Outlook and Linux
Eric S. Johansson
esj at harvee.org
Tue Nov 1 03:07:37 UTC 2005
this may be another one of those for want of a ... a Linux sale was lost
cases. The only reason I bring them here is to try and make the
fundamental problems in the real world visible and work out what are
reasonable solutions.
I was asked in this by a client today. How do you share Outlook
calendar and contacts using a Linux system as the core? Simple
filesharing doesn't work because Microsoft screwed the pooch with the
resource locking.
I know about bynari and a couple of other players but they are all
rather expensive (quantity 100: $90-$150 which is a significant chunk of
change) and want to own the customer from client all the way through to
mail server with all of the solutions for antispam, virus etc. coming
from them.
Answers like "don't use Outlook" are not really helpful. They are
married to it and they are on Windows desktop for the foreseeable
future[1]. On the other hand, if there was an equivalent client with
exactly the same functionality in terms of e-mail, calendars, and
contact sharing, they may be open to that kind of change.
So, how does one solve this problem. (Telling me to go to a different
form is perfectly acceptable)
---eric
[1] about three or four months ago they tried converting a few people to
open office so they could cut down the number of Microsoft office
purchases they were making. The conversion failed miserably. This
organization lives and dies by spreadsheets that are shipped around. If
it is going to be a replacement for Excel, the conversion must be
perfect. Everything must behave identically. Close enough and fudge
it, doesn't cut it because these are salespeople dealing with product
and customers with a very short turnaround cycle. stuff that isn't
exactly as it was, makes their hearts beat faster and not in a good way.
try open office 2.0? not likely. The experience was so bad it's going
to take a while for people to forget.
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