I will briefly resume the situation:
I.NET is an internet provider that sells messaging services to its customers.
Besides classical SMTP/POP3/IMAP servers, now a new calendar server has been deployed, and the need for a powerful, integrated client interface arises.
All the software is custom, running on systems that aren't necessarily intel-based. Therefore, an internet protocol for client-server interaction is mandatory.
Moreover, while the choice between different clients on different platforms would be welcome, the truth is that Microsoft, with Outlook and Exchange, is the de-facto standard in many companies (the other contender, Lotus Notes, is losing shares agains MS).
People tends to hate changes, and software interfaces are no excaption.
Surely, we have our own web-based interface that lets you fully exploit the group calendar features, but as long as we're not 100% compatible with Outlook, we will always be refused by a *huge* share of our potential customers.
So the problem is: how to integrate Outlook?
Two ways are possible: "Exchange emulation" and "Outlook connector".
I will list the pros and cons of both solutions, at my best knowledge of them:
Exchange Emulator:
+ server-side code: just a few computers to administer, upgrade and monitor
+ server-side code: simpler environment, I exactly know hw and sw on which it will run
+ server-side code: I'm not bound to Windows
- shall also handle domain logon and other NT services Outlook expects when connecting to Exchange
- specifications may change as MS upgrades Exchange or Outlook
- it is not really known if and when a release will be available, since the whole problem is not well defined yet (1)
Outlook connector:
+ quite stable MAPI specifications: I'm not supposed to chase MS on every software update
+ I can forecast a six, nine month development time for a working release
- client-side code: all the pluses of the "Exchange Emulator" as minuses
(1)
I wrote those same considerations to Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton, which has been nice to contact me and is much more competent on exchange network protocol reverse engineering than I am.
He told me that Exchange server not only relies on RPC calls (presumably MAPI calls forwarded), but also on SMB and on old (windows 3.11) Microsoft Mail MAPI calls (omonimous with "our" MAPI, but previous and now outdated). He also told me that Exchange 2000 has raised minimum compatibility requirements to fairly exotic features like kerberos authentication and active directory.
That's why I'm supposing the "Exchange Emulator" being a more complex trial than Outlook connector.
This is my (current) opinion:
"I would like an Exchange Emulator, but I can oly afford an Outlook connector"
I'd like to hear what you think about it.
Luca
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