Alternatives to Exchange Server
Brian Chabot
brian at datasquire.net
Wed Jul 7 04:05:01 EDT 2004
Travis Roy wrote:
> I've found just the opposite. At MediaOne we actually used the shared
> contacts to store procedures (and it worked VERY well). At Burst media
> we were required to use the calendar function for just about everything,
> including booking rooms for meetings.
The vast majority of my experience has been in small companies of under
100 people. I think this may be the difference. I've only seen one
place that used Outlook's calendar and meeting functionality...
> I fought it at first, but once you start using it, the integrated shared
> calendars in outlook really is very cool, works well, and is probably
> the single most helpful app when it comes to dealing with meetings and
> stuff.
The Outlook/Exchange combination is a great example of what I think of
most of Microsoft's products: The user interface design is outstanding,
they (theoretically) do all you need them to do and more, and yet there
are issues I personally dislike. (Aside from the price tag.) The
complexity of the server and easy to use interface are such that the
vast majority of admins never know how it really works in the
background. This often leads to shotty management of the server, poor
performance, and instability. Sometimes it even leads to massive
security breeches and data loss. Outlook has had a poor track record in
the past, but has gotten better. In both cases, the configuration
changes just enough from version to version to make some settings very
difficult to locate, yet remain so simple that any bonehead can call
himself an admin. In all, a great idea beautiful to look at but not
really worth the price when all is said and done.
> I find web interfaces to not be as "slick" and if you have management
> that has used outlook in the past then that is what they're going to
> want. I have looked and looked and I've never found anything out there
> that is as nice as outlook and MS Exchange. It actually really pains me
> to say that because in their parts it's not all the complicated and
> there's lots of F/OSS that does it, just does it in a different way that
> doesn't seem as nice.
Oh, if I were a software engineer rather than a sysadmin! The idea of
an Exchange replacement is one of the first things that comes to mind
when I think of learning to code properly. But alas, at this time, I
just make other people's code work. I do keep an eye on a few projects
thqat show potential... PHP/E/Open Groupware for web side and RHEMS for
the server side. None of them alone would be considered a full
Outlook/Exchange replacement for those who use all or most of the
features... yet.
Brian
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