[Kde-pim] FOSS Outlook PST convertors

[Kevin Krammer]

On Tuesday, 2010-05-25, Markus wrote:
> Am Dienstag 25 Mai 2010, 10:17:46 schrieb Kevin Krammer:
> > On Tuesday, 2010-05-25, Markus wrote:
> > > Hi.
> > > In case you've missed it: Microsoft released code to access Outlook's
> > > PST files as FOSS under the Apache License 2.0:
> > > http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/05/outlook-lock-in-could-van
> > > is h- with-new-open-source-projects.ars
> > 
> > Looks interesting, though it is probably wise to wait until it is
> > confirmed that the licence is compatible.
> 
> Um, it's the Apache License 2.0 and not some new one invented by MS.
> We already know its compatibility since years!
> 
> AL2.0 is compatible with the GPL3
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#apache2
> under which all KDE-hosted code is also licensed:

One of the common licensing forms is GPL v2+ which in this case might not work 
because GPL v2 is not compatible with Apache v2 according to the this page.
So anyone wanting an "and later" style policy might have to write "under GPL 
v3 or, at your option, any later version".

> Alternatively a separate converter app could be written (similar to the
> current KMailCvt) that does not link with GPLed code, hence be free of any
> legal mumbo-jumbo linking may bring.

True, but this has to be known up front, otherwise GPL is very likely to be 
used as the application's licence or code under GPL being used to for certain 
features and it becomes increasingly difficult to change this when the number 
of people who have worked on it increases.

> > I am not sure how many prospective customers are using local PST storage,
> > most will probably use some kind of groupware server.
> 
> Small-sized businesses rarely use Groupware servers (at least that's my
> experience).

True, but I am not sure if any of the corporate entities funding work or 
working on KDE PIM target this market segment.
It might still be an interesting selling point but we'll better leave this to 
people who understand the business side of things.

Cheers,
Kevin

-- 
Kevin Krammer, KDE developer, xdg-utils developer
KDE user support, developer mentoring
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