Alternatives to MS Exchange for Internal Email?

[Kaido]

Are there any other programs that do internal email than Microsoft Exchange?

My company is currently using Outlook with an MS Exchange server for internal email, then external mail through POP3 from another host. It all comes in and out through Outlook, which is nice and easy for our non-technical users. I would like to move us to Thunderbird, but Thunderbird and Exchange don't like each other very much. So, what are the options, if any, for a non-MS internal mail server program compatible with Thunderbird?

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: Kaido
It all comes in and out through Outlook, which is nice and easy for our non-technical users.

I would like to move us to Thunderbird

 

[MrChad]

Why do you want to move off of Exchange? Outlook + Exchange is tough to beat feature-wise, especially if your company is a Microsoft shop.

 

[sourceninja]

Novell has some good replacements. Some nice linux drop in replacements for exchange and groupwise offerings.

Novell + evolution main client rules.

 

[stash]

Wait, what is your business case for a new mail client and server? I haven't seen one yet.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: MrChad
Why do you want to move off of Exchange? Outlook + Exchange is tough to beat feature-wise, especially if your company is a Microsoft shop.

We have older computers, mostly running 95 and 98. The newest version of Outlook we have is 2000. We've had virus problems, junk mail problems, crashes/freezing, etc., due from lack of user education and faulty MS products. The easiest solution is to drop Thunderbird in, but Thunderbird doesn't like the idea of internal mail from Exchange. Our server, NT4, crashes constantly - at least once a day, sometimes twice. I do not have server access, but I can make recommendations. The company wants to keep costs minimal. I'd personally prefer a Dell/Linux solution, but I don't think that that is going to happen. How good are the new version of Windows server, compared to say, NT4, and also Linux? My experience with Linux has been fantastic, which is why I'm leaning there.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: STaSh
Wait, what is your business case for a new mail client and server? I haven't seen one yet.

Business case?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: STaSh
Wait, what is your business case for a new mail client and server? I haven't seen one yet.

Business case?

Oh that, no. We're not a huge company. Stuff is pretty much suggestion-based here AKA I research options and recommend something

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: MrChad
Why do you want to move off of Exchange? Outlook + Exchange is tough to beat feature-wise, especially if your company is a Microsoft shop.

We have older computers, mostly running 95 and 98. The newest version of Outlook we have is 2000. We've had virus problems, junk mail problems, crashes/freezing, etc., due from lack of user education and faulty MS products. The easiest solution is to drop Thunderbird in, but Thunderbird doesn't like the idea of internal mail from Exchange. Our server, NT4, crashes constantly - at least once a day, sometimes twice. I do not have server access, but I can make recommendations. The company wants to keep costs minimal. I'd personally prefer a Dell/Linux solution, but I don't think that that is going to happen. How good are the new version of Windows server, compared to say, NT4, and also Linux? My experience with Linux has been fantastic, which is why I'm leaning there.

Can those older computers support Windows 2000 or XP? If you upgraded to say ... Small Business Server 2003, set up an Active Directory and upgraded your 9x clients to NT-based OSes, you could easily manage and lock down everyone's machines. Thunderbird isn't going to solve your virus, crashing and junk mail problems. I would look into Exchange SPAM software and a managed anti-virus solution (such as Symantec).

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: MrChad
Why do you want to move off of Exchange? Outlook + Exchange is tough to beat feature-wise, especially if your company is a Microsoft shop.

We have older computers, mostly running 95 and 98. The newest version of Outlook we have is 2000. We've had virus problems, junk mail problems, crashes/freezing, etc., due from lack of user education and faulty MS products. The easiest solution is to drop Thunderbird in, but Thunderbird doesn't like the idea of internal mail from Exchange. Our server, NT4, crashes constantly - at least once a day, sometimes twice. I do not have server access, but I can make recommendations. The company wants to keep costs minimal. I'd personally prefer a Dell/Linux solution, but I don't think that that is going to happen. How good are the new version of Windows server, compared to say, NT4, and also Linux? My experience with Linux has been fantastic, which is why I'm leaning there.

Can those older computers support Windows 2000 or XP? If you upgraded to say ... Small Business Server 2003, set up an Active Directory and upgraded your 9x clients to NT-based OSes, you could easily manage and lock down everyone's machines. Thunderbird isn't going to solve your virus, crashing and junk mail problems. I would look into Exchange SPAM software and a managed anti-virus solution (such as Symantec).

Some could possibly handle 2000. I'm talking 133mhz/233mhz machines here. The faster ones are the 366mhz boxes. I'm not much of a networking guy other than home LANs, but I'm learning. Our IT guy was let go a looonnggg time ago. I've been going computer-to-computer and doing cleanups, installations, and training on a per-user basis. So I'm kind of sales/IT guy.

 

[MrChad]

10 year old hardware and software needs to be replaced. It's a cost of doing business. Windows 95 and 98 aren't even supported anymore, and it's a huge security risk keeping them around. Look at it this way: how much money are they losing by sorting through junk mail, cleaning up viruses and troubleshooting crashes?

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: MrChad
10 year old hardware and software needs to be replaced. It's a cost of doing business. Windows 95 and 98 aren't even supported anymore, and it's a huge security risk keeping them around. Look at it this way: how much money are they losing by sorting through junk mail, cleaning up viruses and troubleshooting crashes?

Boy do I know Like most companies, they do not want to spend money on anything. The computers work and the software doesn't require newer hardware, so why bother upgrading? It's that type of mentality here. So I'm in the position of "don't spend money, but fix the computers."

 

[Kaido]

Well, as long as I'm playing with ideas, what would be less hassle - Linux or Windows? My VP is a big MS fan, but I lean more towards Linux, mainly just for reliability. However, if you don't know Linux, then Linux is hard. Personally, I want a set-and-forget solution. Linux seems to have the best offering. I ran a Red Hat web server for a long, long time, and it was simply fantastic. Windows gets more...complicated. So, playing the hypothetical game, what would you get?

 

[sourceninja]

if you really want to use thunderbird, you could turn on imap support, but you would loose a lot of exchange features.

Perty much most linux based email server solutions are going to be exchange clones or imap anyways, so you wont gain anything from switching from exchange. Just use your favorite imap client (like thunderbird) and maybe setup a ldap address book.

 

[nweaver]

Hula is a nice mail server, even has (some) calendering.

When they talk about a buisness case, that is saying "We should switch from X to Y, and here are the reasons" that usually related down to time (which is money) and money.

Switching users from Windows 95 to Ubuntu with a Domain controller will save use 100 administration hours per month, 25 end user hours per month in reliabilty and spyware/virus related issues. The OS is free for distrubution, there will be a 100 hour learning curve were we loose X amount of productivity. This solution would pay for itself in Y months.

That is a (short and generic) business case. Why switch, switch to what, what are the costs, what are the savings, what training is required, what long term costs are involed, etc.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: nweaver
Hula is a nice mail server, even has (some) calendering.

When they talk about a buisness case, that is saying "We should switch from X to Y, and here are the reasons" that usually related down to time (which is money) and money.

Switching users from Windows 95 to Ubuntu with a Domain controller will save use 100 administration hours per month, 25 end user hours per month in reliabilty and spyware/virus related issues. The OS is free for distrubution, there will be a 100 hour learning curve were we loose X amount of productivity. This solution would pay for itself in Y months.

That is a (short and generic) business case. Why switch, switch to what, what are the costs, what are the savings, what training is required, what long term costs are involed, etc.

Nice, thanks!

 

[CVSiN]

Originally posted by: MrChad

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: MrChad
Why do you want to move off of Exchange? Outlook + Exchange is tough to beat feature-wise, especially if your company is a Microsoft shop.

We have older computers, mostly running 95 and 98. The newest version of Outlook we have is 2000. We've had virus problems, junk mail problems, crashes/freezing, etc., due from lack of user education and faulty MS products. The easiest solution is to drop Thunderbird in, but Thunderbird doesn't like the idea of internal mail from Exchange. Our server, NT4, crashes constantly - at least once a day, sometimes twice. I do not have server access, but I can make recommendations. The company wants to keep costs minimal. I'd personally prefer a Dell/Linux solution, but I don't think that that is going to happen. How good are the new version of Windows server, compared to say, NT4, and also Linux? My experience with Linux has been fantastic, which is why I'm leaning there.

Can those older computers support Windows 2000 or XP? If you upgraded to say ... Small Business Server 2003, set up an Active Directory and upgraded your 9x clients to NT-based OSes, you could easily manage and lock down everyone's machines. Thunderbird isn't going to solve your virus, crashing and junk mail problems. I would look into Exchange SPAM software and a managed anti-virus solution (such as Symantec).

we too run a native 2003 environment and it works very well when locked down properly.

only other option is Lotus Notes... but it basically takes over everything...
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