Evolution 1.0 Released

jdavidb writes: "I pulled up the Ximian redcarpet updater this morning and discovered that Evolution 1.0 is finally available! Now Outlook can start facing some serious competition, although there's still a long way to go. (Evolution does not yet emulate all the Outlook viruses, of course, nor does it integrate with Exchange Server.)" Here's Ximian's full announcement. Update: 12/03 14:59 GMT by T : Nat Friedman of Ximian points out that they're offering a software extension which does allow integration with Exchange 2000. There's good story on the new iteration of Evolution at NewsForge, too.

Comments

Again, this isn't groupware

[SnapperHead]

Its nice, but I can't figure where they say its groupware. Currently, its a PIM. But, for some odd reason, there not intrested in intergrating it into a groupware application via XML-RPC or SOAP. If that where true, then they could start plugging into phpGroupWare. I have about 20 people a week asking me if I could ask them to do it, so I simply tell them to email there developers instead. Needless to say, nothing has come about.

Also, we actually have a client side application for Linux and Windows that is working. (Buggy, but works) Its still under heavy development, but it pretty easy to plug into. A more portable version is in the works.

Anyway, so people would stop asking me about it, please, email there development team and ask them to talk to the phpGroupWare guys about creating an XML-RPC or SOAP interface. I think these 2 projects would go hand and hand nicely.

So, for those complaining about the lack of an "exchange server" enviroment, something is there, just not being used.

Exchange users will pay more...

[NetJunkie]

Using Evolution with Exchange is going to cost a company more than using Outlook. When deploying Exchange you buy a server license, either standard or enterprise, and then you buy client licenses for each user. Along with that license you also get an Outlook license.

If we wanted to move to Evolution we'd still have to pay the same amount, and then have to pay for the Exchange connector on top of it. The price just went up $70/user to move to Evolution. I can't seem to locate my quote for our Exchange migration here, but a quick check shows a 5 user client access pack for Exchange is about $350...so the price per user just doubled.

I'll pay it... I've been waiting for this since Evolution was first announced. Every LinuxWorld I ask them about Exchange support so it's nice to see it coming soon. But, it will be harder for someone else to do a mass migration.

Something to consider.... I hope it works for them. I see Ximian as a company that needs to stick around for the Linux desktop to really take off.

Re:Proprietary Exchange-support to follow

[Otter]

Yeah, NewsForge's take on the story seems a little more relevant that Slashdot's -- that Ximian is giving up its talk of "services" and is planning to make money from proprietary software seems at least as noteworthy as the fact that Evolution is now 0.01 versions better than it was before. (Generally I don't understand the obsession with 1.0 announcements for software that has had 20 releases and publically available nightlies or CVS since its inception.)

Hey, I'd much rather see Ximian alive than dead and if Evolution works reasonably well on Solaris (haven't gotten around to trying it) I'm sure my wife will be in line to pay $69 to be rid of that godawful web interface to Exchange. But it seems like it might be worth mentioning that Free/Open Source software poster boy Miguel de Icaza is now in the proprietary software business. I can't help noticing that he's making himself scarce and letting Nat answer the phone...

Re:Ximian Connector

[gmhowell]

(Before flaming, please note that I seriously don't know the answer to this question)

Isn't Ximian done by Miguel de Icaza?

(Below this is trolling/flamebait/whatever)

Isn't he the guy who started Gnome because he was pissed off at the proprietary nature of KDE/QT? How do we reconcile the two? Oh, because Miguel sees proprietary as okay if Miguel gets the money?