Mozilla and Google — Exchange Killers At Last?

phase_9 writes "The latest version of Mozilla Thunderbird may still only be in beta but already the user community have started creating an extensive set of viable Exchange killers. One such example is the latest mashup between Thunderbird and Google Calendars, providing bi-directional syncing of calendar information from both the client and internet. How long will it be before open-source software can provide a complete, accessible office suite for a fraction of the cost that Microsoft current imposes?"

Comments

Not Yet

[Killer Eye]

20 years have proven that simply having better products is not enough.

Remember: the idiots are still in charge of I.T.

I've seen this time and again. I.T. groups in many, many, many companies are filled with Microsoft apologists who simply don't go to the effort to even find better solutions, much less adopt them. They just buy Microsoft, keep their jobs (even getting bonuses), and continue to siphon far too much money for computer products.

You need two things to dethrone Microsoft. First, open-minded people in charge of I.T. who genuinely work at finding better solutions for the price. Second, you must have management willing to accept risk and not fire the open-minded people if their first transition away from Microsoft doesn't go as planned.

Re:Sunbird

[DogDude]

Are you kidding? It must've improved a LOT in the past 6 months or so, because last time I tried it, it was embarrassingly bad. Really, really bad. Horribly buggy, and lacking most essential features. It was, quite literally, one of the worst applications that I've tried in the past few years.

Re:No one is getting ripped off.

[rtechie]

Ripping off? The GPLv2 allows whatever Google is doing to be done! They're not disobeying any part of the license. If they were they could be sued. Simple as that. So now you want to attach imaginary wishful violations to the way they do business? It's called a "loophole". Stallman says they're using a loophole and violating the spirit of the GPL. He wrote it. I agree with him.

Also correct me if I'm wrong but haven't most of the most objectional parts of the GPLv3 been toned down as Linus Torvalds now agrees with the GPLv3? I don't know. The "objectionable" parts of the GPLv3 were EXACTLY the parts that tried to close this loophole in the GPL. Linus was undoubtedly bribed by one of the companies (like IBM and Google) that are making money off this loophole. The controversy is still far from over.

In any case Google can continue to use GPLv2 versions of Linux for its servers or even fork Linux for itself along the GPLv2 codebase and then release their own version of Linux to the world. ... If worse comes to worse Google could switch to FreeBSD which is what Yahoo uses. Unlikely. It's a lot more work that you seem to think and the vast majority of kernel developers do not work for Google, nor will they. It's much easier just to threaten people into doing what they want.

And Google is going to keep their public/consumer services free for the simple fact that the money they make selling the information they collect on you is a lot more than they could make if they outright charged you for their services. You might be right. I think it's more likely that they have two versions: a paid and an advertiser-supported. It would be easy to implement. I can filter the advertisements, but if I couldn't, I wouldn't use Google.

An argument can be made that increasing economic activity in nations like China and helping them to liberalize their markets and increase the ranks of the middle class who live there will in its own due time bring about political change once everyone there gets used to a higher standard of living instead of the mostly agrarian standard they have today or have had in the past. Stop companies from doing business there and you possibly put a stop to that progress. That's an incredibly self-serving argument that you wouldn't make for any other industry. Should we give US arms manufacturers who sell torture devices to the Chinese a pass because they're "increasing economic activity" and helping them "liberalize their markets"? We don't. That's why we don't sell electric shock generators or pain drugs to China (they get those from Israel).

China's problems aren't economic, they're POLITICAL. The POLITICAL situation in China is the PRIMARY SOURCE of their economic hardships. Helping the current Chinese regime control the media, which is exactly what Google is doing, props up the Chinese government and makes the economic situation WORSE. We WANT the Chinese government to collapse. We WANT there to be a revolution in China. This crap about "transitioning" the nation by propping up the Communist government is insane. Was that our strategy with the Soviet Union? No. Is that our strategy with Cuba? No. Dictatorships do not liberalize without force or substantial threat of force.

You want to do something for the Chinese? Push Congress to impose a 50% trade tarrif on all goods to and from China unless the Communists allow the Chinese people unfiltered access to American media. We should choke the rich aristocrats running "Communist" China, not give them more money.