Novell drops the Hula project

[ago]

After cancelling the get-the-fact-slayer page (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=301772) , now Novell drops the Hula project
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2169775/novell-abandons-open-source

The Hula project (www.hula-project.org )was supposed to create a MS exchange replacement...

[ago]

The company decided to pull its developers off the project because the software lacks opportunities in the market.

I guess the reason is another one...

[Sslaxx]

Well, let's see if anyone from the community wants to touch this. Oh...
novell-abandons-open-source - how appropriate...

[Terracotta]

What a loss... There's still Kolab :D

[Brunellus]

What a loss... There's still Kolab :D
a Kredible Kompetitor.

I'm disappointed, but not surprised. "patent peace" also means that Novell can stop funding what it will no doubt now see as duplicate effort. If Microsoft will help them use Exchange, why bother implementing Hula?

[ago]

If Microsoft will help them use Exchange, why bother implementing Hula?
Well you can already use Exchange with Linux clients, but I seriously doubt MS will EVER allow to run Exchange on a Linux machine (Novell or other), or IIS, or Office, or any other application of theirs. They are interested to port Linux apps to windows, not the reverse...

[luca.b]

If you look at some comments on Slashdot, you'll see that this project (on the Novell side) has been stagnating for months, and the retirement is in no way related to the patent agreement.
Take your tinfoil hats off...

[SuperMike]

I heard that the reason Novell dumped Hula was because when they approached customers about it, they were told that they had their own SMTP stack, POP stack, or whatever and they liked to mix and match on the UNIX and Linux platforms rather than bring up the entire stack. So the latest word I heard was that Hula Lite was being offered up. This would essentially be a web interface for pretty much any IMAP/POP and SMTP stack. I actually would like to see Hula survive in at least this Lite fashion because darn if it didn't have about the coolest web interface on the planet. And if you combine it with just a mild amount of AJAX in the right places, and then secure it fairly nicely, it would be killer.

Webmail is great for those of us who want to retrieve our office mail at conferences or from home without having to VPN. Another cool thing about webmail is that if you use that instead of clients like Thunderbird and Evolution, you can have your mail no matter where you go.

One problem with webmail has been speed, but this is where AJAX can come in. Imagine a Hula Lite that uses AJAX and the Dojo Richedit widget -- way cool.

Oh, and another thing. I loved their website design so much that I thought with some heavy modification I could make it into my future LLC company website. (My LLC will probably be launched this year in 2007, I hope.)

[erk]

The Hula project is not really dead, Novell flogged it off to a company called Messaging Architects.

There is a fork of the Hula project that is alive and well called Bongo:

http://bongo-project.org/Main_Page

[Bloodfen Razormaw]

Hula was never remarkable. It's goal is far too limited in scope to put a dent in commercial groupware systems regardless of further development. There is far better free groupware software in the form of Kolab and OpenGroupware, that actually have the features to compete.

[amlucent23]

Hula was never remarkable. It's goal is far too limited in scope to put a dent in commercial groupware systems regardless of further development. There is far better free groupware software in the form of Kolab and OpenGroupware, that actually have the features to compete.

I have to disagree, after investigating available linux open source collaboration possibilities Zimbra stood out but I have to tell you that if Bongo (was Hula/Netmail) had just most of that functionality I would use it, love it, recommend it in a heart beat.

In fact the future of bongo looks to me like it may need some aid from the Ubuntu community. They are moving a bit slowly and the most users that have ever been on their website at one time is only 8! I know that everyone especially in the Ubuntu community would benefit from Bongo being a success. I would even see it as a smart move if Canonical officially backed the project. (Think about it, if Ubuntu was responsible for a real FOSS exchange killer that also had that a Ubuntu look and feel and had the usability of Zimbra). So as a plead from a lowly bongo lover PLEASE IF YOU CAN, GIVE THEM A HAND.

[Tundro Walker]

So, was "containment" part of the agreement they signed with MS? IE: MS wants to isolate Linux in its own little box that's inoperable with Windows in any way.

"We're not saying Linux can't exist. We're just saying folks who use it can't use it to do things with MS or Windows-related things. So, no WMV support, no Samba, etc, etc."

Yeah, sure, that makes Linux look REAL attractive!

"See, we're not saying businesses shouldn't go to a Linux-base for all their PC's and servers. We're just saying that you'll be completely shut-off form other companies that are Windows-based, because all your email won't be compatible, your attachments, documents, presentations, spreadsheets, movies, sound files, etc...it all won't be compatible. So, really, we're not limiting your choice! We're just helping you make the RIGHT choice!"

Sheesh...

I wonder if becoming a eunuch was part of the agreement Novell signed.