers some things (like why the last checkin of ZimbraEvolution was in 03/07). It doesn't mention why you all decided to drop it though.

Really? I thought that I made it pretty clear:
Lately, we've been involved in things like Zimbra J2ME client, Zimbra Desktop, Zimbra 5.0, and many other things we're working on.

We're just too busy. Plain and simple.

Originally Posted by mikelcu

Let's be serious here. While I think it's incredibly cool to have released the source code, without Zimbra's direct input maintaining the connector, it's basically a death sentence for the project... at the very least it's a hell of a lot harder for anyone outside of Zimbra to create and maintain something like this.

What a doom and gloomy statement. A death sentence would have been to close this forum, and not pass the source/bugs to sourceforge.

We don't want to "kill" the project. We feel that the community has a chance to step up to the plate and manage a project. Just because we aren't leading doesn't mean that we don't want it to keep going.

Originally Posted by mikelcu

So... Why did you all drop it? Is it a lack of public interest in Evolution? Was it difficult or annoying to write Evo plugins? Is anyone at Zimbra intending to work on this unofficially perhaps?

A challenge is something we've never turned away from. If we can write a j2me client, ZimbraMobile, Zimbra Desktop, we can write Evo plugins.

Does the # of users who actually use it weigh in? Sure. The effort that we put in to this project is best spent in other places.

Is someone @ Zimbra gonna work on it? If I knew that, it would be official

Originally Posted by mikelcu

Sorry if I sound gloomy, but the less attention OSS mail clients get, the less viable they are to replace their commercial competitor(s), which makes them get less attention, etc... it's a bit of a vicious circle.

Yahoo/Zimbra give a ton to the Open Source Community. We hope that someone will come along and lead this project. If you don't want doom and gloom, do something to change it.

[esoleyman]

Originally Posted by jholder

Yahoo/Zimbra give a ton to the Open Source Community. We hope that someone will come along and lead this project. If you don't want doom and gloom, do something to change it.

I'm hoping that other like-minded individuals will step up to the plate and help with development. I'm trying to do a little here and there and would appreciate the help from more seasoned programmers.

[mikelcu]

We're just too busy. Plain and simple.

Fair enough, but you have to admit, if a project is important enough then it would get priority. I'm not criticizing, I was just honestly curious.

A challenge is something we've never turned away from. If we can write a j2me client, ZimbraMobile, Zimbra Desktop, we can write Evo plugins.

Just because the Zimbra team is talented (it is) does not mean Evolution is a pleasure to write code for... it could be nightmarish (is it? I have no idea, that's why I asked)

Yahoo/Zimbra give a ton to the Open Source Community. We hope that someone will come along and lead this project. If you don't want doom and gloom, do something to change it.

And it's appreciated. And I hope someone does too. As for the last bit... if I had the time to invest in developing an open source mail product I wouldn't be looking in to buying yours.

Keep up the good work.

Originally Posted by esoleyman

I'm hoping that other like-minded individuals will step up to the plate and help with development. I'm trying to do a little here and there and would appreciate the help from more seasoned programmers.

If I had the time and skills, I would help. I can probably try out patches you post and at least provide some testing...maybe better than nothing.

[fcash]

While having a connector would give access to everything on the Zimbra server, including shared documents and briefcase areas, one should be able to access the core features of the Zimbra server (mail, contacts, calendar) without a connector:

• Use IMAP to access the mailboxes on the server. This should provide access to shared folders, although one would have to use the web client to create new shared folders.
• Use LDAP to access the GAL (although I haven't managed to do this yet with Kontact, it should be doable).
• If Evolution supports it (I don't use it, so can't check), you should be able to access any calendars you have access to via http:// URLs to the iCal file.
• Not sure what kind of remote addressbook capabilities Evolution has.

If the Evolution connector were to die tomorrow, it's not like you'll be locked out of your Zimbra account and won't be able to use Evolution anymore (although, personally, I think everyone should switch to Kontact, but that's an argument for another day ).