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Lightning (software)
Encyclopedia
The Lightning project, announced on December 22, 2004, and in development by the Mozilla Foundation
, produces an extension that adds calendar
and scheduling functionality to the Mozilla Thunderbird
mail and newsgroup client and SeaMonkey
internet suite
. Lightning is an iCalendar
compatible calendar.
Unlike the discontinued Mozilla Sunbird
and Mozilla Calendar extension
, Lightning aims to integrate tightly with Thunderbird.
Version 0.9 was the last planned release for Thunderbird 2. A calendar was originally to be fully integrated into Thunderbird 3, but those plans were changed due to concerns with the product's maturity and level of support. Lightning 1.0b2 is compatible with Thunderbird 3.1, Lightning 1.0b5 is compatible with Thunderbird 5 and 6, and Lightning 1.0b7 is compatible with Thunderbird 7. Lightning 1.0 was released to the public on November 7, 2011. It was released alongside Thunderbird 8.0.
Sun Microsystems
contributed significantly to the Lightning Project to provide users with an alternative free and open-source choice to Microsoft Office
by combining OpenOffice.org
and Thunderbird with the Lightning Extension. In addition to general bug-fixing, Sun focused on calendar views, team/collaboration features and support for the Sun Java Calendar Server
.
Mozilla Foundation
The Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit organization that exists to support and provide leadership for the open source Mozilla project. The organization sets the policies that govern development, operates key infrastructure and controls trademarks and other intellectual property...
, produces an extension that adds calendar
Calendar
A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar are usually, though not...
and scheduling functionality to the Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, open source, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. The project strategy is modeled after Mozilla Firefox, a project aimed at creating a web browser...
mail and newsgroup client and SeaMonkey
SeaMonkey
SeaMonkey is a free and open source cross-platform Internet suite. It is the continuation of the former Mozilla Application Suite, based on the same source code...
internet suite
Internet suite
An Internet suite is an Internet-related software suite. Internet suites usually include a web browser, e-mail client , download manager, HTML editor, and an IRC client....
. Lightning is an iCalendar
ICalendar
iCalendar is a computer file format which allows Internet users to send meeting requests and tasks to other Internet users, via email, or sharing files with an extension of .ics...
compatible calendar.
Unlike the discontinued Mozilla Sunbird
Mozilla Sunbird
Mozilla Sunbird is a free and open source, cross-platform calendar application that was developed by the Mozilla Foundation, Sun Microsystems and many volunteers...
and Mozilla Calendar extension
Mozilla Calendar Project
The Mozilla Calendar Project is the name for the Mozilla project that led to the development of Sunbird calendar application and the Lightning integrated calendar...
, Lightning aims to integrate tightly with Thunderbird.
Version 0.9 was the last planned release for Thunderbird 2. A calendar was originally to be fully integrated into Thunderbird 3, but those plans were changed due to concerns with the product's maturity and level of support. Lightning 1.0b2 is compatible with Thunderbird 3.1, Lightning 1.0b5 is compatible with Thunderbird 5 and 6, and Lightning 1.0b7 is compatible with Thunderbird 7. Lightning 1.0 was released to the public on November 7, 2011. It was released alongside Thunderbird 8.0.
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
contributed significantly to the Lightning Project to provide users with an alternative free and open-source choice to Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...
by combining OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...
and Thunderbird with the Lightning Extension. In addition to general bug-fixing, Sun focused on calendar views, team/collaboration features and support for the Sun Java Calendar Server
Sun Java Calendar Server
The Sun Java System Calendar Server is Sun's calendar server. The currently available version is 6.3 which is now part of the Sun Java Communications Suite....
.
See also
- Mozilla Calendar ProjectMozilla Calendar ProjectThe Mozilla Calendar Project is the name for the Mozilla project that led to the development of Sunbird calendar application and the Lightning integrated calendar...
- List of personal information managers
- List of applications with iCalendar support