[nylug-talk] The future of Zimbra afterMicrosoft's bid for Yahoo!

[Raj Goel]

Ruben,

   Until you have used Exchange + BES
Or outlook + shared calendars / contacts, you won't get it.

   Yes, exchange is a beast.

   CommuniGate is a MUCH BETTER mail server.

   However, once you get hooked on Exch + BES, there's NO going back.

Rajesh Goel, CISSP
cell (917) 685-7731
CTO: Brainlink International, Inc.
"IT Crisis Management and Solutions"
PCI-DSS Credit Card, HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley & GLBA Information Security Compliance 


-----Original Message-----
From: Ruben Safir <ruben at mrbrklyn.com>

Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2008 19:01:39 
To:NYLUG Technical Discussion <nylug-talk at nylug.org>
Subject: Re: [nylug-talk] The future of Zimbra after
	Microsoft's	bid	for	Yahoo!


> > 
> > > Geeks may have trouble understanding it, but all consultants 
> > > know when you show someone a mail program, one of the first questions 
> > > they're going to ask is "does it do shared calendars?"  Telling them 
> > > you've got some external or web app that does shared calendars pretty 
> > > much drains the excitement out of the conversation.
> 
> I mostly agree with the above.  I would argue that buyers are not "braindead" 
> per se 

That is mostly a mistake.  Getting the job done is not what is discussed
in the room when decisions are made, and I've been in those rooms.  What
they do is whip out sale brouchures, and run what they believe are the
numbers, which in the case of exchange and outlook is almost free....minus
the millions of needless dollars spent on unecessary maintence buy personel
with little functional background...not to mention the cost in virus, spyware
and dozens of other malware problems directly linked to Outlook Express.


> but they want to get a job done.  For better or for worse, Exchange 
> gets the job done.  

Postfix "gets the job done" better and at less cost.  Buying decisions are
NOT rational.  Their not rational for Nike Sneakers, Crest Toothpaste, Newport
Cigarettes, or Outlook Express.


> It's not elegant and it's a resource hog (human and 
> machine) but it offers features that people ask for.
> 
> I think that licensing is important but corporate sponsorship is even more so.  
> There is not much geek appeal to this kind of project, GPL'ed or not.  Kolab?  
> Open-Xchange anyone?  Compiz has much more geek appeal even if it's not all 
> that useful.
> 
> Paying for support is not the big problem here - one needs to get specialized 
> support if their business depends on it.  But getting tied to a proprietary 
> solution is a problem.
> 

That is correct and can not be seperated from discussions about slaveware licenses.
Open-Xchange is a typical example where marketing to irrational whims overcomes
a solid functioning product that at the time was in everyway superior to even to
mioptic parelle product of Exchange.  And overcome 100 million desktops preinstalled
with Outlook as a marketing tool quickly disuaded HP from even attenpting to market it
seriously.


> So I guess Zimbra probably won't be the solution I've been looking for.  For 
> now I will continue to recommend hosted Exchange to my clients who need this 
> kind of functionality.  (Last I looked into it Kolab and Open-Xchange didn't 
> quite cut it.)
> 
> --george

And after that you have to benifit of selling them spyware removal programs.

How many years of naysaying have to go on before people wake up and smell the coffee.
I could have just ripped out the word Exchange and replaced it with Internet Explorer
a few years back.

Exchange really just sucks.... it sucks all the way and George, I swear if I didn't
know better I'd had thought you to be a Microsoft paid troll with this conversation.

Ruben

-- 
http://www.mrbrklyn.com - Interesting Stuff
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software

So many immigrant groups have swept through our town that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological proportions in the mind of the world  - RI Safir 1998

http://fairuse.nylxs.com  DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002

"Yeah - I write Free Software...so SUE ME"

"The tremendous problem we face is that we are becoming sharecroppers to our own cultural heritage -- we need the ability to participate in our own society."

"> I'm an engineer. I choose the best tool for the job, politics be damned.<
You must be a stupid engineer then, because politcs and technology have been attached at the hip since the 1st dynasty in Ancient Egypt.  I guess you missed that one."

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