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Johnsie
August 21st, 2009, 02:36 PM
Hi,
I work for a company and I'm looking to save on licensing costs. We can't switch to Linux because of our harware and software requirements. I would like to move to Open Office rather than MS Office but I need a replacement for Outlook which OO currently doesn't have. Evolution is the closest thing I've found to Outlook but it doesn't perform too great on Windows. Thunderbird doesn't have the calendar facilties that outlook has.

My requirements are as follows:

-can connect to an exchange server to get mails
-runs on Windows
-has calendar
-has 'out of office' facility

Does anyone know of any good free/open source applications that would be good for this and meet those requirements?

dragos240
August 21st, 2009, 02:57 PM
What about Koffice. It has kmail, people seem to love it, as it has those features. You may want to install kde for windows, and use kmail that way.

Johnsie
August 21st, 2009, 02:59 PM
I'll give that a shot and see how it performs.

jrothwell97
August 21st, 2009, 03:11 PM
Evolution. (http://www.dipconsultants.com/evolution/)

dragos240
August 21st, 2009, 03:13 PM
Evolution. (http://www.dipconsultants.com/evolution/)

He said that it didn't work well for him.

Johnsie
August 21st, 2009, 03:14 PM
I mentioned Evlotuion in my first post. It suffers performance issues on Windows. This is a professional production environment so it needs to work well.

Tristam Green
August 21st, 2009, 03:15 PM
Thunderbird can have the calendar functionality you want, with the Lightning Plugin.

Easy to set up, easy to use, can bind with Exchange calendars or Google Calendars.

ajgreeny
August 21st, 2009, 03:28 PM
Thunderbird can have the calendar functionality you want, with the Lightning Plugin.

Easy to set up, easy to use, can bind with Exchange calendars or Google Calendars.
+1
It's the way to go, in my opinion. Thunderbird is so well known and respected, and with the lightning add-on, it's as near to Outlook as anything else, certainly preferable to evolution.

Johnsie
August 21st, 2009, 03:43 PM
Yes, I'm liking that lightning plugin. That plugin should come standard with Thunderbird. Now all I need to do is get this hooked up to the exchange mailboxes/address book. I think there are few tutorials on the web about that.

The hardware stopping us migrating to Ubuntu is a printer and I have emailed Toshiba-Tec to see what their policies toward Linux are:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1246122

The software is going to be a bit more tricky as I haven't found any 'eye in the sky' GPS tracking watching programs for Linux. We use a program that lets us look at a map and see where our vehicles are with their routes, speed etc. It's essential that we can do that as we need to prove to our clients that our vehicles are tracked.

Joeb454
August 21st, 2009, 03:47 PM
If you're running an exchange server, why not look into simply paying for outlook only?

Sometimes in business, despite what you may prefer, MS stuff is necessary...for now at least

Johnsie
August 21st, 2009, 03:56 PM
Part of my job is to save money. If I can find a decent free way of doing things then I will do it that way. Also, getting users used to open source applications will make operating system migration easier for the users if we ever decide to move away from Windows.

I wont implement anything that is unprofessional or doesn't meet the users requirements.

dutchman72
August 21st, 2009, 03:57 PM
Stick with the Thunderbird option, by far its the best open source alternative to Outlook available for all platforms.

As for your calendaring requirement, add the Sunbird project to it. It integrates well with Thunderbird (having been developed by the same teams) and it is also capable of being a good stand alone calendar. This I have found to be a good thing if you only needed to check your appointments and don't want to open up the email client as well. Plus, in linux at least, you can even have it on your desktop as a widget (haven't been on windows in a long while to see if it does the same).

Dr. C
August 21st, 2009, 04:14 PM
If you're running an exchange server, why not look into simply paying for outlook only?

Sometimes in business, despite what you may prefer, MS stuff is necessary...for now at least

I would first check the license for Exchange Server to see if it includes Outlook. Many businesses do not realize this and end up paying twice. I know that for Small Business Server 2003 Outlook is included. Then run OpenOffice and Outlook.

Johnsie
August 21st, 2009, 04:18 PM
That sounds interesting. I don't have access to the server or any outlook cd's though, apart for an iso on technet which is supposed to be for evaluation only. Not sure about the legality of that.

juancarlospaco
August 21st, 2009, 04:22 PM
Evolution with Ubuntu Portable works nice.
:)

Johnsie
August 21st, 2009, 04:27 PM
I'll check that out. You sure the performance is ok?

helliewm
August 21st, 2009, 04:39 PM
Try Mulberry Mail. I really liked it a lot in Windows. Its free. http://www.mulberrymail.com/

Its an integrated Email, Calendar and Contacts rather like Outlook. Its excellent in Windows but not so good in Linux, the reverse of Evolution.

Helen

Johnsie
August 21st, 2009, 04:43 PM
Thanks. Does it support exchange?

helliewm
August 21st, 2009, 04:48 PM
Not sure. If go to http://www.emaildiscussions.com/ this forum should be able to help you. If a very geeky forum for the discussion of all things email, mail servers and email clients etc. Its very friendly like the Ubuntu Forums:). I am hellie on that forum:)


Helen

LowSky
August 21st, 2009, 04:55 PM
The software is going to be a bit more tricky as I haven't found any 'eye in the sky' GPS tracking watching programs for Linux. We use a program that lets us look at a map and see where our vehicles are with their routes, speed etc. It's essential that we can do that as we need to prove to our clients that our vehicles are tracked.

http://tuxmobil.org/linux_gps_navigation_applications.html

swoll1980
August 21st, 2009, 05:22 PM
The truth is, there really is none. Outlook is by far, the best in this category.

Johnsie
August 21st, 2009, 07:04 PM
I'm starting to think that too. It's not the most complicated feat of software engineering in the world, so I'm wondering why there are so few serous contenders out there.

Evolution and Thunderbird are ok, but in a professional environment they just don't match Outlook.

Ric_NYC
August 21st, 2009, 07:13 PM
Anyone tried Zimbra?
There is a Linux version:
http://www.zimbra.com/


This is interesting. Feature comparison with Outlook and Thunderbird:

http://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=Yahoo!_Zimbra_Desktop_FAQ#Feature_ Comparison_with_Competing_Products

kimo9909
September 5th, 2009, 02:51 AM
Anyone tried Zimbra?
There is a Linux version:
http://www.zimbra.com/


This is interesting. Feature comparison with Outlook and Thunderbird:

http://wiki.zimbra.com/index.php?title=Yahoo!_Zimbra_Desktop_FAQ#Feature_ Comparison_with_Competing_Products

I too like Zimbra. My University uses it. It is rather difficult to get it working on 64bit Jaunty though. I'm still trying!

shatteredmindofbob
September 5th, 2009, 06:05 AM
Not free, but cheap would be Postbox (http://www.postbox-inc.com) It's a proprietary fork of Thunderbird (has the Lightning extension as well) but adds a crapload of features.

A single user license is $40, depending on the size of the company, you may be able to get volume discounts.

longtom
September 5th, 2009, 10:52 AM
I too like Zimbra. My University uses it. It is rather difficult to get it working on 64bit Jaunty though. I'm still trying!

Have you seen this: http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-zimbra-desktop-on-ubuntu8.04

It's not Jaunty - but it might get you some ideas....

But I am probably running in open doors....

kimo9909
September 5th, 2009, 07:37 PM
Have you seen this: http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-zimbra-desktop-on-ubuntu8.04

It's not Jaunty - but it might get you some ideas....

But I am probably running in open doors....

I tried that, although it was from wiki.zimbra, but it still did not work. They are working on the 64 bit version so I will be patient! :)

NormanFLinux
September 5th, 2009, 08:15 PM
Save yourself some work and make an .sh file executable. That will bring up the GUI installer. I had to temporarily change permissions to install it in usr/share where all the other programs live. It can be added as a replacement for the default Kmail email client in Ubuntu/Kubuntu. Its an open source replacement for Outlook and unlike Outlook its supported across Windows/Mac/Linux platforms. Much like Open Office has done for the office suite Zimbra promises to do for exchange servers.

Frak
September 5th, 2009, 08:23 PM
IMHO, just pay for the licensing. There really isn't a full alternative for Outlook on the Windows platform.

NormanFLinux
September 5th, 2009, 08:30 PM
I think that's from human dependence on what's familiar rather than search for a good alternative. Zimbra is not that hard to install and set up. No more so than Outlook. Of course one can run Outlook on wine but it will never run as well as it does in Windows. The point of open source is to make software availability on a variety of platforms where they look and run the same. Microsoft only ported its office suite to Mac OSX but thats about it.

UKBB
September 5th, 2009, 08:34 PM
Save yourself some work and make an .sh file executable.

How does one do this?

NormanFLinux
September 5th, 2009, 10:03 PM
Go into Properties and put a check in the box make this file executable. Then you can double click the .sh file to bring up the packaged installer.

longtom
September 6th, 2009, 07:42 AM
Go into Properties and put a check in the box make this file executable. Then you can double click the .sh file to bring up the packaged installer.

Now you tell me...

Excedio
September 8th, 2009, 02:07 PM
Please don't give up on Thunderbird. Check this (http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/30/howto-thunderbird-and-ms-exchange-server/) out.

fatality_uk
September 8th, 2009, 07:22 PM
Please don't give up on Thunderbird. Check this (http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/30/howto-thunderbird-and-ms-exchange-server/) out.

I am a Linux lover, but quite frankly, on Windows Outlook is king. On my Linux lappy, I run Evolution and Ubuntu. My Windows lappy, only Outlook works.

NormanFLinux
September 8th, 2009, 10:02 PM
If you have a PowerPC, you're SOL on Zimbra. You can run the desktop edition on all Intel machines across operating systems. And the alternative is Thunderbird.