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Re: [TCLUG:676] Conert from exchange to sendmail




>Is there a significant advantage to using MS Exchange versus a normal
>POP server?  The company I work at right now wants to set up some
>Exchange servers at $4000 a pop to replace some old Lotus CC:Mail
>routers.  The company needs to have scheduling capability--is that
>handled client-side or server-side?



    We converted our e-mail from cc:Mail to POP3 a while ago -- we had been
looking at using MS Exchange but the cost and reputed instability of
Exchange led us to decide to scale down a bit.
    We don't really use shared scheduling software, mainly because it rarely
gets used, and the constant need to upgrade users' desktop software is a big
pain and a big expense.  We've found that as far as groupware goes, it's
easier to work with intranet tools (such as Selena Sol's cgi Calendar, or a
cgi outboard I recently built myself) than pay to do it the MS way.
    So, the pros are, we saved $35,000 (at least), we have a system that
works and is secure, stable and standards-based.  And I got a raise.
    The cons are, it's not as idiot-friendly as Exchange (although it
requires less maintenance), there are very few GUI tools to work with the
system (I'm still looking for a good way to allow users to change their own
e-mail passwords -- anybody have any hints for a cgi password change form?),
and your system is bound to be a little idiosyncratic, especially if you
want scheduling -- while I won't say that support is unavailable, you're
still going to need an expert on-staff who knows your systems inside and
out.  Of course, you should have that *anyways* -- for me, the biggest
downfall of NT is that anyone who can succesfully operate a Win95 box seems
to qualify as an "expert" in NT.

    If you want to take a great big leap into the world of intranet-based
groupware, you might want to look at this:  http://intrastore.cdc.com.  It's
a free mail, scheduling & application server.  Users access everything
through their web browser -- Netscape, IE or whatever -- I don't even think
java support is required, just forms.  The great thing, of course, is that
no desktop upgrades will be required, *ever*.  Even the lowliest 386 with
Win3.11 can run a web browser.  The only thing that you'll ever upgrade is
the server itself, and that should be possible with little to no downtime.