On Wed, 2005-08-10 at 16:49 -0500, Thomas Cameron wrote: > > All this is well and good - it is discussed frequently and obviously > > there are a lot of potential users for a GPL type licensed 'exchange > > server' > > Yup. As I said, Exchange is Microsoft's killer app. > > > I guess the thing that bothers me most is those who insist on Outlook as > > the client > > I do not insist that Outlook be the client. In fact, I mention several > times that it could be Outlook or a workalike like Evolution. > > > which completely ignores the fact that Microsoft primarily > > offers the Outlook program as a front end to their Exchange Server and > > for all other purposes, it is crippled. > > Nope, you're wrong. It will interface with all manner of handhelds in > Internet mail mode. I have used it for ages with my Palm (and now with my > Nokia phone), and it works very well. > > > That they toss it in for free > > with their Office suite is really no different than the drug dealer > > giving away drugs until you are hooked. > > It's called "marketing." Welcome to capitalism. > > > Their Outlook Express is a > > better MUA and it's a news reader. Outlook LDAP integration is > > deliberately crippled on non ADS setups. Outlook IMAP support is > > deliberately crippled. So the insistence on using Outlook as the client > > application and getting open source to remedy deliberately crippled > > features on a program whose API's are deliberately not made available > > seems to ignore the reality of the marketplace. > > Um, to not recognize that Outlook is on something like 90% desktops is to > ignore the reality of the marketplace. If we could get something to > replace Exchange on the backend but make it seamless for the end users, it > would be a HUGE win for F/OSS. If we could then wean the users off of MS > Office and Outlook to OpenOffice and Evolution on Windows (if it existed), Not yet, but they are working on it http://evolution-win32.sourceforge.net/index.php > it would make it that much easier to move them to Linux on the desktop. > There is a method to my madness... It's just not feasible to move to > Linux on the desktop tomorrow. It will need to be a gradual change, baby > steps. > > > There are other options out there and the rules seem to be, if you want > > to use Outlook as the client app...you will have to pay. Seems fair > > enough. > > Never said it wasn't fair. All I said was it would be great if we could > replace Exchange on the backend while still using Outlook or an Outlook > workalike. > > Thomas >
