Monday, 11 December 2006
Welcome to Buni.org
It is with great pride that I welcome everyone to the opening of buni.org. Here we will create the next-generation open source software that will improve the way people communicate over both the intranet and Internet.
Buni's first product is called Meldware. Meldware Communications Suite is an Email/Calendar/Webmail set designed to work on any platform with any database (or filesystem). We intend for the "lay-expert" (what knows what SMTP, IMAP, POP and DNS are) to be able to install and configure it easily. We are very pleased to put out our first milestone of Meldware which is oddly named 1.0 Milestone 6.
In this release, we have an alpha or maybe beta quality IMAP implementation, beta-quality webmail, production-quality POP and SMTP (including over SSL or TLS). In addition to production quality database storage, we have an experimental "filestore" that allows you to store mails efficiently on the filesystem in a way that scales both across threads and across processes. We even managed to launch with documentation (and more is on the way).
Buni.org is dedicated to open source/free software development. We mean open source not only in terms of license and distribution, but how the software is developed. The technical decisions, design, etc. are all actually made publicly by the people who develop the software. I know mention of the term "open source" usually necessitates a link to OSI. However, OSI is a group that attempts to define open source strictly as a set of license terms. At Buni, we think open source means something bigger. It is also a way of working together with both users and developers of the software. Whether this is The Cathedral and the Bazaar or as I like to think of it: working with the gun to MY head instead of the users/customers (just where I like it), I leave it to you.. Buni is organized as a relative do-ocracy. To suggest something on the development list is to volunteer (countered with whether you have sufficient credibility as to your ability to pull it off). However, we don't plan on postulating ad nauseam about these kinds of things, we are mere software developers not social scientists. That being said, our software will remain freely distributable (without games and tricks), and without "children's edition"/unlimited-version type strategies. We are dedicated to hard-core, real open source software.
Originally, Buni.org was to be launched with a companion commercial entity. That entity is still forming. It takes time to get all the legals in place, put together our board of advisors, etc. It was even harder to do that while keeping things quiet. Moreover, we really didn't like having to develop in the dark. Rest assured Buni.org is dedicated to sustainable development. To sustain development, a balance must be reached between the itch and the scratch. Without getting too mushy, I mean that we must provide both emotional and financial support for our most robust contributors. No one does open source for the money, but no one pays the mortgage with joy. I don't want to say a lot publicly about the commercial entity, we'll save that for its official launch early next year, but know that it already has business people, offices and oddly enough -- even customers. We don't do anything half way!
Open source software development attracts a natural aristocracy of the able and confident. We hope to encourage the rock stars, while guiding them to mentor the next generation. Open source also attracts entrepreneurial spirits. We invite them to come here! Let's create something big!
