how does Bynari contribute to the Kolab community?

[Gavin McCullagh]

Hi Joel,

On Wed, 13 Jul 2011, Joel Ammor wrote:

> Bynari gives back to the community in more ways than you think. Our
> programmers are involved in resolving many of the issues that arise,
> especially in areas where we have unmatched expertise, such as groupware.
> We work directly with Kolabsys to share some of this expertise in
> establishing and enhancing standards, etc. 

I didn't say what I thought.  I just asked the question :-)

I don't mean any offence by asking, but when one is using community
software, it's important to support that community.  I could have asked you
personally of course, but that's hardly a means to get the community's
view.

> We are working on enhancements to plug ins that will be released as
> freeware.

Could you elaborate on this a little?

> Bynari is a for profit company that has to pay programmers (and they're
> not cheap in the US as you can imagine). 

I understand that of course and I imagine companies like Intevation and
Kolabsys would too.  Programmers aren't cheap in the EU either.  Making
a decent living developing Free Software is far from easy.

> We've never tried to "hide" who we are. Yes we make products for sale,
> and those ironically may be our biggest contribution to Kolab. As good a
> server as Kolab is, it'd never be taken as a serious Exchange replacement
> if it didn't offer Exchange functionality. Our connector, the best in
> industry and used by OEMs around the world is the best known component in
> the quest to match Exchange. We've added, a Web2.0 Ajax webclient that
> adds tons of features as well as incredible speed. We've also added
> IntelliPanel, an Admin GUI that makes managing the Kolab server a breeze
> and adds a wealth of features to it. I can go on but you get the idea.
> These products were designed for and to ONLY work with Kolab. This shows
> that, in addition to giving to Kolab without fanfare, we build stuff to
> ensure Kolab is relevant in the business world and becomes a global
> brand. It also shows that Bynari is more committed to Kolab than many
> others who think commitment ends with using the free Kolab server. 

I see.  Thanks for the info.

Gavin