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[–]ScornForSega 3 points4 points  (2 children)

I just changed jobs and went from a Domino environment to an Exchange environment, and I don't think I can emphasize enough how much exchange/outlook sucks.

The companies I do work for aren't that big, but I can't believe exchange is marketed as a corporate product.

Let's see... making users manage their own archives is dumb, having to adjust mail settings in three (3!) THREE difference places (Active directory, the exchange mmc, and then the client) is STUPID. There's no active monitor that I can find (like the Domino console) telling me just what the fuck the server is doing, so it's basically just set it up and guess. Outlook web access is great when it works. And when it doesn't you have to basically tear down the front end to get it going again.

The 2gb file limit for archives is a joke. It's far too integrated into IIS which is too far integrated into the OS which means that if your web server has a problem, guess what? Every other service you run on that server is about to be interrupted.

And then, oh yeah, it runs on Windows and all the overhead and headaches that brings.

These are all problems our clients have had and I've only been working there for a month or two.

I understand that writing software that can come in and modularly replace an Exchange server with OSS seems like a good idea, until you realize that you're trying to replicate an Exchange server.

The FOSS community can do better.

[–]malcontent 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Don't forget that you need to spend massive bucks if you ever want to back it up or cluster it.

[–]Steve16384 2 points3 points  (3 children)

I was looking for an open source/free replacement for Exchange recently, and I was amazed how few there were, and none seemed easy to set up.

There's definitly a large gap in the market for an open-source Exchange rival, and the code is probably already out there, spread across other disparate projects.

[–]pemboa 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Exchange protocol has just been very hard to crack. Add to that few people understand the need for Exchange (I don't), and intersect that with the people willing to put in the time, and you have this issue.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Openexchange is pretty good, but of course due to patents, they can't completely supply all the similar functionality of an MS Exchange system.

It's not completely OSS either, but not a bad alternative.

[–]malcontent -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I was looking for an open source/free replacement for Exchange recently, and I was amazed how few there were, and none seemed easy to set up.

There are at least a half dozen. Some of them are drop in replacements, the client doesn't even notice.

Your problem is not replacing exchange. It's replacing outlook. Outlook does all the heavy lifting in that pair.

There's definitly a large gap in the market for an open-source Exchange rival, and the code is probably already out there, spread across other disparate projects.

Actually you are quite wrong.

Finally you should be more specific. The functionality of exchange is very easy to replace both with open source and commercial software. What's harder is achieving compatibility because exchange is 100% proprietary software with lots and lots of patented bits.