| Lightning | |
|---|---|
 Lightning running on Thunderbird 115.11.0 | |
| Developer | Mozilla Foundation /Mozilla Corporation |
| Initial release | 0.1 (March 2006) |
| Stable release | 6.2.6.1 (March 25, 2019; 6 years ago (2019-03-25)[1]) [±] |
| Preview release | 6.8b3 (Beta) (March 8, 2019; 6 years ago (2019-03-08)[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 |
Lightning is a project from theMozilla Foundation originally designed as an extension ("add-on") that addscalendar and scheduling functionality to theMozilla Thunderbird mail client andSeaMonkeyinternet suite. It superseded the previousMozilla Sunbird and the olderMozilla Calendar extension.[4] With version 38 of Thunderbird, the Lightning add-on was integrated and preloaded by default;[5] since version 78 of Thunderbird (released 2020), Lightning is part of Thunderbird and no longer an add-on extension. Lightning is compatible withiCalendar calendars.
The Lightning project was announced on December 22, 2004, in an effort to integrateMozilla Sunbird intoMozilla Thunderbird.[6]Sun Microsystems contributed significantly to the Lightning Project to provide users with an alternative free and open-source choice toMicrosoft Office by combiningOpenOffice.org and Thunderbird with the Lightning Extension.[7] In addition to general bug-fixing, Sun focused on calendar views, team/collaboration features and support for theSun Java System Calendar Server.[8]
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.[9][10] 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.[11][12]
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 Lightningpoint release. Lightning finally started shipping with Thunderbird with version 4.0, on Thunderbird 38.0.1 released in 2015.[5][13] With the 2020 release of Thunderbird 78, Lightning is now a permanent part of the program.[14]
