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The Almighty Buck

Qualcomm to drop Eudora? Is Open Source possible? 100

Posted by sengan from the not-a-monopoly,-honnest-gov! dept.
Chris Halsall writes " Mac OS Rumors is reporting that Qualcomm is likely to sell off or simply shutdown their Eudora e-mail client division because of poor financial performance out of the group. How to do you compete with free e-mail systems included with every web browser? You don't, which is why a buyer is unlikely. My question is would Qualcomm consider "doing a Netscape" and release the code under OpenSource? This would allow the client to continue to evolve without their expending resources, and they could continue to use the upgraded client in their own applications. Win-win." The article is down the page. Since the submission, Mac OS Rumors has reported that pressure from Microsoft is also involved.
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Qualcomm to drop Eudora? Is Open Source possible? More

Qualcomm to drop Eudora? Is Open Source possible?

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  • SEGV wrote:

    Are you insane? You think running something like mozilla.org can be done without expending resources? That they can through their source to the wind and reap the returns for free?

    They obviously don't have to put as much work into it as Netscapes Mozilla effort. In fact they don't have to put any work into it for me to be happy. Just a simple GPL or public domain release of the current source tree as it stands. They don't even have to distribute it, someone else I'm sure gladly will. Eudora is a good program that would be even better as Open Source (and far worse as dumped in the history bin)

    Of course, if they want to put as much effort into it as Netscape does Mozilla, that would be excellent too.
  • I don't understand where you "Eudora sucks" people are coming from. Bloated? You don't have to use the bloat features. But if you DO, you get the benefits.

    With 4.1, you get mail checking and filtering in the background. The filtering is serious - I'm on about 15 mailing lists, I have six POP accounts on three different servers and I have 18 Eudora mailboxes to handle it, and it handles it beautifully. I have it playing different sounds each time mail comes in from certain mailing lists, so I'm alerted to various things going on during the day.

    I NEED the bloat features to do what I do. I need multiple mail personalities, color-coded labels, and quick-sorting by subject, author, or date. I need it to automatically expand nicknames into real addresses.

    I guess if you just get 10 messages a day from your friends, you don't need that kind of thing, but I can't work without it anymore.

  • me too, but they never bothered to reply. Not even a formletter or an acknowledgement. That's not how you treat customers.
  • Why must they run the internal testing?

    If it's good 'nuff to release the binary, shouldn't it be good enough to release the source? Mozilla was released in an unusable state... seen anyone calling Netscape's programmers sloppy?
  • Posted by WebGuy:

    I'm still trying to decide if Microsoft really is behind every bad thing that happens in this world, or there are just a lot of Microsoft-paranoid people out there.
    --
    Chris Stoffel
    Webmaster - Positively Pixar [ourfamily.nu]
  • Posted by Sam Robertson:

    Eudora is hideous. Ever setup multiple mail boxes in this thing? I used it when there was nothing else around, but it was garbage then, and still is (IMO).

    Speaking of mail clients... Outlook Express is a complete disaster, and Netscape Communicator doesn't support multiple pop3 mail boxes, so I still see a market out there for a good mail client (at least for those that need one for Windoze).

  • Huh? (Score:1)

    by Andy Dodd ( 701 )
    I have Eudora Pro 4.0, Cornell has a full site license for it.

    I do NOT have IE4 on this system!
  • Nope. I never had that happen. It said absolutely nothing. And I would've noticed the bloat in the SALSA update. (Cornell has a really nice software update system.)
  • According to the Qualcomm web site, Eudora has 18 million email users worldwide
    Qualcomm [qualcomm.com]

  • It was originally OS/2-only; they released a Win32 version last year. No Linux version, though, and it's closed-source. :-(

    Really nice email program, though.

    PMMail [southsoft.com]

  • They do a lot more then just Eudora and Cell phones. Those are the two products they are best known for. Check out their web page sometime. Looks like they do a lot with various communication technologies.

    I don't think they could've bought Qualcomm stadium with just the money they make off Eudora.

    Freeing Eudora would be really cool. Maybe they could start a trend were companies free their source when they drop a product.

    Later,
    Xamot

  • ...That well-known colloquialism. ;-/

    I use Mutt at work and Eudora on my Mac at home. You're comparing apples to oranges. I love mutt but...if you just want to read mail rather than configure how to read it, Eudora is very, very, very nice. Linux could use a GUI client that's so elegant and simple, particularly if it is to pay more than lip-service to the idea of user-friendliness.

    Ade_
    /
  • Are you insane? You think running something like mozilla.org can be done without expending resources? That they can through their source to the wind and reap the returns for free?

    That statement was obviously made without thought or consideration.
  • Once you've got all the money you could ever possibly want, what do you do for an encore?

    Kill off your competition, that's what.

    It doesn't matter whether Eudora poses a threat to Microsoft's bottom line or not. Eudora poses a threat to Microsoft's "mindshare", and that's bad enough.

    I have no idea whether MS is behind this or not; this is mere speculation based on somebody else's rumour.

    -Mars
  • Dude, you have no idea what your talking about.
    Putting anybody in the same group as Stalin and Lenin is just insane. Stalin was the asshole who butchered anybody who stood in his way. He killed thousands of his own people. The guy was bad news.

    How you are putting OSS people and communists is just unrealistic. OSS is just basically about sharing code and having a free exchange of ideas. It has nothing to do with political dogma.

    sri
  • Like the ZDNet article states, Qualcomm is probably going to kill the Eudora Planner and just take the Now Software buyout as a mistake.

    A lot of sources at Qualcomm are reporting that getting rid of Eudora (the email client) is hogwash. I tend to agree, based on my experience with the Eudora people.

    I am somewhat biased/knowledable. I help out with http://www.emailman.com/eudora/ and I maintain the comp.mail.eudora.mac FAQ at http://www.ka.net/eudora/faqs/).
  • Qualcomm does make other products you do know, hell, they make EVERY digtal phone (ie: SprintPCS) in existance. Don't belive me? Those of you with them go and get them. Look on the back, Mine's a Sony but it was made by Qualcomm. Compared to the massive phone boom, Eudora isn't that much of a benefit to them!
  • Will they also drop it? Are we all going to be supposed to run exchange servers? ;-)

  • ...Qualcomm's decision to switch from Palm OS to Windows CE for its Internet-enabled phone...

    I must have missed that one. When did this happen? Was it on /.? I'd assume this is referring to the PdQ (PalmPilot/cell phone combo) that we all got so excited about late last year. Guess it's gone. How could we have failed to hear about that? Or is it just me?

    David Gould
  • Attention! This is a reality check! Eudora has been knocked out my Outlook Express being free, no? That is, by Microsoft. That MS is a big supporter of OSS is news to me -- must have missed that one. Is the announcement on /.?!
  • Umm, there is a stand alone app.

    I think he was referring to the idea of integrating, either entirely or modularly, the Eudora email client as part of the Mozilla browser (nightly builds available from mozilla.org) and not the Netscape that is availible from Netscape.com

    It seems like a good idea..

    And what are u smoking about Netscape being programmed in Java?? I think you're on drugs if you think Java is ownly useful for "tickers and animated web toys." Obviously, you don't know jack!

    -SuperGeek

    -- I think, therefore we have nothing in common

  • Elm (Score:1)

    by Mr Z ( 6791 )

    Elm.

    Oops... wrong platform, unless I install a mac-friendly linux. :-)



  • yes yes yes yes yes. eudora rox!!!
  • The difference is that Netscape intended to open up the *next* version of their browser, and keep developing it. That's why they put so much effort into mozilla.org: because it was part of a product line that they were still developing.

    Normally, when a software company abandons a product, nobody ever sees the code again. If Qualcomm is really considering dropping the Eudora product line, they have no more use for the code. At that point, it's better for them to throw it to the wind and let *someone* find a use for it than to bury it. They don't have to manage the future development that may occur with the code.
  • I don't know of tools per say, but the mailboxes (in windoze) are held in simple text *.toc (table of contents) and *.mbx (mailbox) text files that aren't too hard to manipulate. The *.toc is just a listing of different mails and and *.mbx has the meat of the letters. Mabye a nice gawk program or even a shell program with a series of awk pipes could easily do whatever you are looking for. (of course this assumes you are using linux and mounted the dos partition).
  • I don't know exactly what news you were reading, but I didn't see any mention of open source putting them out of business. I saw email clients intergrated in web browsers putting that product out of business.

    Don't act like an idiot, and blame OSS for something it had nothing to do with...

    Okay, I can't seem to stop, now...

    So...you claim OSS represents a threat to commerical software devlopers? Let's think about this...so, people will stop using OSS to save the industry? Somehow I doubt it, because I don't appear to own any buggy whips.

    And, if you weren't paying attention, communism==evil in most people's mind really mean totalitarian==evil.

    The only reason people hate Stalin is because he killed, what? 10 million people?

    I love how the 'anti-communist, anti-open source' people claim that OSS will destroy commericial software...
    Isn't protecting an industry considered at least socialist in the first place? If people can, competing in the 'free market' which is in most universes considered to be the opposite of communism, win the most people, then doesn't it get to? Isn't that the point of a free market?

    Being anti-any software development process is communism. Let it compete.

  • Oh well, M$ at work again... My favourite Emailer is gonna blow. I have been using the lite version since I first got on Internet (94ish) and I am in love with it since. I love the mail filter (I've separate junk from useful stuff so I don't have to plough throught "Make money quick" stuff) and all the fexiblilty of Eudora (Now, tell me which email client can run off a Zip disk, no installation libraries, and free, with all the filters and features?

    Maybe I should buy a copy of commerical Eudora to support them...
  • No, they make their money from OmniTracks and CDMA ASICS and licensing.
  • Qualcomm does not make every cell phone. They had/have a joint venture with Sony in making cell phones. They also hold virtually all the major patents on CDMA (Irwin Jacobs, CEO, discovered how to make the technology practical), so anyone who wants to use CDMA must obtain licensing from them.
  • What was so bad about 4.x for the Mac? I sure appreciate the threading so I don't have to sit and wait while mail is coming in...

    Anyone know how the features of Eudora compare to the Mail client mozilla is implementing?

    W
  • Wow! I can't believe all of the pro-Eudora messages on a mainly Linux site.

    I used to use Eudora but was never happy with it. After using Pine for two years I find that it is vastly superior to Eudora. Don't let it's simple exterior fool you, Pine is a very powerful e-mail client.

    I have heard good things about mutt and plan to try it soon.
  • Let's see, when they were the only game in town everyone had to use them, then the MS platform was saturated with email clients yet Un*x platforms under X still had crappy GUI clients they ignored us. Eudora would have rocked under X (in the non-bloated form) but they are MS worshippers so they deserve the fruits of their labor.

    Wanna save eudora? PORT IT TO X for Linux!!! I'll buy it, just like I bought WP8 and every other sanely priced Linux app.

  • eudora (Score:1)

    by mattc ( 12417 )
    You compete with the email programs in web browsers by creating a better email program the the browser's. The web browser emailers are absolute garbage.. I'm suprised more people weren't using it. Oh well, Eudora is still that official Windows mail client at my office.
  • I'm just weird but I like pine...i don't really see the need for having 25 windows open, i mean if you know the hotkeys you can navigate around pine very fast in just window.
    to me, i see email as a mostly text operation, Some Companies have gone with adding bold tex and and RTF formatting and what not, totally unneccesary in my opinion, email should be left as what it is, free fast simple communication
    with that in mind...you don't need alot of bells and whistles...i just want to type in text...and the pico editor isn't bad at all...
    i tried netscape's email but i just loath waiting for netscape communicator to open every time i want to check email...and unless you have a ton of ram it isn't worth it to leave the thing open...tis a huge memory hog just to be collecting email
    i tried a few other GUI clients...but found them either to be lacking in features, buggy, or the dreaded Both...
    pine is Very stabile and i know then when i click send my email is going to be sent without glitches
    just my opinion though...most of the m$ migrants are going to be wanting GUIs with RTF and all sorts of whiz bang... so i see the validity in a program that can do that stuff...it just isn't for me
  • i tend to agree! pegasus is one of the better email clients i've ever touched...very scaleable(sic) and feature rich...
    as compared to eudora lite...give me a break...no competition there... ever since i switched over i've been missing pegasus
    expecially since i have a ton of email sitting around in peg format :)
  • um...does your current version of eudora work just fine?
    then how do you lose your client? it isn't as if the thing is going to *poof* just because the company stops developing it...
    i don't use eudora but from what i've heard it is a pretty stabile and neat interface... if that is correct... then what more do you need?
    just keep on using your current version until it becomes outdated(not likely since i don't see email protocol shifting very much in the near future)
  • i tried mutt when i first got linux...i like pine better...of course i just use it for personal email...not getting massive amounts of mail...so i'm not sure how good its filtering is...
    but if you need filtering and use MS you should try pegasus instead of eudora...
    does mutt have good filtering? i really didn't play with it that much...wasn't impressed with the interface...pine is much more intuitive and easy to leap around to different parts of the program IMO
  • I like it so much I actually paid for it!
  • Eudora has been the best email program I have ever used.

    Anything less is Outlook Express. Blah.
    -Michael J. Lu
  • I really do hope Eudora gets the Open Source treatment if Qualcomm cans it.

    Eudora 3.0 has been my mail client since it was released. (and I had a lite version of eudora before that)

    I've tried Netscape's mail client, and I hate it's filters, they are useless. Microsoft's outlook is ok for windows if you have only one account or like logging out and back in as a different user to check a different account... There are other problems I have with it but that's the big one.

  • I hope something is finally worked out for eudora. That is the only mailer i have seen which includes dialup scripting, and which can use just a shell access to access ur pop mail. All other requires one to first connect to the ISP, start ppp,, and then launch the mailer. Eudora really simplifies stuff if all one wants to do is check mail. OpenSource Eudora wouldbe GREAT!
  • You could always try configuring a combination of fetchmail, a procmail filter and imap folders with imp or pine :)

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