[CentOS] Email/GroupWare Suite

[Max Hetrick]

Rainer Duffner wrote:

> For Zimbra, yes.
> But honestly: how on earth would they be able to guarantee that it's  
> working correctly in any other meaningful way?
> Would you like to do support for your product that relies on a dozen  
> or more external other products (that aren't maintained in most  
> Enterprise Linux distributions anyway) when any of the vendors you  
> support the product on can introduce a patch anyday that changes some  
> stuff only you need in your software - and now you have customers all  
> over the world phoning you why your P-O-S-software stopped working out- 
> of-a-sudden.

I would have to agree here too. It can be a pain if you would have to 
maintain all the dependencies on a boxed system like this. There are 
plus and minuses to both. This is much like VMware's model for their 
Infrastructure software. (Yes, I know I'm comparing apples and oranges, 
but am using it as an example.) They are running on a RHEL base, which 
they maintain. You can't, or should I say you shouldn't, install, 
modify, or fiddle with any of your own packages, because they are 
supporting the actual OS, all the dependencies, as well as their own code.

This is a plus because the project X maintains the patches, updates, 
bugs, etc. I think you could argue this as a benefit, or a nuisance, but 
if you're not looking to have to maintain separate pieces of a system, 
then it would be a benefit. If you have the time and resources to 
maintain them all separately, then you have the choice of choosing 
something where you have more control.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe Zimbra tells you right up front that it 
should be a dedicated server for just Zimbra. It's purpose is exactly 
that, and you get what is advertised.

I guess this is why mailing lists exist, so everyone can give their 
opinions and experiences as advice. Ultimately, you choose the project 
that you can best maintain given your time and experience, and what best 
meets your needs. My two cents anyways.

Regards,
Max