Tasty Open Source Outlook Alternative
I just love my friends in the programming community - they're always showing me new and useful tools that I'd never have located otherwise.
The latest one (thanks to Ed) is called Spicebird. It's similar to the better-known Thunderbird, Mozilla's popular email program, but even more complete. Spicebird is "...your one platform for many collaboration needs. It provides e-mail, calendaring and instant messaging with intuitive integration and unlimited extensibility."
And it's all open source - which means it's free!
Spicebird was created by a group called Synovel Technologies, "an opensource technology startup based in Hyderabad, India. We develop and contribute to Free and Open Source applications, especially in the enterprise communication and collaboration space."
Spicebird is a collection of contact and collaboration tools, including Chat, Email, Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts. What's nice about the integrative approach to these tools is that, for example, you can check on a contact, and not only do you get basic contact information, you also see your contact's online status - so you can IM this user via the built-in Chat window, or contact him via Jabber, if you choose.
The "home" screen makes Spicebird particularly attractive. Similar to the "Outlook Today" view in Outlook, Spicebird's home screen allows you to activate and organize the tools in your suite as you wish - grab the calendar and move it to the top right, and slide the email window next to that. It's up to you, and it's as easy as drag and drop.
Spicebird is in beta release; support is somewhat limited (there are help screens, but they're not particularly robust, and there is no "manual"). There are blogs and a support community - and with 10,000 downloads thus far, there is a considerable amount of feedback and help from an active user group.
Chat Window
Spicebird Home
Email Window
Don't feeling like spending $100 for Outlook? Spicebird is worth a try - and I'd love to get your feedback! Email me at nancyc.roberts@gmail.com and give me your review!
The latest one (thanks to Ed) is called Spicebird. It's similar to the better-known Thunderbird, Mozilla's popular email program, but even more complete. Spicebird is "...your one platform for many collaboration needs. It provides e-mail, calendaring and instant messaging with intuitive integration and unlimited extensibility."
And it's all open source - which means it's free!
Spicebird was created by a group called Synovel Technologies, "an opensource technology startup based in Hyderabad, India. We develop and contribute to Free and Open Source applications, especially in the enterprise communication and collaboration space."
Spicebird is a collection of contact and collaboration tools, including Chat, Email, Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts. What's nice about the integrative approach to these tools is that, for example, you can check on a contact, and not only do you get basic contact information, you also see your contact's online status - so you can IM this user via the built-in Chat window, or contact him via Jabber, if you choose.
The "home" screen makes Spicebird particularly attractive. Similar to the "Outlook Today" view in Outlook, Spicebird's home screen allows you to activate and organize the tools in your suite as you wish - grab the calendar and move it to the top right, and slide the email window next to that. It's up to you, and it's as easy as drag and drop.
Spicebird is in beta release; support is somewhat limited (there are help screens, but they're not particularly robust, and there is no "manual"). There are blogs and a support community - and with 10,000 downloads thus far, there is a considerable amount of feedback and help from an active user group.
Chat Window
Spicebird Home
Email Window
Don't feeling like spending $100 for Outlook? Spicebird is worth a try - and I'd love to get your feedback! Email me at nancyc.roberts@gmail.com and give me your review!
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