[NBLUG/talk] alternative to Exchange?

[Sebastian]

> A person in my office is seeking an alternative to
> M$ Exchange for email and calendar services.  What would
> be the Linux drop-in replacement?  (or, free and offering
> compatible/similiar functionality?)

That is the golden question, and one I revisit as often as I can.
Unfortunately, there isn't a good answer yet. In order to get closer
though, you need to look at what you consider a 'drop-in replacement'.
Client and server? Just server or client? Do really need features such as
shared calendaring? Or is a personal calendar and full email sufficient?
The shared calendar is where it gets tricky, as there isn't much out there
to do this.

A centralized email model similar to Exchange is easily achieved via an
IMAP server and any compatible client. An OpenLDAP directory stores the
global address list(s). Evolution, Thunderbird, Mutt, etc, all have good
IMAP support. Evolution has nice personal calendar and task list
functions, and can talk to a native Exchange server for using each. It's
gotten really good in the last year.

You might look at web-based solutions, too. Some of these are among the
closest to achieving a useful shared calendar. I've had good experiences
with the Horde framework.

There are a couple of commercial products that can actually emulate an
exchange server. The only one I can name off the top of my head is
Communigate Pro from Stalker Software. While a somewhat strange program,
it's got a ton of compelling features, and proved to be stable and useful
in my testing a couple of years ago.

HTH
Sebastian