Eudora mail client goes open source

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Eudora, once the most popular email client around, is set for a rebirth after the owner of the software announced plans to make it open source.

The email client, named after author Eudora Welty, disappeared from view in May when its owner, under-fire mobile phone chip maker Qualcomm, stopped selling the product, but is set for a comeback as an open source application after Qualcomm handed over the code to the open source community.

Eudora routinely got strong reviews from computer magazines and had a loyal user base, but commercially it was overshadowed by software such as Microsoft's Outlook, IBM's Lotus Notes, Mozilla Thunderbird and web email services.

Qualcomm donated Eudora to the open-source community, which means that anybody is free to download and use it without paying for the product. Developers can also access the code, change it and share those changes.

On 31 August the Mozilla Foundation started distributing a test open-source version of Eudora, which was developed in the late 1980s as one of the first email clients by a student at the University of Illinois.

Qualcomm acquired the software and hired its creator, Steve Dorner. At one point it was used by tens of millions of people.

Eudora is not yet promoting the product on its home page as it does its other titles including its popular Mozilla browser - a rival to Microsoft's Internet Explorer - and Thunderbird, another e-mail program.

The new version of Eudora is being developed under the code name Penelope and is available on the web at wiki.mozilla.org/Penelope.

Mozilla has said it plans to develop both Eudora and Thunderbird.

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