Outlook rival hits markets

Aethera latest in open source technology from theKompany

It is a well-known fact that the open-source community is one of the most active in developing new software, and this greatly contributes to the growing popularity of Linux. For a Netscape that dies, at least five new applications are born, maybe less famous but with the same desire for innovation. An interesting example is theKompany, a small California-based operation focussed on the development of open source applications for both the mobile and desktop segments. It recently released version 1.0 of Aethera, a new free rival of Outlook offering all the main features needed for personal data management and storage even in shared environments.
Aethera, adopting the classic interface with customizable layout panels, supports all the standard messaging protocols such as POP and IMAP with full synchronization capability as well as support for multiple identities. All the features you would expect to find in an industrial strength email system are part of Aethera. In addition there is a personal calendar and schedule that integrates with the Groupware portion that will be released later, as well as "sticky" notes, "To Do" lists and an address book.
The Groupware portion of Aethera can be as simple as sharing your personal schedule to arrange meetings and discover scheduling conflicts. Aethera will also be able to create discussion forums and knowledge bases within the enterprise or across the Internet. Aethera will also supports sophisticated workflow management through a graphical interface that allows you describe the flow of work through a process. Perhaps a document needs to be reviewed by, and signed off by several different people in a particular sequence. When that is done, then a copy is faxed or printed or emailed to another recipient at another location, and the task is then flagged as completed and notification is sent to the task manager. A web interface is also available so that you are never out of touch with your information. Eventually Aethera will integrate with our Project Management software as a fully integrated solution.
TheKompany declares that Aethera offers tools for the management of appointments and work tasks that withstand any comparison with commercial applications, thanks to the choice of entrusting all PIM functions in Aethera to a component that derives directly from KOrganizer, an application included in the office suite by KDE.org.
The group of developers that created Aethera, and in the past produced several applications based on Trolltech's QT libraries, is also working on another component that will allow all compatible applications to save information within the virtual file system of Aethera. According to theKompany, this will allow data to be managed hierarchically and centrally, making for an easier organization, indexing and query. This component will also be joined by the Annotation Tool, a feature that will allow users to add personal notes to any information saved in the virtual file system, such as URLs and e-mail messages.
Aethera has to face a strong competition, even in the open source field, especially from Evolution - considered Outlook's most mature and complete open source rival - and the new-born Glow client by the OpenGroupware project. TheKompany says that the secret weapon of its program is its modularity. In fact, although Aethera was created as an e-mail client or little more, its developers claim to have designed it right from the start to be expanded - or better yet, built - through plug-ins: every component of Aethera has been implemented as a dynamic module, from KOrganizer to the agenda, from the e-mail client to the notes. TheKompany hopes to make a profit from the sale of plug-ins, including the already available support for the Jabber instant messaging protocol and collaboration with mobile users.
Some of the features of Aethera that theKompany particularly counts on are the support for different platforms and that for scripts; the latter enables developers and power users to create new filters and macros.
The program will be available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.

Publication Date: 2003-09-07
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=3126