Well we could build 'a' business out of it, but we realized it wouldn't be a scalable business. For a couple of reasons:
* We tried to do to much (classic mistake -> email + social + contacts...)
* There are way too many ways that people use e-mail (folders, labels, rules, sorting, etc, etc)
* Because there are too many ways you can not create a commercially viable alternative that fits a large nr. of users
Truth be told, we didn't even want to create an e-mail client but rather wanted to fix e-mail workflow. We never ended up being able to do that due to forementioned reasons. We intend to rectify that in a couple of our other products.
We still see a need (and people actually ask for it) for a unified e-mail/social inbox. So we thought to have the open-source community have a go at it.
Excellent answer, and I love your thought process. Why have all your work go to waste not publishing it? This way, you don't have to worry about the inevitable "Why doesn't it do <random fringe feature>? I NEED that in my workflow!", you still get good recognition in the field, and all us users benefit from another good email client.
I would still try to put any kind of businessmodel onto it and look if any money comes out. Now you are here on the mainpage and thus much more famous. Having your source code in the open doesn't mean you don't see a paycheck for your work! (especially when most of your page views will come from HNers, who value great coding work and thus are more willing to pay for it, even if they don't have to. Think about this one article about Textmate2 some days ago.)
* We tried to do to much (classic mistake -> email + social + contacts...)
* There are way too many ways that people use e-mail (folders, labels, rules, sorting, etc, etc)
* Because there are too many ways you can not create a commercially viable alternative that fits a large nr. of users
Truth be told, we didn't even want to create an e-mail client but rather wanted to fix e-mail workflow. We never ended up being able to do that due to forementioned reasons. We intend to rectify that in a couple of our other products.
We still see a need (and people actually ask for it) for a unified e-mail/social inbox. So we thought to have the open-source community have a go at it.