On Thu, 2005-07-28 at 14:55, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
[ We really need to take this off-list ]
I think we're done - I was just hoping that someone would jump in and say they were using Evolution with Exchange2000 and verify what works or doesn't on the scheduling side.
But I gave up on it because it didn't interoperate with OutlookXP
Are you starting to understand why I call it "Hostageware"?
Yes, I do understand that, but I don't see you listing a big set of other interchangable clients/servers. I'm even less interested in being a hostage to some other product that does not allow mixing clients and servers.
Some of it is intentional. Some of it is sloppy, non-aligned x86 programming (e.g., MS Office for Windows -> Mac, ask some of the developers of the Mac suite what they think of their counterparts on the Windows version ;-).
I also didn't see you mention any bug-free alternative. I pointed out that when I was testing Evolution it didn't work right even on its own. Admittedly that was a version or two ago and I haven't tried the reminder notifications lately.
Scheduling has been done before Windows, after Windows with non-Microsoft tools, after Windows NT/95 with non-Microsoft tools and all-of-the-sudden, Exchange/Outlook appears, and people think it's the only thing.
No - but none of the earlier ones worked with free or other vendor's clients either.
Maybe you used Groupwise (which was an issue early on) and that's why.
Yes, we did have that here long ago, and yes that's probably why everyone likes outlook by comparison now.
I'm not at all a fan of Microsoft but outlook2003 basically works.
And many other solutions work very well. The question is that are you willing to look at them? Or are you insistent that they must work with the latest Outlook version?
Outlook isn't going away here, so I am only interested in something that will interoperate, preferably without needing windows on my own desktop. However I'd like to know about alternatives in case I'm ever in the position of setting a system up from scratch again, and in particular I'd like to know if there is anything fully standards compliant to the point that there are 2 or more servers that can replace each other without touching the clients and likewise two or more clients that can be used alternatively against the same server without losing any functionality. Without that you still have the same degree of lock-in even if the price is less.
Exchange2000 is supposed to be much better too,
Man, re-read that. ;->
That was regarding the web client which I don't care much about.
Microsoft bugs have caused enough trouble for me in the past that I'll never be pro-Microsoft, but I'm trying to stay vendor-agnostic on this issue.
Actually, I would say you're very much vendor-aligned. What you're expecting is Freedomware/Standardware to be Microsoft-aligned, not vendor-agnostic.
When someone shows me the scheduling server that can be transparently replaced with a different type because both use only standard protocols this argument will mean something.
E.g., I don't think Ford is useless because they don't provide parts that work on Chevy's.
I just want them to drive on the same road.