[Users] April 7, 2020 Zeta Alliance Conference Call Summary

[Bill Pye]

Sorry Randy 

It was unintentional sending it to you and I know you're the 'messenger' and my comments weren't directed at you, my apologies for that and the direct email. I'd also like to thank you for producing these summaries.:) 

I would have expected the repos to remain but unmanaged after the end of support. My concern is the lack of any involvement by any Synacor employees in the forums, I've expressed this opinion for along time and I don't see any hope or possibility for change of mind from Synacor. Really, if they don't get the role of an open source arm to their product portfolio and profits at this stage of the game then I don't hold out much hope that they'll suddenly have an epiphany any time soon. Synacor have a closed source mindset that isn't likely to change, even Microsoft contribute to the Open Source communities these days!! 

I've been a moderator on the forums for most of the fifteen years I've used ZCS and throughout that time I've had a fairly good relationship (I believe) with Zimbra staff that I've encountered. Shortly after Synacor took over I posted messages in the private moderators forum and, guess what, years later my posts remain unanswered - that says everything about the company attitude to the forums. 

Why don't Synacor engage with the members on community would be my simple question, unfortunately it never gets answered. 

Have Synacor never heard of Linux, Red Hat, Mozilla etc., etc.? They're successful companies that have thriving communities and IMO it's all about leadership and that's sadly lacking at Synacor. Perhaps they'd like to start with this article (there's plenty more on the internet): [ https://www.linuxfoundation.org/resources/open-source-guides/building-leadership-in-an-open-source-community/#3 | https://www.linuxfoundation.org/resources/open-source-guides/building-leadership-in-an-open-source-community/#3 ] 

If Synacor get it right they might actually find themselves with a thriving Community that's more willing to engage with them on product development/contributions - don't forget, the community does it for nothing other than the feeling of having contributed to a great and successful product. 

Regards 

Bill 

> From: "Randy Leiker" <randy at skywaynetworks.com>
> To: "bill pye" <bill.pye at phoenix-systems.co.uk>
> Cc: "users" <users at lists.zetalliance.org>
> Sent: Friday, 10 April, 2020 20:03:15
> Subject: Re: [Users] April 7, 2020 Zeta Alliance Conference Call Summary

> Hi Bill,

> You sent your message directly to me, so I'm CC'ing the Zeta mailing list so
> others can see it too.

> I am just the messenger, so I do not know Synacor's long term plans for the
> 8.8.15 open source branch, but my understanding from what I have been told is
> that Synacor will probably leave the open source repos in place for 8.8.15
> after December 31, 2024, based on what they have shared with us so far. I think
> their intent is that the 8.8.15 branch will not receive bug fixes or feature
> updates after the end of general support on December 31, 2023, and no security
> updates after the end of technical guidance on December 31, 2024. But, that is
> at least 3 years away, so a lot can change between now and then. Zimbra's
> history under earlier ownership with Yahoo, VMware, and Telligent has seen
> reversals of earlier decisions, so it is always possible that this decision
> could change too.

> We often have several Synacor employees joining us for each week's conference
> call, so if yourself or others would like to jump on a call to present your
> concerns about how this change could cause financial harm to Synacor, it might
> be a good place to make your case so these opinions can be shared with the
> Zimbra product team.

> Randy Leiker ( randy at skywaynetworks.com )
> Skyway Networks, LLC

> From: "Bill Pye" <bill.pye at phoenix-systems.co.uk>
> To: "randy" <randy at skywaynetworks.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 8, 2020 4:00:30 AM
> Subject: Re: [Users] April 7, 2020 Zeta Alliance Conference Call Summary

> From: "Randy Leiker" <randy at skywaynetworks.com>

>> To: "users" <users at lists.zetalliance.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, 8 April, 2020 08:23:30
>> Subject: [Users] April 7, 2020 Zeta Alliance Conference Call Summary

>> Changes To Zimbra’s Open Source Policy
>> John E. explained that Zimbra 9 introduces a change to Synacor’s open source
>> policy for Zimbra. Starting with Zimbra 9, a binary version of Zimbra 9 will no
>> longer be released to the community and will instead only be made available to
>> Zimbra Network Edition customers. There are currently no plans to release the
>> source code for Zimbra 9 to the community. Zimbra 8.8.15 will remain open
>> source for the community and continue to be supported for the remainder of its
>> lifecycle through December, 31, 2024
>> (https://www.zimbra.com/support/support-offerings/product-lifecycle/). Version
>> 8.8.15 will also continue to receive patches during this time frame. John E.
>> described this new model for Zimbra 9 as “open core” where the open source
>> products on which Zimbra is built will continue to be freely available, but the
>> Zimbra 9 product itself will not be open source. Marc G. asked if Synacor’s
>> plans involved introducing new features to Zimbra 8.8.15, or if the focus for
>> introducing new features will shift exclusively to version 9. John E. said that
>> he did not have the answer to this question. John also shared that starting
>> with Zimbra 9, a source code license will be made available to customers who
>> are licensing Zimbra Network Edition.

> As far as I can see there's been no change to the Open Source policy since
> Synacor purchased Zimbra, they have never understood nor tried to engage the
> community via the forums and their total indifference and lack of understanding
> how effective a thriving community site can enhance sales and take-up of their
> products. It seems to me that Synacor has a closed source mindset and that
> seems to be born out by the current announcements - it's sad, disappointing and
> short sighted.

> In the Open Source Policy you have this: "Zimbra 8.8.15 will remain open source
> for the community and continue to be supported for the remainder of its
> lifecycle through December, 31, 2024"

> Doe that mean that Zimbra will remove all the open source repositories at that
> time or will it continue to make them available and just remove their support?

> Regards

> Bill
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