RE: [Evolution] Ximian Connector?

[Stephen Witkop <switk yahoo com>]

The only problem that I have with this is the timing. Ximian Connector
has obviously been planned for some time, so why wasn't it laid out
along with all the other plans for evolution. It just makes it seem as
though Ximian was afraid they would lose support among developers and
users so they didn't announce anything until they had what they wanted.
I'm not saying that's what they were actually doing but that's certainly
the way it seems.

Don't get me wrong, I think Ximian should absolutely be able to make
money, and make money on Evolution in whatever way they see fit but the
appearance of deception doesn't do anything for their image amongst the
Linux community. It opens them up to people asking themselves what else
they aren't saying about their plans for red-carpet and gnome. This is
especially since they have such a strong position on the
gnome-foundation board.

How Ximian is percieved is very important to the open source community.
If they fail then noone will put up capital to help open source
companies get going and if they alienate the community by doing things
in ways the seem deceptive they will fail and we will all lose.

Stephen

On Tue, 2001-12-04 at 03:04, Jeppe, Nils wrote:
> Hello Chris,
>
> What's the problem here? It isn't like this is the first bit of commercial
> software for Linux or UNIX. -gasp- what a revelation: A company that is in
> it for the money! For me, the Connector is a lifesaver and I only wish
> they'd announced a little earlier while I was still on a wild goose chase
> for a Linux <-> Outlook/Exchange Calendaring interoperatibility (sp)
> solution. $69 to hook up a Linux machine to an existing network is still a
> big money saver for corporations, heck, a license of Windows 9x costs more
> than that. You'd save boatloads on security alone. I can easily imagine this
> to be a big market. I know that *I* will bug my boss to get me a license so
> I can get rid of my Win2k Workstation.
>
> As for the GPL vs. Proprietary issue, what's the big deal? How about a
> forked version, or a plugin or something like that. It's all been done
> before and we still have a free OS, don't we? Just because the EvoEx
> Connector is proprietary doesn't mean the OS - or even Evo for that matter -
> isn't.
>
> What good is Linux on the Workstation if it cannot talk to the rest of the
> world?
>
> Now if Ximian dumps support/development of Free Evo in favor of Proprietary
> Evo, that's when you can start to get all bitchy. ;-)
>
>
> No offense meant by any of what I say.
>
>
> Best wishes,
> - Nils
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Chris Ball [mailto:chris void printf net]
> Sent: Dienstag, 4. Dezember 2001 01:20
> To: evolution ximian com
> Subject: Re: [Evolution] Ximian Connector?
>
>
> On Mon, Dec 03, 2001 at 03:40:48PM -0800, Ujwal S. Sathyam wrote:
> > This sounds really interesting.
>
> .. furthermore, it sounds like a wonderful business model, given
> that nothing else really does this yet.  It seems that even Evolution
> doesn't, from the examples of discussion on here that I've seen - for
> example, our calendaring at the moment is p2p, right?  How will Evo(GPL)
> handle this when Evo(Proprietary) appears?  Is it really planned to
> have a version of iCal that wanders around client->client as well as a
> version that talks to servers?
>
> It all sounds a bit, um, icky.  And I'm guessing that the development of
> the connector isn't going to be at all publically discussed.  And I'm a
> little frustrated that the mail client that I thought was this huge
> effort on the part of the community to write the app that's going to 
> be a /huge/ part in bringing Linux to the desktop is only going to be
> the answer to Outlook in a "Yeah, use Evolution.  It's cool.  Oh, but
> you have to pay for Exchange interoperability." way, and that no-one
> mentioned this before.  Feels almost like we have to start again, to
> find another way of arguing "Linux is free.  You can do _this_ with it."
> to our bosses.  
>
> Anyway.  Someone had to rant.  I think the more fair argument is that,
> well, /I/ haven't put any code into Evo.  And most of us haven't.  And
> there's no way in hell it'd be here if Ximian hadn't hired people and
> all of this, so it's at least justified.  
>
> But enough.  I'm off to try and get my 1.0 install alive again.
>
> - ~C, a little disillusioned. 
> -- 
> $a="printf.net"; Chris Ball | chris void $a | www.$a | finger: chris $a
> As to luck, there's the old miners' proverb: Gold is where you find it.
>
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