[nylug-talk] The future of Zimbra after Microsoft's bid for Yahoo!

[Joshua Zeidner]

On 2/4/08, Ron Guerin <ron at vnetworx.net> wrote:
> George Bourozikas wrote:
>
> > Would anyone care to offer any insights on what the future might hold for
> > Zimbra if Yahoo! ends up in the MS fold?  For a while it looked like Zimbra
> > could be a valid replacement for Exchange - would anyone bet the shop on this
> > anymore?
>
> Zimbra, Flickr, and everything else at Yahoo have no future if the
> Microsoft purchase goes through.  Open stuff like Zimbra will be buried
> and replaced with Microsoft products (Exchange) and things like Flickr
> will be "Microsoftized" into the kinds of hideous things like Microsoft
>  makes themselves.
>
> It will be amusing to watch as Microsoft spends an insane amount of
> money trying to replace Yahoo's infrastructure with MS Crap for Windows.
>  That is, if you find watching train wrecks amusing.

  I remember hearing comments some time ago that M$ actually runs Java
infrastructure because .NET is amounts to an expensive piece of
garbage (even for M$ to support).  If such a thing is true, they may
have moved off since...

  As for Zimbra, they will construct a pathway for users to convert to
Exchange.  Theyll scoop up as many users as possible and dump the
stubborn ones.  Isn't the point of adopting OSS to prevent this
situation?

  note: YPL has *not* been approved by the OSI.
   http://www.opensource.org/licenses/alphabetical

  Zimbra's YPL license page:
   http://www.zimbra.com/license/yahoo_public_license_1.0.html

  There is also the Zimbra license, and its realtionship to the
product at this point is unclear to me, as is probably the intention
of the managers at Zimbra.  Oops its not Open Source after all!  "We
call it /open sourcesque/..."

  -jmz

>
> > I know that the takeover is not a done deal - there are regulatory issues and
> > Yahoo! is reportedly looking for a White Knight - and it could take months
> > before it's over but I can just see MS pulling the plug on Zimbra in order to
> > protect its Exchange business.
> >
> > Also, has the Yahoo! Public License (which is used for Zimbra Open Source)
> > been scrutinized in any way?
>
> Yahoo have not owned Zimbra long enough to leave a mark on it I would
> think, so another valid question would be to ask about the license it
> used to be under.
>
> - Ron
>