But I'm going back to the Big Guy
After my brief on and off flings with various Linux email solutions and a few one night stands with Domino for some quick cash, I’m going back to my quirky, comfortable and old time EX:
That’s Right, I’m going back to Exchange! Well I should correct myself, I’m not going back, the company I work for is going back, but I fully support it!
Small, Medium and Large Businesses seem to be moving back to Microsoft as a trusted source of there technical needs and all I can say is…. It’s about time! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a total MS Geek, but c’mon, Microsoft and Cisco are where the Money is at! You can’t get anything for free, without giving up a lot of practicality such as, ease of use, common functionality and most of all, support.
Now don’t get me wrong, Exchange hosting over the internet didn’t really become justly viable until the release of Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003’s Cached Exchange Mode. This has been a definite improvement over the Offline Folders Technology, offering complete synchronization of the mailbox without interruption and significantly reducing the overall amount of data sent between the server and Outlook after the first synchronization. They have also added RPC over HTTP protocol (KickASS), which in short; tunnels, encrypts over 443, bypassing most firewalls, therefore strengthening security. The other really cool thing about RPC/HTTP is that in the right circumstances you can eliminate the need for a VPN connection for email services. What will Microsoft think of next? The bad part I do see about this is that you are absolutely forced to upgrade user’s machines to Outlook 2003, which also means they have to be on at least 2000 Pro.
I know we all love to hate Microsoft. They do have some really bad habits of releasing software before it is really ready, convincing us that a bug is really an enhancement but without them this industry would be decked out with the pocket-protector wearing coke bottle glasses wearing “Geeks”!