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Open Groupware Solutions?
mrdisco99 writes "Our company is currently running Lotus Domino on Windows NT as a company email and groupware solution. Certain people are threatening to propose replacing it with Exchange, and I'd like to prepare a counter-attack with something that would run on a Unix/Linux/*[i,u]x platform. Any ideas? We have about 1000 users and we're not really taking full advantage of all the groupware capabilities that Notes has. Mostly, we've just used it as an email server and to schedule meetings and such. I know Domino will run on Unix, and we have a number of AIX and Linux machines that could probably handle it. However, we're looking for something that would be maybe cheaper and meet our relatively small needs. I'd prefer a freely distributable solution, but we'd be willing to consider proprietary alternatives, since we're already paying for Notes licenses. We also would want to get maintenance with that, so the vendor's customer support level will be important, as well." Freshmeat does list a number of different groupware packages, but I've never used any of them so I don't have any input on which might be better than others.
I think I can speak authoritatively. :-) If people where you work wanna argue, give them the URL to this message.
First, switching to Exchange will fix what? As in, what's broken now that'll work better later?
Second, Why are they proposing this? "Other companies do it" is no more a reason now than it was when you were a teenager and all your friends were jumping off of bridges.
Third, switching to Exchange would better utilize things how? Higher CPU loads for those same machines? More disk space use? When they say, "better use of the system", what the hell do they mean?
Fourth, don't switch operating systems unless you've got someone there, who'll hang around, that knows that operating system. A different operating system doesn't mean higher uptime. People ususally forget the better hardware and more stable OS (without flakey hardware drivers) that most unix systems are blessed with.
Fifth, nothing else really does calendaring yet. There's no standard for it. Once there's an agreed-upon standard, then it'll get popular. Till then, you're stuck. Once there's a standard, it'll get integrated with AIM, and you can check your buddy's calendar, or even send invites. Everything listed on freshmeat is web-based. Does it do repeating? Free-time search? Resource reservation? Resource approval? Room reservation?
Sixth, talk to your Lotus rep. Tell them you can't afford it, and that you'll have to switch to something else unless there's a price break. You've got MBA's there that supposedly know the art of negotiation. Make them prove it! Maybe you can run everyone with POP or IMAP clients, or web-only, and save some money there (by not having Notes clients on all the desktops).
Seventh, not using all of something's features is not a reason to abandon it. Why aren't you using it all? Simple Domino database authoring is the easiest/fastest rapid application development system I've ever seen, aside from OpenDX. Switching away from Notes means you'll have to use MS SQL server. Sticking with Notes means you can still use MS SQL, or you can use Notes (non-relationally), or DB2, or Oracle, or even MySQL -- but with an easy front-end. Throw in WebSphere (which is kick-ass on its own), and you've just done single-sign-on.
Eighth, did I mention LDAP?
Ninth, you can use IIS as the web server, and use MS Authentication, plus active server pages, perl, CGI, PHP, and all those tasty IIS plug-ins.
Tenth, you can't find a more secure email system. PGP and similar will encrypt the messages, sure, but with Domino, you can encrypt the message one way, and the mail file another way (encrypted on disk!), and also set permissions so that the mail admin can't read email. Plus the encryption is like PKI, where you pick a recipient, and it's encrypted with their public key before it even leaves your computer. No hitting the keyservers first.
Eleventh, Domino integrates greatly with SameTime (http://www.lotus.com/sametime) with is a competitor to AIM, but includes all that tasty h.323 conferencing stuff, via JAVA. Yes, audio and video over JAVA. Plus whiteboard, buddy lists, and AOL AIM connectivity! And once the standard AIM-style client protocol is agreed upon, it'll be able to connect.
Twelvth, (is that spelt rite?) there's QuickPlace (http://www.lotus.com/quickplace), but that's getting esoteric, and is a weak argument in your case.
And finally, for my last point, THERE IS A COST TO CONVERTING. Everyone forgets that. You'll have to buy new things, convert messages, install 1,000 copies of the new software, train everyone, convert private address books, convert public address books, learn new things, buy a second server to hold everything (while you're doing the converting, which'll take a month or two). You'll also have to put up with MS's primitive message store, where you attempt to salvage one or two messages out of a multi-gigabyte database that is everyone's messages. Since Domino uses a seperate file for each user, a lot less gets corrupt, or has to be restored, when hardware goes bad.