Thanks for linking to us. I think Evolution dropped the ball here - if Lightning for Thunderbird really gets going and they add an Exchange wrapper, I think the Thunderbird client can really, really pick up the ball here.

Jason,

You stated, "Finally, if your definition of an acceptable workplace platform is an OS that works exactly like Windows, by all means, use Windows. However, if you're interested in broadening your platform horizons, you needn't give up so easily."

You believe that spending hours upon hours over a ten year period is giving up easy? Wow, I am not sure how much more time and energy you would like me to put into this process.

I am not knocking Linux nor am I stating that it needs to function exactly like Windows. What I am saying is that attempting to do my job at a company where our email is based on Exchange makes it too time consuming and difficult to pursue a Linux based solution for my personal PC.

There is not enough time in the day for me to do the job I am paid to do and become a Linux guru. So Linux looses to Microsoft, again.

Regards,

Jim Sampson

Hi Jim --

Are you not able to access Exchange public folders via IMAP?

Jason

Jason,

I was attempting to use the functionality built into Evolution. If that is IMAP then yes.

My system no longer has Linux on it as I needed to get back to work. This means I cannot test anything else at the present time.

Regards,

Jim

Wow, Jason, your knowledge of Linux email software and Evolution functionality seems somewhat limited.

Are you sure you were 100% concentrated during your "hours upon hours over a ten year period"

Jim --

I asked because there are two ways to access Exchange from Evolution -- via IMAP and via the Exchange Connector.

You were probably using the Exchange Connector, which works well for some and doesn't work at all for others. I've had enough ups and downs with the Connector that I came to use IMAP exclusively.

The problem is that the Exchange Connector doesn't speak to Exchange across the same MAPI interface that Outlook does. The Connector uses a separate interface that's related to OWA.

If you want to see how it is accessing Exchange via IMAP, you don't need Evolution or Linux, you can do it with any mail client. Just choose IMAP server, and use your Exchange server address as the address for the IMAP server. The stuff you're able to access will be the same stuff you'd be able to access using Evo or Thunderbird or whatever on Linux.

Also, I really don't mean to demean your hours of effort -- it can be very hard to get your bearings with a lot of this stuff, and we all have better things to do than fiddle with software settings.

Jason

Don't be a hater, Thomas! :)

I can give that IMAP thing a shot if you'd like using a LiveCD. If it works as well as you say, I probably could move all my editorial duties to Linux.

Well, I think i've heard this before. :-(

The story told clearly shows what happens when one uses solutions not even trying to adhere to Open Standards. Just do things a little different, try to bring in something The Vendor did not expect or want to happen and you're done. Evolution might not be the perfect example for general goodwill - as the client has it's limitations even without the Exchange connector, but Novell is at least trying to fix that and where it's standards-based there is a chance.

However, the main problem here is Exchange.

The reason the connector works so badly is that the protocol and data format it is using is pretty much microsoft-proprietary (private-type schema objects over WebDAV, correctly identified as having been designed to support OWA and also being used for Microsoft's equally-closed-architecture Entourage client on the Mac).

Had Microsoft provided full public specs on the protocol or - even better - tried to work on standardization of advanced email, calendar and contact access through IMAP extensions and things such as CalDAV or CardDAV, it would be much easier and MSFT would certainly still be able to retain their leadership role because by providing the standards-based implementation, they would also be just a little ahead in better integration and functionality.

However, they haven't learned their lesson.

So - the solution should be to consider exchanging Exchange. Working for a company that offers just that - Scalix - I might be a bit prejudiced here, but that's what the plan looks like - nicely cut down in phases:

Phase 1 - Exchange exchange. Replace Exchange server with a Scalix system running on Linux. Not only do you save on licensing cost, but you also get going on a open-standards and open-source based platform with an inherent clients-of-choice strategy. You keep running your Outlook clients because Scalix provides a Connector supporting those well.

Phase 2 - You can also use an Ajax-based web interface that many consider as usable as Outlook or more, but thin, highly independent of any specific client operating system AND browser - unlike OWA it runs and looks well in Firefox and Mozilla based engines as well. You may start using Evolution, just like for Exchange there is an Open Source connector, but as the protocol used (Calendaring with iCal data over IMAP) is a lot better documented and straightforward.

Phase 3 - somewhat futuresque - Open Standards. I believe 2007 is going to be the pivotal year for open standards in calendaring; finally, CalDAV is going to take off; not only do Vista and Apple's upcoming Leopard operating systems provide CalDAV client implementations as a standard, also the great Sun folks invest heavily in the Mozilla Thunderbird/Lightning Calendar package as they want to turn this into the Outlook killer component for Open Office. Great Move. Scalix is planning to support CalDAV - which at the same time is moving towards RFC standardization in one of it's next server releases, so all comes together well.

And the best - it would remain this way.

Sure, some of this is still a bit optimistic, visionary and in the making; but it CAN be done and we're working hard to make it happen.

For that one fine day people like Jason really have the choice they want....

Just my 0,02.......
Florian.