Posted by Irving Popovetsky on May 16th, 2008
I switched ProStructure over to Zimbra about a month ago. The good news is that we are absolutely loving it. The sad part is that this is our 4th open source based workgroup/calendaring solution in 5 years of doing business.
The Backstory
We started out with Webcal.pl for 2 years, then “upgraded” to OpenXchange (which was terrible) for 6 months or so, then SugarCRM for the last 2 years or so. Nobody was particularly happy with SugarCRM either, the interface was slow and buggy, and the interoperability with fat clients and devices never really worked out. You could say that our commitment to open source was hurting us, because none of the solutions were successful business enablers.
The hype around Zimbra has been considerable. Zimbra seemed to be advertised as the best open source based MS Exchange competitor. Although the Zimbra folks mention Exchange as little as possible, it is clearly where they set their sights.
Mini Review
Held at face value, the single most compelling feature for users is Zimbra’s Outlook-killer web interface. The user experience is really fantastic, I’ve seen Outlook, Thunderbird and Apple Mail/iCal users drop their fat clients and switch to using the web interface exclusively. It is just that good. You really have to try it out for yourself to see cool things like the Gmail-style email conversation views, smart tags and calendar views. The built-in IM functionality is a brilliant add-on as well.
But that’s not all. The commercial version of Zimbra (which is worth every penny) provides an Outlook connector which provides an Exchange-like user experience that is nearly imperceptible to most users. You can also purchase (as an add-on) over-the-air sync functionality for Windows Mobile, Palm and Blackberry devices (BES required).
Zimbra is also totally interoperable. The web interface works under IE, Firefox and Safari. Zimbra provides classic POP/IMAP/SMTP services for those that want to keep their old mail client. Calendars can be accessed via the iCalendar protocol, and even exposed to other users as authenticated or open icalendar or free/busy feeds. The IM functionality is fully standards-based, and supports any XMPP capable client like Pidgin/Gaim, Adium or Trillian.
But is Zimbra right for you?
Every business needs Calendaring just as much as it needs Email capability these days. In my opinion, business fall into 4 camps:
1. You have already invested in a recent version of Exchange or equivalent (Groupwise, Domino, etc)
Probably not. You’ve already invested 5 or 6 digits worth of capital, if not more, to get to your existing platform. If it’s running poorly, or seeing low rates of user acceptance, you may want to look at other factors first. There could be architecture or user expectation issues that could be managed with outside help, if you need it. You can consider a forklift to a better platform several years down the line, but a wholesale email/calendaring platform switch now may cost you your job.
2. You are running older versions of Exchange (5.5 or 2000)
Lets face it, most IT systems are fully depreciated within 3-5 years. Microsoft has left you out in the cold with mainstream support. Your server hardware is ancient and dying. Or did you try to just move that aging email system to newer hardware? You know who you are.
Upgrading to newer version of Exchange may not have to be a foregone conclusion for you. The cost savings of migrating to Zimbra may be significant. You’ll have to buy new servers, but those servers may be spec’ed a little bit leaner than you’d need for Exchange. You’ll need to retrain your admins anyway. The big issue is: Are you prepared to start running Linux servers? If you’re a blue-blooded Microsoft shop with absolutely no Linux experience or aspirations, Zimbra is probably not for you, Linux (or MacOS X server) is a requirement. If you think that you can train (or hire) some Linux talent, and pull it off, you will be loved by your users and management alike.
3. Those that currently run an open source based system (Postfix, Sendmail, etc + Sugar, webcal,etc)
What are you waiting for? Seriously, you’re probably holding your users back from having proper calendaring and scheduling, AntiSpam and AntiVirus filtering (unless you’re running AMaViS) or internal IM functionality. Go forth, and download the “Network Edition trial”. If you decide that the $399 “starter edition” or $35/user pricing is too expensive, let your license expire and it will automatically fall back to the open source edition functionality, disabling Outlook/mobile integration.
4. Those that currently have a hosted/outsourced solution
If letting someone else run your Email server doesn’t give you the heebeejeebies, check out the long list of providers lining up to do hosted Zimbra, which tends to run cheaper per-mailbox than hosted Exchange.
My Only concern about Zimbra is…
Yahoo and Microsoft. Last year, Zimbra was acquired by Yahoo. So far, Yahoo has let Zimba flourish, but all of this may change if Microsoft gets its hands on Yahoo. We thought the threat had passed, but recent news shows that Carl Icahn is launching a proxy battle to replace Yahoo’s board with a more Microsoft-friendly one.
What do you think Microsoft is going to do if it purchases the new single biggest threat to its very profitable Exchange product? I don’t think anyone who’s been following Microsoft’s decades of brutal predatory takeovers and monopolistic business practices is expecting Zimbra, its staff and any patent portfolio to survive in one piece or be spun off.
The fact that large parts of Zimbra is released under the GPL may not help. Microsoft may try threaten patent lawsuits against Zimbra’s customers as well as any business that sprouts up to support the GPLed version. They’ve done it with Linux, remember that they funded Baystar which funded SCO’s lawsuit against IBM, Novell, and a few large Linux customers.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that the threat of Microsoft takeover should ruin the the taste for Zimbra. Just be smart, and keep an eye out for the writing on the wall.
-Irving Popovetsky
Principal Consultant, ProStructure Consulting
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