Lightning (software)
The Lightning project, announced on December 22, 2004, and currently developed 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.
Lightning 0.9 running on Thunderbird 2.0.0.19 | |
Developer(s) | Mozilla Foundation / Mozilla Corporation |
---|---|
Initial release | 0.1 |
Stable release | 6.2.6.1 (March 25, 2019[1]) [±] |
Preview release | 6.8b3 (Beta) (March 8, 2019[2][3]) [±] |
Written in | C++, XUL, XBL, JavaScript |
Operating system | Linux, Windows, macOS, others |
Available in | 50 languages |
Type | Personal information manager |
License | MPL 2.0 |
Website | www |
Unlike the discontinued Mozilla Sunbird and Mozilla Calendar extension, Lightning integrates tightly with Thunderbird.[4]
Lightning is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for Windows, macOS and Linux, and is installed by default on Thunderbird.
History
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.[5][6] 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.[7][8] Lightning 1.0 was released to the public on November 7, 2011. It was released alongside Thunderbird 8.0. Following that, every Thunderbird release has been accompanied by a compatible Lightning point release. Lightning finally started shipping with Thunderbird with version 4.0. As of 21 October, 2018, Lightning 5.4 is incompatible with the latest release of Thunderbird 60.2.1.
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.[9] In addition to general bug-fixing, Sun focused on calendar views, team/collaboration features and support for the Sun Java System Calendar Server.[10]
References
- "Calendar Versions - Mozilla | MDN". Mozilla.org. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
- "Lightning :: Versions :: Add-ons for Thunderbird". Mozilla.org. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
- "Calendar Versions - Mozilla | MDN". Mozilla.org. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
- Lightning Project Launched to Provide Calendar Features for Mozilla Thunderbird- MozillaZine - MozillaZine article announcing the Lightning project and its aims.
- "Lightning 0.9 Release Notes". September 23, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
- David Ascher (February 18, 2009). "Lightning-in-Thunderbird status update". Archived from the original on October 2, 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
- "Lightning 1.0 Beta 2 and Compatibility". June 17, 2010. Archived from the original on June 19, 2010. Retrieved June 22, 2010.
- "Lightning :: Add-ons for Thunderbird". July 29, 2011. Retrieved August 3, 2011.
- Calendar Weblog
- Interview On Mozilla Lightning and OpenOffice.org
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lightning (software). |
- Mozilla Thunderbird - Lightning Calendar — Mozilla
- Lightning :: Add-ons for Thunderbird or SeaMonkey - Mozilla Add-ons
- Provider for Google Calendar :: Add-ons for Thunderbird or SeaMonkey (Requires Lightning) - Mozilla Add-ons
- Mozilla Calendar Blog
- The Rumbling Edge