how to replace outlook/exchange for corps?

[Craig White]

On Thu, 2005-12-01 at 12:57 -0800, Josh Coffman wrote:
> 
> --- Craig White <craigwhite at azapple.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, 2005-12-01 at 12:32 -0800, Josh Coffman
> > wrote:
> > > I've wonder about this to myself, and a recent
> > OSDL
> > > survey showed corp email/calendar app as being a
> > key
> > > to linux adoption.
> > > 
> > >
> >
> http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/05/12/01/1731206.shtml?tid=126&tid=106
> > > http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS5481370522.html
> > > 
> > > I use Outlook at work a lot for
> > > email/meetings/contacts. I played around with a
> > couple
> > > email clients on my fedora bozes at home, but
> > nothing
> > > really had a complete solution. Evolution was
> > probably
> > > the closest but I don't run a mail server at home
> > so
> > > could really evaluated it fairly.
> > > 
> > > Anyone know email/calendar/contact solutions for
> > the
> > > linux corp desktop?
> > ----
> > There are tons but the question isn't really
> > qualified so the answers
> > would be exhaustive.
> > 
> > Open source or proprietary?
> > Single fat client like Evolution/Outlook?
> > Web based clients?
> > Open standards or proprietary standards?
> > Email shared?
> > Calendar shared?
> > Contacts shared?
> > Content Management?
> > Wiki?
> > 
> > Craig
> > 
> 
> For a typical corp (in my experience), the reqs would
> go something like this:
> - individual mailboxes
> - shared & private contact lists
> - individual semi-public calendars that support
> booking resources (IE: conference rooms)
> - public folders for such things as document forms and
> HR guidelines
> - supports iCal (or similar appointment format)
> - support server virus scanning (if replacing MS
> Exchange)
> - some sort of support for filtering and spam
> protection
> - no wiki needed
> - thick client (don't know if most places do that just
> cause that's the way they're used to but %99 of places
> I've seen use a thick client. Even those that support
> web-based also use thick client.)
> 
> In my mind, the target audience is the
> non-developer/engineer. I think the typical desktop
> user who just emails, word-processes, and surfs would
> be easier to migrate the those entrenched in unique
> tools. Open-Source vs Closed/commercial may vary by
> corp, but open is good.
> 
----
I am not going to spend the time laying out all of the available options
but specifically, there are a few that would probably meet your
description such as...

insight (bynari)
groupwise (novell)
contact (samsung)
scalix

There are others. A review by eWeek compared a few that use Outlook as
client...
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1846659,00.asp

There are some others like open-Xchange which implement an interface for
Outlook clients yet still offer some open standards (i.e. iCal) - I
simply don't have an exhaustive list.

The issue tends to revolve around the whether people have latched on to
the Outlook as user agent as it tends to be extremely limiting but some
people/companies get hooked on the Outlook client so badly that they
don't want to know that it will screw them over at every conceivable
turn.

If you can get rid of people's obsessions with fat clients, Horde/IMP is
truly an awesome project with many modules and tremendous customization
possibilities. While a web browser is a clumsy data entry tool, the fact
that you can use your handheld and the list of modules
(see <http://www.horde.org/source/modules.php> )
Thus with postfix, cyrus-imapd, clamav, spamassassin, MailScanner, Horde
(and various packages) I can give you all of the shared/collaboration
features and mail handling in open source, but you can't use the fat
client Outlook (or Groupwise or Evolution or ???). So you can actually
have more with less.

Unfortunately, Outlook client often drives the decision.

The problem tends to be the focus of managers that think that
Outlook/Exchange server gives them what they need and thus they then are
blinded to the fact that they then are locked into running AD, and the
cost of having a separate sever that is endlessly choking on the
woefully inefficient, high maintenance Exchange Server. (Running backup,
spam control and anti-virus on this system tends to become a costly
nightmare).

Craig