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The Best Open Source Alternatives to MS Exchange
No matter what you might happen to think of it, the fact of the matter is that we live in a Microsoft- driven enterprise environment. Whether this is for better or for worse, the fact is that some legacy ways of doing things are just so embedded, than even attempting to try an alternative is laughable.
All of that being said, I believe that enterprise-level groupware (define) functionality is not one of those legacy applications. In short, I believe in groupware offerings outside of the halls of Microsoft. And it is in this spirit, that I will now take on the task of creating a list of the best open source alternatives to Microsoft Exchange.
Said to be a rock-solid groupware software suite, OpenGroupware is able to accomplish the bulk of what most users would be expecting from it. The provided functionality includes: Contact management, a collective group calendar, tasks, email, a news feed, in addition to advanced user management.
One area that I feel OpenGroupware happens to drop the ball is with mobile synchronization. Based on what I have been told and from my own experience with the Exchange alternative, the best one can hope for with mobile synchronization is to use a dated Palm device.
So while many non-profits or other groups not needing a mobile synchronization option might be able to make this work for them, the fact of the matter is that many enterprise environments might have issues with the apparent lack of Blackberry compatibility.
Best suited for: Non-profits, small businesses, and clubs.
Described in the promotional material as "commercial-grade," I tend to agree with this assessment due to the fact that it is in a position to provide the level of functionality that the enterprise user is going to be looking for.
What speaks to me most of the Scalix option is that there is a shared importance between the ability to provide a strong collaboration suite, while still remaining on planet Earth as to ensure support for mobile device synchronization with Blackberry or Windows Mobile.
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