History

EGroupware is the most current manifestation of a chain of projects. The original project was called webdistro. In 2000 development on the project phpgroupware began, which was based on webdistro; and in 2003 the EGroupware fork was born. EGroupware has a very pronounced community character compared with its predecessors.

There is an EGroupware constitution, adopted in 2005, which guarantees freedom and security to the community and establishes admin elections.[https://www.egroupware.org/]

For a short time Tine 2.0 was an official subproject of EGroupware. The goal of the subproject was the development of future technologies for the EGroupware project. Due to internal disagreements, the projects EGroupware and Tine 2.0 had separated from each other in February 2008.[http://www.nabble.com/final-admin-decision-about-Tine-td14403909s3741.html Final admin decision about Tine 2.0]

Since July 2009 the first professional Version of EGroupware is available. It´s being sold as a software subscription. This product line, called „EGroupware Premium Line“ (EPL) includes a maintenance agreement for the source code and corresponding RPMs, that enables automatic updates.

Version 14.2 ist is available since December 2014. E-Share-Option: Since version 14.2 EGroupware Filemanager offers a filesharing option for an easy data exchange. It includes, for example, the option to send links to read or edit files to persons that don´t use EGroupware. Beside that, files can be moved via drag and drop. Filemanager is used as an alternative to the filehosting service Dropbox. Home Screen: The Home Screen is a virtual pinboard, that makes important contacts, projects or tasks always available for the user. Mobile Template: The third update in 14.2 is the mobile template, that has been optimized for small screens and touch handling. It enables the usage of EGroupware on tablets and supports swipe gestures and an adaptation of the format while turning the device.

The 2016 released version 16.1 included a new calendar and further improvements of the mobile template.

Highlight of the 2017 released version 17.1 was the integration of Collabora Online Office.

The just released 19.1 contains beside lots of other improvements:

• a new and again colored template including a new login page
• using Docker as primary distribution form
• added Rocket.Chat and a status app always displaying who is online in EGroupware or Rocket.Chat
• two factor authentication and an OpenID Connect / OAuth2 server
• EPL: several functions to run EGroupware in compliance with GDPR incl. documentation of all admin actions