Alternative to MS Exchange

[CLIFFORD ILKAY]

Anthony M. Rasat wrote:
> Richard Brown wrote:
> 
>>> I'd say, Zimbra. There is community edition. The premium edition is way
>>> too expensive for me. But of course I don't think that would be a matter
>>> for a fortune 500 company. Or any company that can afford Exchange.
>>>
>> Do you know if there is a package that can be installed via apt-get etc please?
>>
>> If not what would be the best way to install it please?
> 
> Unfortunately Zimbra is not using that kind of install approach. You
> see, you will need a dedicated machine to host it. Also, it quiet picky
> on which Linux distro (I chose Centos 5 BTW).
> 
> I think you should check out their wiki first, http://wiki.zimbra.com.
> 
> However, the end result would be... let's just say I'm a happy Zimbra user.

I installed it without any difficulties on Hardy. It worked fine though
I did absolutely no stress testing with it so I can't tell you whether
the need for a dedicated server is justified or not.

Richard, a lot of people say they want an Exchange replacement but don't
dig any deeper than that. What is it that your users need to do? You
might be surprised at how many useful free services, like Google Apps
and Airset, there are that will achieve most things that people need. If
you really want to host your own, there is no shortage of open source
web-based applications that can do the job. Google will yield lots of
them. I found a few that were quite interesting searching on
ma.gnolia.com, e.g. <http://opengoo.org>, <http://egroupware.org>,
<http://group-office.com>. I'm sure delico.us would have some too. There
are also many portal type of applications too.

It all depends on the needs of the organization. Often, users have no
idea what they really need. Most of them use the tools that they have
available to them and often do things that could be better-automated
with using different or complementary tools. In most smaller
organizations, there is typically no one who has systems design or
engineering expertise so they use computers as essentially glorified
typewriters, adding machines, or faxes. The unfortunate thing for small
organizations is that they often have the same needs as large
organizations, albeit on a smaller scale, but they don't budget anything
for IT. The few small businesses that "get it" and invest in IT have a
competitive advantage over their competitors who don't.
-- 
Regards,

Clifford Ilkay
Dinamis
1419-3266 Yonge St.
Toronto, ON
Canada  M4N 3P6

<http://dinamis.com>
+1 416-410-3326
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