Microsoft’s Yahoo Takeover… Are Zimbra’s Days Numbered?

Looks like Zimbra users are becomming a bit concerned. Are Zimbra’s day numbered? See what the Zimbra users are saying about the Microsoft takeover of Yahoo and the concerns that the Zimbra community is facing….

http://www.zimbra.com/forums/zimbra-success-stories/14964-ms-offering-buy-yahoo.html

Feb. 1st, 2008 by The VAR Guy  

When Yahoo acquired Zimbra in September 2007, some Zimbra backers worried Yahoo would mismanage the open source email asset. Fast forward to the present, and some Zimbra proponents have gone from concern to outright panic over Microsoft’s bid to acquire Yahoo (and, by attachment, Zimbra).

The VAR Guy is calling for calm, but Zimbra email fans worry the email platform will suffer harm - or even death - at the hands of Microsoft. A series of blog reader comments posted on TheVARguy.com earlier today express fear, uncertainty and doubt about Zimbra’s future under potential Microsoft management.

Zimbra has quietly managed to compete with Microsoft Exchange Server in several markets, particularly higher education. In fact, Zimbra is very popular as an email server running on Apple hardware in the university sector.

Yahoo acquired Zimbra last September as part of the search company’s deeper push into Web 2.0 applications, software as a service and open source.

It’s far too early for Yahoo to say how Zimbra will potentially evolve under Microsoft management. After all, the Microsoft-Yahoo mating dance has only just begun.

Zimbra fans certainly are worried about their trusted email platform. But perhaps that’s a good thing. The louder customers shout - as we learned during the Oracle-PeopleSoft merger dance - the more apt vendors are to bow to user demands.

Microsoft, take note.