Help me fight Microsoft Exchange at work!

[swanky]

So, today was the day... We started using Microsoft Exchange at work, and basically this means I can not access my email from home (since I don't use Outlook).

When I asked my boss why we couldn't keep on using an ordinary email system, she more or less challenged me to come up with why Outlook/exchange was a bad idea.

I'm going to do just that.

So I turn to the knowledgable crew at Anandtech: I'm new to Exchange (never had to worry about it before now) - are there any flaws that I could use when trying to reason with my boss? I'm gonna try the diplomatic angle first.

Thank you for reading this through!

swanky

 

[Ynog]

Well there is the fact that most virus are designed to exploit weaknesses in Outlook.

 

[trs25]

Why not use outlook web access?

We use IMAP here, but if I was forced to use Outlook and didn't have it at home i would just use the web version

 

[swanky]

Originally posted by: trs25
Why not use outlook web access?

We use IMAP here, but if I was forced to use Outlook and didn't have it at home i would just use the web version

Well, Outlook Web Access is little more than a crap webmail client. It feels like I'm using a ten year old version of chinese Hotmail or something.

My desired outcome would be to be able to use a standard email client like Thunderbird, but that seems to be far off.

swanky

 

[Thor86]

You should be able to use regular pop email clients no problems with Exchange. You should however use an email client that allows for copy(ies) of your mail to stay on the server otherwise your downloading your mailbox off the Exchange server. Good luck.

 

[GTiBri]

Yeah, what Thor86 said.

If you aren't running POP3 then you would need to enable it.

 

[JackBurton]

Uh, you don't like Exchange because you can't use the email client you want? Too bad. 95% of the US companies either run Exchange or Domino Servers. If you don't like Exchange you'll REALLY love Domino Servers.

Don't knock it 'til you try it. Exchange is a great product. The reason you don't like it is because you don't have any experience with it. If you are running Windows 2000/2003 AD, you'll want to use Exchange 2000/2003. If you are an Administrator or someone that has to support the email service, you just don't go with anything but Exchange. If you are a user that wants to use their cool email client that they personally like, again, too bad.

 

[Alternex]

Exchange rocks! It's actually useful!

 

[oog]

Webmail with Exchange 2003 is a much improved offering.

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: oog
Webmail with Exchange 2003 is a much improved offering.

That's an understatement. It simply replaces the need for Outlook clients, for what I use it for at least.

 

[BrianA]

Yup. The OWA client for 2003 is pretty damn neat.

And if a user came to me complaining that they didnt like the mail server we were using simply because they couldnt use the mail client they liked....

 

[DaCurryman]

Wow...everyone just turned on the OP. I can't help you either. I personally can't stand using outlook (even compared to Outlook Express), but for a business, I think Outlook/Exchange/Active Directory is an awesome tool.

 

[Nothinman]

As much as I hate to admit it Exchange is actually a good product, it makes me wonder who MS licensed it from.

But either way you can enable IMAP access (don't use POP3) and use any IMAP client to access your mail. Calendering and things won't work but you probably don't care about that.