Confirmed: Aethera is GPLv2

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Confirmed: Aethera is GPLv2
by Rick Moen on Thursday 10/Jul/2003, @03:33

Because I keep seeing people, including KDE core developers, claim that Aethera isn't open source, I've done my best to [re-]investigate, this evening. I wanted to get to the bottom of the matter, because I maintain http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/applications-muas.html (a list of 117 known MUAs for Linux, classified by licence category and individually described), and try to keep it accurate.

It looks like theKompany has been at times slow in getting source tarballs out in public, e.g., with their current RC2 release, available as binaries only via a SourceForge site. However, such annoyances aside, the core application is indeed open source under GPLv2. You need only have a look at the contents of http://ftp.kde.com/Office/Groupware/Aethera/aethera-2.0.tar.gz .

As I mentioned in my other posting (earlier), it IS true that theKompany would like to sell you various optional Aethera plug-ins (such as Jabber support) under proprietary licensing, but Aethera is functional without them.

Personally, I'm much, much more enthusiastic about the Kolab server (and its Kontact client), as full-blown groupware using real open standards has been a big hole in the Linux world for a long time. Open Source Application Foundation also intends to fill this hole eventually with a long-overdue implementation of the IETF CAP and RFC-2445 "iCalendar" protocols for scheduling servers, but only after the Chandler PIM is done, so that's probably going to take a while. But either of these combinations will be a major win.

I try to track developments in that area at: http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/linux-info/groupware

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

Related Links

·   Articles on KDE PIM
·   Also by Rick Moen
·   Contact author

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