Two interesting tools were on display at the recent Open Source Business Conference in Boston, one a feature-rich e-mail system and the other a code review tool to help you avoid license squabbles.
The e-mail offering is from Zimbra, a venture-funded start-up that has pieced together several open source components to build the Zimbra Collaboration Suite. The current beta includes both a server and a browser-based Web client that is built using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, the so-called AJAX pack.
AJAX enables browser-based applications to behave more like client-based code by “constantly moving small pieces of information between browser and server, changing what you see without reloading the full page,” Zimbra says.
The Zimbra server talks to other clients via IMAP, POP, Microsoft MAPI and iCAL, and can be integrated with Active Directory and LDAP directories.
But what sets Zimbra apart are the client features. The tool, for example, tracks conversations, appending a number to each new message in a string and allowing you to view all messages in a particular conversation.
Zimbra also has a slick feature that lets you create tags and append them to messages, after which, regardless of what folders you put the messages in, clicking on the tag brings all relevant messages front and center.
Other cool features include the ability to: mouse over a date in a message to open your calendar; mouse over the name of a message sender to display contact information; mouse over a Web address to bring up a preview page; and search messages by date ranges, attachment types and the domain of the sender.
You can preview the product and even download an evaluation copy of the network edition server.
The other interesting tool at OSBC was a service from Black Duck Software that lets you scan code for stuff that shouldn’t be in there – whether it is open source code in your home-grown programs or vice versa.
While the company’s code analysis service has been available since last year, it just announced the ability to scan for specific strings such as GPL code, says CEO Douglas Levin.
The service is based on two knowledge bases, Levin says. One is an 80M-byte database containing millions of code prints that Black Duck updates weekly, and the other is a repository of the customer’s proprietary code.
Both are used to scan code looking for violations that can land users in hot water, especially where open source tools are used. Black Duck’s services range in price from $9,500 to $25,000.
