Can Zimbra help release Microsofts' stranglehold on the Desktop?
Just because Digg is floundering under the weight of “I just switched to Linux” submissions, it doesn’t mean that Linux on the Desktop is making significant inroads in corporate adoption.
Here’s the kicker. Microsoft Exchange Server is a honking great MONSTOR of a standard in larger businesses, and for good reason. While I’d probably kill myself if I had to pay for it or maintain it, as an end user, there is much to love about what Exchange does.
Got a desktop and a laptop? No problem. Exchange server will sync your inbox, folders, contacts and calendar.
Use a mobile device? No big deal. Add a contact to your phone, and it will sync to exchange server, and that contact will be added to your outlook contacts.
Your PC died from virus infections? ( Well of course it did.. it’s running XP ).. Just get another one, configure outlook to your exchange server and bang, you’ve got all your stuff back.
Need to setup a meeting with someone? Find them with Exchange Servers central directory, and check out their calendar to find a good time for a meeting.
In summary, life is sweet when you connect your Microsoft OS PC or Microsoft OS mobile device to your Microsoft Exchange server, and crank up your Microsoft Outlook application. Even your Microsoft Office installed Mac can get in on the act with Entourage. How lovely.
Switch to Linux? You’re screwed.
You have three options:
1) Use Evolution Mail which supports the full Exchange feature set through the provided connector.. except that the connector is horrible! It’s buggy. It’s slow. It’s unreliable.. it will drive you nuts.
2) POP or IMAP to the exchange server. It’s better, but forget about calendaring and contacts integration. Calendar events arrive as emails and you loose a feature you’ve become very accustomed to. Group calendars? Forget it.
3) Depending on the security settings of your Exchange server, you might be able to connect using Outlook ( running under Wine emulation ), either directly or through a VPN.. Yuck.
So how do you solve the problem of connecting a Linux desktop to Exchange Server? You don’t.
The problem isn’t Linux, the problem is that you’re buying into the belief system that Microsofts has chosen for you. Not only are you spending out the wazoo for Exchange server, but as a knock on effect, you’re spending out multiple wazoos for MS Office so you can connect to exchange server! Then of course, you’re primarily sticking to Microsoft OS, because what choice do you have!
Dee-De-Dee!
Let’s look at MS Office first. You need it, right?
Wrong.
You need to be able to work on Word and Excel spreadsheets, but you don’t need Office for that. Suns OpenOffice can do all that for you. Available for Mac, PC and Linux, Open Office is a VERY MS Office compatible productivity suite, and it’s FREE. I say “very” because some people tell me it’s not - but I can honestly say that I’ve never in my usage seen any issues.
Let’s do some cost analysis on that:
If you have 10 employees, setting them all up with OpenOffice costs 10 x $0 = $0 If you have 100 employees, setting them all up with OpenOffice costs 100 x $0 = $0 If you have 1000 employees, setting them all up with OpenOffice costs 1000 x $0 = $0
Get it?
Upper management wouldn’t go for it? OK - price out what will happen if you buy MS Office for THEM, and whatever other subgroup you choose ( perhaps accounting? ), and give the other zillion people in your organization OpenOffice. Trust me.. Money talks.
Ah - but what about EMAIL you cry! Microsoft products are the only thing that reliably connect to Microsoft Exchange server!
You’re right - so ditch it.
Go and look at Zimbra. It’s an Open Source Exchange Server KILLER, and Yahoo recently bought it for a gazillion dollars. Why? They haven’t really said, but I imagine it has something to do with a reply to Gmail rolling out IMAP. Things could get interesting if you’re one of those people willing to sacrifice privacy for free services.
Zimbra is easier to install. It’s easier to maintain. It’s easier to scale.. and if you switch someone from Exchange to Zimbra they truly won’t even realize you’ve done it. Appointments, group calendars, contacts - it all works just the same. They truly won’t see any difference from their end. Oh - that’s not true.. if they use the webmail application they will get a shock. It makes Exchange Server Webmail look like a bucket of boiled excrement.
Then what?
Your C-level guys can use Outlook or Entourage just as they always have. PC people using OpenOffice can use either Outlook Express, or the Evolution Mail Beta Your Mac people can use iMail and iCal.. they’ll love you forever. They could alternatively use a Beta version of Evolution. Your geeks can now use Linux, and use Evolution
Then we’d get to see some truly AWESOME Digg articles, about how corporations who look at their internal usage find that 40% of their employees only use the internet, email and office tools - so can easily be switched to Linux for cost savings, security, productivity gains, and so they can show off their spinning cube desktop thingy and wobbly windows to PC and Mac users ;-)
The bottom line is that when Corporations release the strangle hold they put on themselves by using Exchange Server, the results can be nothing but great.
