As detailed last week we are working constantly on improving Atmail 6.  We have another patch ready to go which includes a number of features and fixes.

What’s Changed:

• General CSS enhancements and formatting improvements
• Improvements to drop down menu usability
• Increased JQuery performance and streamlined used plugins
• Improved login page error handling
• Improved Calendar server error handling
• Unified POST calls in the Calendar front end
• Streamlined Calendar utilities
• Cleaned up Calendar animations
• Improved Calendar install error reporting
• Improved permission detection with Web Installer
• Improved “defaults” detection in Web Instaler
• All day calendar events working properly
• Improved XML handling for Calendar
• Improved all day calendar event handling
• Month view layout improvements
• Improved two pane view folder awareness
• Improved HTML editor support
• Set initial focus on the “To:” field when composing mail
• Improved “Move To Folder” awareness
• Fixed permanent delete trash bug
• Improved threading in two pane view
• Improved formatting of message reply field
• Improved scrolling function in Compose window

We are going to continue this regimen and release new versions as fast as we can fix issues that come up and add features as fast as we can.  We appreciate all of the feedback from our clients and new evaluation users as well.  We couldn’t do this without you!
Reach us at +1-877-4-ATMAIL or via the contact page for pre-sales information and submitting questions or issues.

In regards to the new direction of Atmail and sync services, the Atmail development team would like to share our vision and roadmap.

Open Protocols

We believe the future of Calendaring and Groupware will come down to embracing open-protocols, with the current landscape more clients and servers are moving from proprietary formats to open standards such as CalDAV for Calendaring, WebDAV for storage, and the soon to be supported CardDAV protocol for sharing addressbook data.

In Atmail 5.X we developed the calendaring component to use our own data-format, which used MySQL as the data backend and PHP for the business logic. While this served the purpose for the Webmail interface, it was difficult to connect external clients, as we had to create plugins for Outlook to exchange data between the two formats.

The direction we have taken with Atmail 6 is to create a client + server using CalDAV for calendaring data which uses the following open RFC standards:

• WebDAV RFC 2518
• WebDAV Access Control RFC 3744
• CalDAV RFC 4791
• iCalendar RFC 2445

More clients are beginning to support CalDAV for calendaring data ( Mozilla Thunderbird, iCal, Iphone and more ) which can connect to the Atmail Calendar server. If users add or remove appointments in another client, these instantly reflect in the Webmail Calendaring interface and vice-versa.

If you are a business or organization looking to implement Atmail, you have a wider range of client support, not locked into a proprietary format, and the freedom to switch between solutions.

If your organization or school already uses a CalDAV server, Atmail can act as a client to your existing server via the webmail interface.

Outlook Sync Plugin

The development team have been refactoring the Outlook Plugin from Atmail-5 to use CalDAV. This will enable Outlook clients to exchange Calendaring data, sync contacts, tasks and shared events. All using a native MAPI plugin which communicates to the Atmail server using CalDAV and HTTP/S.

The new plugin will offer complete support for Outlook clients with the new Atmail 6 version.
Availability will be late August 09 - Beta versions will be released earlier, please contact us should you wish to be part of the program.

ActiveSync licensing

Atmail 5.6 supported ActiveSync via a GPL library to support push mail and addressbook data. Due to licensing issues with Microsoft, the Activesync server protocol is trademarked within the US. Microsoft is suggesting 3rd party vendors to cease support for Activesync without a direct IP license from Microsoft.

From Atmail 5.62 and onwards we no longer support Activesync for push data, however we have other alternatives around the corner.

SyncML

The next milestone for Atmail6 is to use the SyncML format to exchange Calendaring and contact data. Several major companies such as Motorola, Nokia, Sony Ericsson, LG, IBM and Siemens AG support SyncML in their mobile phones and PDAs.

Our greater roadmap vision is to include full support for SyncML late 2009, or sooner given demand from end-users and clients.

CardDAV

For addressbook data, CardDAV is an upcoming open-protocol for sharing and distributing contacts. CardDAV is a IETF draft spec that combines WebDAV and ACLs to create a vCard server, much in the way they are combined to create CalDAV.

Apple is one of the first vendors to announce CardDAV support in their products ( Snow leopard and iPhone ) , with more vendors adding support once the protocol matures.

We aim to implement the CardDAV protocol for all address-book data and sharing in Atmail Q4 2009.

Blackberry support

In May, RIM announced Blackberry PUSH support via an open API. The Atmail development team are in the process to add support for Blackberry PUSH in Atmail 6.

Our roadmap is to include SyncML support for the majority of mobile-phones first, then offer native push using a Blackberry to the Atmail server.

Conclusion

With the announcement of the new Atmail 6 the software implements full CalDAV support. By late August the Outlook Sync plugin will be available for end-users using Atmail 6, with further sync features offered in Atmail by late 2009.

We welcome any feedback from customers on the roadmap direction for Atmail’s Calendaring and Sync features, please feel free to discuss with a comment below.

One week after the initial release of Atmail 6, we’ve rolled out another version!  We are going to continue this aggressive development cycle throughout the summer months here constantly adding features and fine tuning our new interface and framework.

Interface Improvements

We are making tweaks to our user interface every day.  Working on improving the layout and little design issues as they come up as well as improving cross browser support for Safari, Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Features and Fixes

• Improved SQL error checking
• Improved php-xml support for the installer script
• Better folder and tab integration
• Improved Reply All function
• Increased performance of calendar server
• Improved search display for calendar
• Additional Help text in the user interface
• Time format improvement in for CalDV entries
• Better support for email header date processing
• Improved Reply To threading support
• Improved folder name support in Address Book
• Better calendar font support
• Better flow when switching from two to three pane view
• Improved address book editing support
• Fixed calendar purge utility
• Footer message support
• Better session handling
• Improved tab support in IE 8 and Firefox
• Fixed POP3 SSL certificate issue

Reach us at +1-877-4-ATMAIL or via the contact page for pre-sales information

Atmail 6 is now available for purchase and download:

http://atmail.com/order/

Notes to Atmail 5.x customers:

• Migration script is on the way.
• Expired Atmail clients can renew for 50% of their original A5 license until August 15th.  After that date, expired clients can renew with a 50% discount,  but it will be based on the new A6 pricing.
  

I am pleased to report that Atmail 6 will be released in the next 48 hours.    We’re very excited to present the new look of Atmail,  along with improved backend functionality and open standards support.   There are so many highlights to this release:

Please contact us at +1-877-4-ATMAIL  or sales@staff.atmail.com  for more information.