Zimbra for a family?

[Frithweaver]

I've just been turned on to Zimbra by anand's comment in an Ask Slashdot about calendar sharing.

I think I'd really love for my wife and I to use Zimbra for calendaring and contacts, and possibly email. I'm technically competent, though mostly in the Windows world. I have no problem picking up OSX or Linux skills.

As I see it, my options are

1. Look around for someone offering hosted instances of Zimbra as a subscription service.

2. Buy a new machine and install it at home, hosting this machine on the public internet for sole use by my family.

Any Recommendations? I fear that no-one offers #1 yet, and even when they do it will be a subscription service aimed at business only.

If I go with option 2, ease of use is the key. I was thinking a Mac OSX installation might be good. (Although I don't fear building Linux, it's just not where I want my energies to go right now.) Which Mac should I be considering if its role is primarily hosting Zimbra? Or should I save the bucks and buy a pre-configured Linux machine to install this on?

[KevinH]

Welcome!

#1 is just around the corner not sure on what plans will be available but for a small user group I'd think this would be much more affordable than trying to host your own server for just a couple users.

#2 Is like you said; just need to get a small machine setup and host your own. Lots of folks are the forums here have similar setups.

[marcmac]

I can tell you from personal experience that it runs (and builds ) just fine on a mac mini - I'd grab one with a gig of ram, run software update, set the default java version (search the forums) and you're ready to go. Nice thing about that mini is that it's, well, mini - and v. quiet. And cheap.

[Frithweaver]

Great to hear that #1 is "just around the corner"! I'll keep my eyes peeled and avoid becoming an administrator for now.

I'm enjoying lurking and seeing how this innovative product is coming along, and will definitely get active in beta-testing a consumer-facing hosted version.

Thanks for the prompt response!

[Frithweaver]

Originally Posted by marcmac

I can tell you from personal experience that it runs (and builds ) just fine on a mac mini - I'd grab one with a gig of ram, run software update, set the default java version (search the forums) and you're ready to go. Nice thing about that mini is that it's, well, mini - and v. quiet. And cheap.

Fair enough. I may still do this once we get an Intel version of the Mini. (Can't be too long now, right?)

[zimbrafan]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Welcome!

#1 is just around the corner not sure on what plans will be available but for a small user group I'd think this would be much more affordable than trying to host your own server for just a couple users.

Hi Kevin, can you give more details on this? who is gonna offer this service, will it be subscription based, free for basic access or what (you probably already mention you don't know about this, but i was a month ago...)? will support access to hotmail, yahoo, gmail etc or will be limited to the zimbra/whatever service?

thanks!

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by zimbrafan

Hi Kevin, can you give more details on this? who is gonna offer this service, will it be subscription based, free for basic access or what (you probably already mention you don't know about this, but i was a month ago...)? will support access to hotmail, yahoo, gmail etc or will be limited to the zimbra/whatever service?

Jan 20th Not quite a full month. Still haven't firmed up plans on this. We'll be sure to announce it when we get things finalized.

[KevinH]

We've now launched the first set of hosting providers. You can get more details via the links at the bottom of this page:

http://www.zimbra.com/partners/hosting_partners.html

[IGA]

Hi

Would there be a requirement for free zimbra, am looking at deploying it in a ISP environment, but as a freebie. Since I am not aware of the licensing costs ...currently, this maybe a non-starter....

thoughts ?

"Coast"

[marcmac]

You should read our license - if you install the OSS version, you can host it, no charge, but there are some attribution requirements, and no support.