Netline To Post Open-Xchange Code Online Friday

The offering claims to knit together e-mail, calendaring and scheduling, discussions that originate in either proprietary or open-source segments. Users tap into these capabilities via standard Web browsers. Connectors for linking to Windows clients are due later this year.

Open-Xchange Server, available under the General Public License (GPL) will be in its third major release. The code is the foundation for Novell SUSE's Linux Openexchange Server.

Netline, Olpe, Germany, said at LinuxWorld Expo in August that it would release this code to the open-source community where it can be readily tweaked and enhanced.

The company also said it plans to make available manuals for the software for running on Debian, SUSE, Red Hat, Mandrake Linux distributions and FreeBSD.

Netline is testing Palm and Outlook connectors for the GPL Open-Xchange Server next month.

In other e-mail news, Microsoft and palmOne said Tuesday that palmOne is licensing Microsoft Exchange Server's ActiveSync protocol for use in its upcoming Treo smartphones.

Several observers have said the market is ready for a less pricey alternative to Microsoft Exchange Server and Lotus Domino.