Saturday, February 02, 2008
RIP Zimbra?
Some days I wish I could be so optimistic about open source as my good friend Matt. Even when someone sneezes, he can see something positive about open source (open lungs? It means an healthy person. That's the future! Open source everywhere...). Sometimes, I feel a bit more balanced.
One of his last posts talks about the Microsoft hostile bid for Yahoo. In a nutshell, he says that Microsoft will take the open source stuff of Yahoo (e.g. Zimbra) and embrace it.
I just can't see it happen...
Obviously, the assumption is that Yahoo accepts the offer... They should, give me a break, a white knight? A better company and fit than Microsoft?? No way. Remaining an independent company could be nice but when you do not know where to go and someone offers you a 60% increase in your stock price, you take it. The board might disagree, but shareholders won't. This marriage has to happen (citing Manzoni).
Now, if you have a rather successful product called Microsoft Exchange, what do you do with a competing product like Zimbra? You shove it somewhere else, for example to support the online calendaring of MSN+Yahoo. And that's it. This isn't Google. There are no competing products within Microsoft.
I do not believe to be the only one thinking this might happen... I am sure the Zimbra boys are all preparing their bags to leave the boat. They are too smart and too entrepreneurial to stay in a company like Microsoft, in the middle of a messy acquisition. They are rich. They had a fantastic exit. There is money out there for startups. They will get on a new exciting boat in no time, having great memories of the Zimbra days.
That alone spells the end of Zimbra. Even if Matt is right and camels fly, Microsoft will put its hands on an empty shell... There might be some open source code left, but no people around it. And open source is just about people. Code is secondary.
What can you do if you are using Zimbra today?
I am already out looking for an alternative to my hosted Zimbra environment (which works great, excluding the crappy Outlook plug-in, pain in the neck of my daily life)...
My alternatives? A hosted Microsoft Exchange, Google Apps Premier Edition or some other open source company about to be acquired and screwed.
What would you choose?
I guess Microsoft is pushing me to Google... That's interesting. Wasn't it what they were trying to achieve buying Yahoo? Mmmhhh, maybe not :-)
Posted by Fabrizio Capobianco at 16:25
6 Comments:
Hi Fabrizio,
Any news on the updated version of the iPhone Funambol client that will work with firmware 1.1.3? I really need this!
Comment Posted at 09:37
Fabrizio said...
Hello,
yes, I do have a version for 1.1.3, that I submitted to Shaun, who is in charge of Ste packaging (but he is in trouble with his provider...).
In order to get it, you have to add the Funambol source to the Installer: click Sources (bottom right), then Edit (top right), then Add (top left) and put http://www.funambol.com/iphone. Refresh a couple of times and you will find two Funambol under Productivity (one is version 0.7, which works with 1.1.3).
Note: if you add the Funambol source, Installer will always suggest you to "upgrade" to the earlier version included in the Ste packaging. Just do not do it, waiting for Shaun to upgrade that package.
BTW, I am using 1.1.3 as well.
Cheers,
fabrizio
Comment Posted at 09:41
Got it! Many, many thanks!
Comment Posted at 12:27
Fabrizio, one question: I have the new version working under 1.1.3. It is my first experience with Funambol. My problem is that not all the notes field of the Contacts are syncing to the iPhone. Is that a limitation of the iPhone app? Will it ever be solved? Thanks for answering my questions!
Comment Posted at 21:17
Fabrizio said...
How many noted does a contact have? I can find only one ;-)
Not sure where the limitation is, though. It could be in the client but also in the myFUNAMBOL schema for the data. If it is the client, Patrick at SyncEvolution is the right guy to ask.
Cheers,
fabrizio
Comment Posted at 21:23
Zimbra Hosted said...
To be honest I would have to agree with this sentiment; Previously Microsoft's idea of Open Source was to move applications they no longer wanted to support, and hence move them to Open Source!
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