Cleaning up OpenChange

[Rowland Penny]

On Tue, 23 Jan 2018 09:24:44 -0800
Jeremy Allison via samba-technical <samba-technical at lists.samba.org>
wrote:

> On Tue, Jan 23, 2018 at 03:34:21AM +0100, ser.olmy--- via
> samba-technical wrote:
> > And regarding the project melting away...
> > <rant>
> > I was horrified to see the OpenChange project die like it did, and I
> > must admit I was puzzled and somewhat dismayed to see that no one
> > of the Samba team seemed to take an interest. I do realize you're
> > all very busy and I'm thoroughly impressed with the quality of the
> > code you've been producing, but still. Exchange is a huge deal.
> > 
> > Without OpenChange there is exactly *one* piece of software that
> > seamlessly integrates mail, contacts and calendars, with support
> > built into every mobile device from every manufacturer. No wonder
> > Microsoft has such a stranglehold on the market with Office 356.
> > Some real competition is sorely needed.
> > </rant>
> 
> I appreciate the <rant>, but you have to remember we're the
> *Samba* Team, not the "OpenChange" Team. Believe me, I know
> how important Exchange is, but it's not our core competancy,
> and the people who were interested in it couldn't make it
> work as a business (one of the reasons Samba survives is
> that it works as a business component for many different
> companies - it's what helps fund development).
> 
> I still hope someone (maybe you :-) will pick it up and
> make it work as a partnership with one of the existing
> groupware/email vendors. That's the long-term strategy
> for getting this code supported.
> 

Hi Jeremy, I cannot see this happening, one of the problems was that
Openchange was tied into a specific version of Samba and didn't get
updated fast enough. Another problem is that (as far as I am aware)
Outlook has moved away from the type of Activsync that Openchange
provided. If you are using Outlook 2013 onwards, Openchange isn't
required.

Zentyal took Openchange under its wing, but development soon ceased, I
really don't think Openchange in its present form actually has an
audience.

Rowland