[ucc] To server or not to server...

[Davyd Madeley]

On Mon, 2005-11-14 at 16:23 +0800, Bernd Felsche wrote:
> On Monday 14 November 2005 12:56, Antony N. Lord wrote:
> > Current server : HP E200 Netserver, 9Gb UW SCSI HD, 512Mb RAM, PIII
> > 600MHz, W2KS
> >
> > Its used for basic file sharing, Communigate (mailing lists), shared
> > calendars.
> >
> > 6 local users.
> >
> > I own W2KSBS and want to move to it so I can get Exchange. Then I can
> > host our mail accounts locally (a total of about 20).
> 
> *Must* you have exchange?

Exchange is a really nice and featureful system combined with a hard to
configure designed in the early 90s piece of software.

It seems to scale to users well, but likes to store everyone's mail in
one single file. This allows it to do clever things with storing
attachments and whatnot but is an absolute bitch when the file starts
approaching sizes of epic proportions.

It would also benefit from an administration console where it was
possible to find the single reference to a rogue smarthost without going
through every single page.

It does have kickarse Active Directory and calendar integration. So from
the Outlook client I can say that my secretary can read/write my
calendar and that the other directors can read the non-private parts of
my calendar. This part currently has no good replacement in the FLOSS
world.

The offline replication works as can be expected (no one has ever really
gotten this perfect), but plugins for devices like the Blackberry seem
incredibly cool.

All of that said, things to watch out for in the non-MS world:
 - Evolution on Windows, Novell were paying to port it
 - Novell Groupwise, got some weird legacy issues but plays well with 
   Evolution and Outlook these days, runs on Windows and Linux
 - Scalix have also written a groupware server, I got sent a trial, but
   never got around to trying it, apparently integrates well with
   Linux/Window clients
 - Hula, completely free, uses openly documented protocols, like IMAP 
   and CalDav. Will be a most excellent solution... one day.

--d

-- 
Davyd Madeley

http://www.davyd.id.au/
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