[HLUG] Zimbra - A real Outlook /Exchange replacement?

[Alex Mace]

On 27 Jun 2008, at 22:30, Andrew Hodgson wrote:

> Realistic until the l0ser who is working on the important project
> forgets to do the backups, then it is the fault of the people in  
> charge
> of IT...

Hmm, this doesn't surprise me!

> There are many good add-ons for the Google apps services now,  
> including
> high grade email compliance solutions to on-site backups of the Gmail
> store.  How well these integrate with the system in practice is  
> another
> matter.  The main issue if I was to look at Gmail for an office
> environment where more than 50% of the workforce are not really IT
> literate would be to get Outlook calendars and other features working
> with the Gmail system with a simple plug-in kind of like how Scalix  
> and
> Zimbra does it.  At present every time I have looked at this I have  
> seen
> ways to do it, but they require a lot of configuration on the client,
> which is not always feasible with all the users involved.  Plus,  
> getting
> away from PST files (which are still used in IMAP configurations in
> Outlook), would be a real winner.  Outlook and IMAP on large mailboxes
> don't play nicely together either, so that would be something else to
> look at.

I think they're pretty easy to use, but I also know that the IT people  
would get the blame if there were any problems...

> When I move our home system from Exchange, I will be moving to
> Thunderbird and using Gmail IMAP.

Good choice - I used to run Postfix at home and while the server  
itself ran fine it was pretty difficult to get it to run reliably on a  
consumer ADSL service when you have fairly frequent power cuts. The  
convenience of Google Apps is great.

Alex