From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Mar 20 14:47:58 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D657316A4CE for ; Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:47:58 +0000 (GMT) Received: from makeworld.com (makeworld.com [216.201.118.142]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 14B8D43D39 for ; Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:47:58 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from racerx@makeworld.com) Received: from localhost (localhost.com [127.0.0.1]) by makeworld.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4CDAF60DB; Sun, 20 Mar 2005 08:47:55 -0600 (CST) Received: from makeworld.com ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (makeworld.com [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 73061-05; Sun, 20 Mar 2005 08:47:50 -0600 (CST) Received: from [216.201.118.138] (racerx.makeworld.com [216.201.118.138]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by makeworld.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id A50E860D8; Sun, 20 Mar 2005 08:47:47 -0600 (CST) Message-ID: <423D8D1C.1080407@makeworld.com> Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 08:47:56 -0600 From: Chris User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 (X11/20050313) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Jerry Bell References: <129416735.20050319101608@wanadoo.fr> <266982083.20050320105247@wanadoo.fr> <423D78FF.7080108@makeworld.com> <3649.24.98.86.57.1111325354.squirrel@24.98.86.57> In-Reply-To: <3649.24.98.86.57.1111325354.squirrel@24.98.86.57> X-Enigmail-Version: 0.90.1.0 X-Enigmail-Supports: pgp-inline, pgp-mime Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: by ClamAV 0.75.1/amavisd-new-2.2.1 (20041222) at makeworld.com - Isn't it ironic cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: MS Exchange server on FreeBSD? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list Reply-To: racerx@makeworld.com List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 14:47:58 -0000 Jerry Bell wrote: > Count me in on the group that doesn't think that a web-based system is > adequate for the enterprise, but in the realm of web-based groupware > systems, I have taken a strong liking to group office. I've not used all > of these below, but I've been most impressed with group office's interface > and features. http://sourceforge.net/projects/group-office/ > > Jerry > http://www.syslog.org That's a nice one - So allow me to jump ahead of Anthony, while many of these products are in the infant stages, and others are developed very well - they may not do EXACTLY what Exchange does. Then again, for the overall cost of these alternative products, there is lots to offer, and the future looks very bright indeed for these Open Source alternatives. The biggest thing that MS needs to consider (or even worry about) is while companies consider the overall cost of the commercial products, they can consider the cost of the Open Source products as viable candidates. Once you factor in the savings of the app, the cost to train the staff, and the hours lost - it well may come out the same as the cost of using Exchange... With only one major factor to consider. What's the cost of maintenance? How much does it cost to upgrade your Exchange Server? Consider all the aspects involved with that, IE: Windows2000 has an initial end of support date of June 2005. So, if that date holds true, you need to upgrade the OS Exchange runs on, and if you run Exchange2000, what's the life of that, being that Exchange2003 is out. On the other hand, with OS, it's a minimal fee for the OS (if you pay for it) and the same with the OS Exchange alternatives. While I like Exchange, I do see the alternatives making very strong advances and arguments to be used. >>Have a look here: >> >>eGroupWare (at egroupware.org) >> >>OpenGroupware.org (at opengroupware.org) >> >>Open Source Exchange Replacement (at oser.sourceforge.net) >> >>OPEN-XCHANGE (at open-xchange.org) >> >>PHPGroupware (at phpgroupware.org) >> >>-- >>Best regards, >>Chris >> -- Best regards, Chris A little ignorance can go a long way.