I first mentioned the SME Server in my Small Business Server post a week or so ago, and now I’m bringing it up again because there’s a cool new announcement regarding the future of the SME Server: Lycoris, makers of the popular Desktop/LX distro, have assumed hosting and development of the SME Server project.

By moving under the Lycoris umbrella, contribs.org (current host of the SME Server) will get Tier 1 hosting, something I’m sure will help alleviate download problems when new versions of the software and their ISOs are released. Lycoris will also contribute fixes and software to the package, and there will be both a commercial version with full support and a GPL version for current users.

Overall I think this is a good move for the SME Server project. Provided Lycoris sticks with their commitment to Open Source and the GPL, this will ensure current SME users have a solid, dependable, and secure product and a resource for fixes. They also now have the option of purchasing full support with the commercial version.

While Lycoris claims they are committed to maintaining contribs.org and the open releases, a number of current SME Server users on the TechGeeks listserv are nervous that Lycoris will strip features out of the free version, thus enticing (read “forcing”) users to purchase commercial releases.

Only time will tell. Of course, the project has already survived the demise of one commercial version when it was Mitel’s e-Smith server, so if Lycoris gets too overzealous, there’s nothing to stop another contribs.org from popping up and resuming free development. It’s a good example of the advantages of the GPL.