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At the OW2 conference, Benoît TELLIER, product owner for Twake Mail, gave an enlightening account of the dangers of proprietary standards and the crucial importance of open standards. Using the example of email, he demonstrated how the combination of open protocols and free software can give users back control of their digital tools.
When open source is no longer enough
"Open source goes beyond the licence".
In other words, just because software is free doesn't mean it's truly independent or sovereign. If it is based on standards or protocols controlled by a company (such as Amazon, Google, etc.), you remain the prisoner of a closed ecosystem, even if the code is open.
Amazon S3: a lesson in dependency
Let's take the example of object storage with the S3 API, widely used by cloud services. This interface has become a ‘de facto standard’, but it is still controlled by Amazon. The result? One day, Amazon silently changes a technical detail (the calculation of certain checksums), and this breaks all the competing services in a matter of hours.
"A proprietary protocol is a tool for market domination".
And in the world of email? IMAP has had its day
As far as email is concerned, the historic IMAP standard is causing problems. Designed in the 80s, it is :
- Obsolete
- Very complex to implement
- Ill-adapted to today's reality (mobile use, real-time synchronisation, unstable networks, etc.)
Impossible to build a modern, efficient and user-friendly service on such a fragile basis.
JMAP: a new open standard for email
Fortunately, there is an alternative: the JMAP (JSON Mail Application Protocol), designed by the Australian company FastMail, and which became an official IETF standard in 2019.
Advantages:
- Uses universal technologies: HTTP and JSON
- Simplifies email synchronisation in real time
- Easier to implement
- Allows everything to be grouped together in a single exchange with the server, like GraphQL
LINAGORA's commitment: concrete contributions and innovation
At LINAGORA, this protocol was immediately adopted in open source projects such as Apache James. The team has contributed directly to the JMAP standards (adding features such as quotas and read receipts), and has launched a modern JMAP-compatible email client, Twake Mail.
Twake Mail is multi-platform (web, iOS, Android) and provides :
- A complete experience when connected to a compatible server
- A lighter version (simple read/send) with standard servers
By creating both the client and the server, LINAGORA has broken the ‘chicken and egg syndrome’: few JMAP clients → few JMAP servers, and vice versa.
A growing community
Today, JMAP has also been adopted by other players such as :
- Cyrus, FastMail's historic mail server
- Stalwart, an open source project widely used by the self-hosted community
And more and more users are installing Twake Mail as a universal interface on top of their own servers.
Why is this strategic?
By building on an open standard:
- No need to endlessly debate internal technical rules
- The whole community can build compatible, interoperable and scalable solutions
You avoid becoming dependent on a technological giant.
Conclusion: the future lies in the alliance between open source and open standards
The message is clear:
"Truly free software needs free foundations".
LINAGORA's speech was a reminder that digital sovereignty is not just about access to code, but also and above all about collective control of the rules of the game.
