Re: [OS:N:] Messaging system & support

[Etienne Goyer <etienne goyer linuxquebec com>]

Robert Citek wrote:
>  - What other questions should my friend be asking?

Yes: do they *really* need an Outlook+Exchange combo level of features ? 
 Whatever they choose (Exchange, OpenExchange, another groupware, etc), 
they will be paying a lot of money in license and/or setup.  If they are 
ok about restricting the scope of their requirement to email only, there 
are many free and very robust Open-Source solution.

The big problem here would be at the client end.  Outlook is very 
featureful, and these features are thightly coupled to Exchange via 
mostly proprietary standard.   I do not think Outlook (for example, 
subsitute your favorite MUA here) have a very seemless way to connect to 
the various network calendering scheme (iCal-over-WebDAV, CAP, etc).

I never really understood the PIM concept anyway.  For me, email, 
contacts management and calendering are three separate application 
domain.  I profoundly dislike the bloat of all-in-one client such as 
Outlook (and Evolution), but everybody seem dead set on them.  Go figure.

One last thing : latest Exchange require Active Directory.  If they 
don't already have one, they should be aware of it and be prepared for 
some work setting up one should they choose the Exchange route.

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