Zimbra FOSS 8.8 EOL | Zimbra 9 Closed Source

[powrrrplay]

Hello,

As a long time Zextras patron I am wondering what the strategy is going forward?

Would Zextra fork 8.8.15?
Build a new GUI?
Shutdown?

I am researching my options now and hope to have my roadmap outlined by the end of July.

Zextra thoughts please.

[phoenix]

You'll find a build of ZCS 9 here: Alternative build based on Zimbra 9 OSS - BeeZim - I have posted a question about support for it but no response (as I expected) yet.

[Zeus]

Here my last post on this topic:
https://forums.zextras.com/feedback/...-3-0-10-a.html

[powrrrplay]

You'll find a build of ZCS 9 here: Alternative build based on Zimbra 9 OSS - BeeZim - I have posted a question about support for it but no response (as I expected) yet.

Hi Bill,

Thank you for the reply. I first started investigating zimbra in and around the 5.9 release and eventually migrated our solution to 6.1. In all of my trials and tribulations with zimbra over the years you were always there to set me in the right direction while letting me earn my stripes. For that I thank you.

It was not to long after that that I experimented with z-push and then implemented it. When zextras came along with a fair priced active sync solution, their product was a leap ahead of z-push and it became a no brain'r. I have been here ever since. Like yourself the zextras team has always provided premium forum support for their product.

The main problem the past few years, for me, in regards to the zimbra product, is the extremely outdated interface. It seemed to almost come a few times over the past 30 months but now we know the facts. Roundcube recognized their slow demise and began a retooling effort approximately 4 years ago and put together a nice offering with embedded support from Kolab. I like Kolab and played with it for a year. I just found the technical documentation for Kolab and forum support shy of what I would need for a production FOSS product. So here we are, should I pay up for product features we do not use or find some kind of middle ground like a zextras add-on.

I have not made up my mind yet because I need to play with building my own Kopano tar ball along with revisiting z-push. With a modern UI and a much more mature z-push, this could be my hail mary and I know I can catch that one.

I hope that zextras is successful with forking zimbra 9 but the product itself is where Kolab was 4 years ago. With that said I believe zextras will eventually fade away unless they address the UI. We all know the 2017 new zimbra UI that was worked on is sitting there ready to be forked but I believe it is up to zextras to run with that (not only saving the zimbra community but in the long run, saving themselves). I am sure many zimbra community members would chip in.

In any event, if zextas is working on mapping out their future and zeus/zextras has a zimbra 9 fork thread, is it too much of a leap for zextras to address the UI? With that said, I will not wait out this year waiting for a UI decision and will have my path to Kopano complete before then unless I run into a show stopper in my testing and conversion scenarios.

Always look forward to reading your thoughts and comments.

Best regards,

Tim