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In a previous work, an adjacent team used the K9 mail source code to implement a secure mail client. The consensus among the team was that the source code was t
by LeoNatan25 5y ago
In a previous work, an adjacent team used the K9 mail source code to implement a secure mail client. The consensus among the team was that the source code was terrible in many ways. On iOS, we had written our own mail client, but on Android, for various reasons, it was decided to use an open source instead of implementing our own. Not sure what amount of research was invested in investing alternatives, but for years the team complained about the quality of K9. This was 6-8 years ago.
- cketti 5y agoIf the team complained about their code base for _years_, I'd say the quality of the code base they started out with wasn't the only problem. Especially considering that you had the resources to write an email app from scratch. While it's true that parts of K-9 Mail's code base are gruesome (even today), I can't remember any significant contributions from teams that have built products based on K-9 Mail.
- LeoNatan25 5y agoAgreed. The entire Android side of the product was not managed well from the start. The product started as iOS only, because top management had iOS devices. Suddenly they had the shocking realization that Android is very strong in Asia and Europe, and tasked a different team with creating a quick Android POC. That team chose the K9 codebase. The POC team then handed whatever they did to a new dedicated Android team which did all the complaining. They were a small team, but still. My team wasn’t really larger, and we did build a mail, contacts and calendar client. I guess management just couldn’t agree on the commitment.