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mailbox.org uses the OX guard to make it easier using encrypted email.

Zarafa , Open-Xchange to name a few. Not that I'm against Outllook. It is quite useful, except for the fact that the search functionality leaves a lot to be desired and the pst files really must go.

Other semi-open source groupwares that support Outlook either natively or with a plugin: Open-Xchange and Zarafa.

but the license the community edition uses means it cannot legally be used by businesses.

I don't think thats true. The server Core is GPL. The Web UI is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.5 of which they say: "Open-Xchange interprets Noncommercial to mean all INTERNAL individual, not-for-profit and for-profit use. ". http://www.open-xchange.com/node/783

The definition of "Noncommercial" is still being debated and defined within the Creative Commons community. It is a very difficult concept to define because there are so many scenarios to be considered. Open-Xchange interprets Noncommercial to mean all INTERNAL individual, not-for-profit and for-profit use. EXTERNAL individual, not-for-profit and for-profit use such a resale, rent and lease as well as inclusion of the digital content in an advertising model is considered COMMERCIAL use and prohibited under our interpretation of the license. We view the performance of professional services as a NONCOMMERCIAL INTERNAL use of the digital content and it is allowed.

Here's the direct link to go read about it if you don't want to go through the networkworld blogspam article: http://www.open-xchange.com/

The "Server edition" is $1300, and they make you open a blind link to a PDF to figure that out.

Here's a handy feature matrix but noticeably absent is the free "community edition": http://oxpedia.org/index.php?title=OX_Product_Matrix

Also, the activesync thing (oxtender) is completely non-free and only available in the licensed versions.

They better start hiring support personnel, because there will likely be profits to be had with service contracts. Maybe even a Redhat buyout/partnership

Doubt it. They're entering a crowded marketplace:

SuSE Linux OpenExchange
Open-xchange
Scalix (formerly known as HP OpenMail)

All of these implementations share one problem, which I believe this server also shares: they require an MAPI Connector module to be present in order to use them with Outlook, and that module is not free software. In fact, it is typically rather expensive.

That's a nice long explanatory answer... for the first question! ;). Do you have an answer for the 2nd?

I might even add... do you have suggestions?

I have already checked out a few of 'em (not necessarily OSS):

• Zimbra
• Scalix
• eGroupware
• PHP Groupware
• Communigate Pro
• Citadel
• Kolab
• Open Groupware
• Open xChange

...of which many of them have a great potential, but I always end up having some trouble somewhere or find 'em not user-friendly/admin-friendly enough.

ok, so point out a central solution to have distribute calendaring, with email based appointment, shared address books, shared activities, and group management which could be installed in less than one day (which will basically rule out kolab, which is quite similar but offers a totally different user experience).

Open xchange is my preferred solution.

If by impossible to match you mean an email server that needs to be mothered and looked after then yes, the alternatives can't match the flakey Exchange server.

Have you looked at Open Xchange? it even has an Outlook connector for those who still want to run Windows desktops.

http://www.open-xchange.com/

Of course the Outlook connector isn't free, but the community version can be free if you use Linux or free email clients.

So where is this mythical replacement I just read about? Would someone like to point it out for me?

So where is this mythical replacement I just read about? Would someone like to point it out for me?

I am impressed by what folks at http://www.open-xchange.com/ and http://www.tummy.com/ have dome with group-ware products.

"They're going to need this Outlook replacement to function with Exchange properly"

not necessarily.

"they're going to have to come up with an Exchange server replacement with the ability to migrate people off."

http://www.open-xchange.com/header/home.html
http://www.open-xchange.com/index.php?id=440

There you go. There is Oextender as well, if you insist on the absolutely silly practice of using Microsoft platforms as servers.

"They're going to need this Outlook replacement to function with Exchange properly"

not necessarily.

"they're going to have to come up with an Exchange server replacement with the ability to migrate people off."

http://www.open-xchange.com/header/home.html
http://www.open-xchange.com/index.php?id=440

There you go. There is Oextender as well, if you insist on the absolutely silly practice of using Microsoft platforms as servers.

You mean like this or this or even this?

No *nix desktop runs Exchange + Outlook, nor runs Word.

Not true. You can, in fact, get Office to run on a *nix desktop. You'd just be much better off retraining people for OpenOffice or KOffice.

Word should be trivial to replace, but it isn't. It is hard to make people change, and most managers aren't willing to listen to complains just to save a few thousand (yet most should).

Put that few thousand into a training program. Done.

It would be a much more valid argument if there were still really critical features that either office suite doesn't have, but the reality is, for 99% of what you need to do with an office suite, KOffice is fine. Then, for maybe .9%, OpenOffice will cover you. That leaves .01% that you need Office for, so just make one XP machine and turn RDP on, for those very rare cases.

Exchange + Outlook is even harder, because it not only has a calendar system but also make it available to the network

Gosh, that's never been done before.

Now, if only we had a way to share them...

Trust me, Exchange + Outlook is a solved problem. If anything, the irony here is that I haven't been able to implement any of these at work, as there's not really any other good groupware clients for Windows, other than Outlook -- although most of the open servers can probably talk to Outlook. But if you can get them on Linux, I'd suggest Kontact and probably Kolab as the server.

It's even possible that KDE will be ported to Windows wholesale at some point, from what I've been reading. If that happens, just standardize on Kontact.

nothing else has done such a good job at integrating contacts, e-mail, and calendars.

This is no longer true. You really need to take a look at products like Zimbra. From my perspective it has everything Exchange has going for it, plus the benefits of running OSS and on my favorite platform. It even handles Blackberrys, Palms, and PDAs (via NotifyLink). In addition to Zimbra there is Open-Xchange and many more (though I'm not sure they're as solid as Zimbra).

Also have you seen GroupWise 7? I would say it has feature parity. I also hear a lot of places are fine on Lotus Notes (but I haven't used that product personally). Exchange is a nice product, but it simply isn't true that there are not Exchange alternatives.

At $1100 for 25 seats, versus $700 for 5 storage groups, monetarily I don't see the point...

The people who need in-house shared calendaring might also look at Open-Exchange. They have both a commercial version and a community version.

We are deploying it at work and it does not suck at all.

Isn't that what OpenXchange is supposed to do?

http://www.open-xchange.com/

No, actually Novell dumped SuSE OpenExchange some time ago. SuSE didn't actually develop it. They just licensed it from a company called Netline. Novell didn't continue the license so Netline now sells it themselves.

http://www.open-xchange.com/EN/

That just leaves Novell with GroupWise which is not Open Source. Does run on Linux though.

http://www.open-xchange.com/

open-xchange is ok. It isn't Exchange but then again what is? I would really, really like to find a replacement for it.

There is a free version and a pay version.

Novell offers the Open-Xchange server for SuSE (and other Linux) as their groupware replacement for MS Exchange. But to connect to it with Outlook, you have to install their MAPI store, iSLOX, on the client machine. Yesterday, PalmOne announced they've licensed the Exchange server sync protocol, so they can offer Outlook-type clients, that connect to actual Exchange servers, without the (usually clueless) client user having to add any software at all. Sure, it's criminal for Microsoft to lock down their protocols, locking competitors out of the market they dominate. But at least they're licensing it to competitors now. Novell's got a lot of money; why don't they license it to include an "Exchange stub" in their O-X server?