Zimbra is open source server and client software for messaging and collaboration - email, group calendaring, contacts, and web document management and authoring. The Zimbra server is available for Linux, Mac OS X, appliances, and virtualization platforms. The Zimbra Web 2.0 Ajax client runs on Firefox, Safari, and IE, and features easy integration / mash-ups of web portals, business applications, and VoIP using web services.

Ajax based web collaboration is at the heart of ZCS 5.0. The powerful web client integrates email, contacts, shared calendar, VoIP, and online document authoring into a rich browser-based interface. Also, their unique open source Zimlet technology makes it easy for you to include custom ‘mash-ups’ in the ZCS web client.

ZCS 5.0 also includes an elegant Ajax based Admin Interface plus full scripting tools to manage the ZCS server. Full support is provided for standards-based APIs (IMAP / POP / iCal / CalDAV) as well as MAPI and iSync, which enable seamless compatibility with other clients like Microsoft Outlook, Apple desktop suite, and Mozilla Thunderbird.

Zimbra also offers Zimbra Mobile, which provides over-the-air “push” synchronization to smartphones as well as a Connector for BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

The Zimbra solution also has a complete high security package including built-in anti-spam and anti-virus scanning.

Now Zimbra also features Archiving and Discovery, an optional component to save and search email for various compliance issues.

AtMail is an open source webmail client written in PHP. AtMail aims to provide a elegant Ajax webmail client for existing IMAP mailservers, with less bloat and a focus on an intuitive, simple user interface.

The open source version of AtMail provides users with a lightweight, yet powerful webmail client. The software can be installed on a variety of platforms with ease and without the hassles that most webmail platforms impart.

Traditional desktop mail clients are in decline; the future of email is via a web interface. AtMail is poised to deliver the next generation in Open Source Webmail.

One of the main advantages of open source software is the freedom to modify and redistribute software as anyone sees fit thanks to the GNU General Public License many of the open source software packages carry. Unfortunately, a lot of these packages require somewhat intimate knowledge with the LAMP software bundle (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) that many people can find very intimidating. All of the latest and greatest packages remain just out of reach for the less tech savvy individuals and those small businesses lacking IT managers.

Fortunately, there are hosted software solutions in existence that offer many of the same benefits and features found in the latest open source software, such as Zoho’s hosted business suite.

What is Zoho all about?
Zoho is a suite of online applications (services) that you sign up for and access from Zoho’s Website. The applications are free for individuals and some have a subscription fee for organizations. Zoho’s vision is to provide their customers (individuals, students, educators, non-profits, small and medium sized businesses) with the most comprehensive set of applications available anywhere (breadth); and for those applications to have enough features (depth) to make your user experience worthwhile.

What is the main advantage of using Zoho?
Zoho is bringing together a wide range of online applications making it easier for individuals and businesses to manage all their work while dramatically reducing the cost. But being more productive and saving money is just the beginning of using Zoho. As they continue to integrate the various Zoho services and innovate on new ways of getting things done, they hope that you will find working online not only more rewarding, more collaborative, but more enjoyable. You can read some of their blog posts to learn more about some of the advantages of working online. Here are a couple of sample posts: “Offline vs. Online”. and “Business at the Margins”. a post by Zoho’s founder and CEO.

While using Zoho your documents and data are securely stored online on their servers and can be accessed from anywhere. This means as long as you have Internet access you can access your Zoho data from any computer and enjoy a productive and convenient working experience wherever you go without the hassle of bringing your computer with you. In addition, Zoho helps people collaborate on projects and share information with a simple mouse click. For example, in Zoho Writer, there are several ways to share documents in private, make them public or even perform collaborative editing in real time. Zoho also offers a very economical approach to getting your work done. While we offer free editions of all their applications, businesses also have access to our business editions at extremely competitive rates.

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