CommuniGate is an excellent piece of software. With in the limits that Jon laid out, it's a solid performer.
-keith According to Jon on 12/13/06 12:28 PM, word on the street was: > Hi; > > CommuniGate Pro is free for five users and runs on OSX even. It work with > Outlook, but only IMAP/POP in Entourage. You would need to use iCAL or their > webmail. They also have a Flash based UI called pronto that is in beta and > works on OSX if you felt webmail was not going to cut it. CommuniGate also has > IM that works with Messenger for OSX. > > Jon >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> >> From: Keith Johnson <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> >> To: Entourage:mac Talk <mailto:[email protected]> >> >> Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:48 AM >> >> Subject: Re: Need Cross-platform to-do list: Exchange? >> >> >> In my experience, this is the only real value of Exchange in a small >> company... and it's probably not worth the cost. >> >> I used to do IT work for a bank back in Michigan. I had 1000 end users in my >> section, the bank had about 10,000 employees total. The Public Folders >> running on Exchange allowed calendar 'sharing.' My section spearheaded the >> migration from cc:Mail to Exchange, so I got to solve all the problems >> associated with the whole thing. >> >> Exchange is a resource pig. You'll need a separate sever to run it. You'll >> need a Microsoft Domain structure set up to deal with authentication for >> users. So, if you don't already live in a Domain at work, that's two servers >> you'll need to get. >> >> On the good news side, if all you want to do is calendar sharing and you >> really don't care about how beautiful your domain is, you can set your >> way-back machine for the year 1999, buy two really cheap Dell desktops, add >> lots of RAM to one of them, add extra hard drives to both of them, install >> an NT4.0 (SP6a) Domain with NT controlled RAID on both, make the one with >> base RAM the Domain Controller, put Exchange 5.5 on the 'beefy' machine and >> have your employees connect to that... The problem with that is that NT is >> no longer supported, but its system requirements are so low that it can run >> on a cheap desktop and... it gets kind of crazy. >> >> If you want to do Exchange 'right' you're going to have to spend a lot of >> money. One really beefy server on which to set up an XP or Server 2003 >> Active Domain and the Exchange server. But licensing and activation are real >> issue with those products. I would recommend XP if you can get it and >> Exchange 2000 over the 2003 issues because those implementations are >> actually more stable and better patched. >> >> Lastly, when Exchange is working properly, it works like a dream... when it >> starts to get buggy, the reasons for its bugginess are mind-bogglingly >> legion. The people who delve into problem-solving on Exchange Servers are >> more like magicians and voodoo priests than technicians... and that's been >> true since at least Exchange 4.5 (which is when I jumped into that mystical >> world). >> >> My question for you is this: Have you rejected web-based calendars? There >> are things like Yahoo! (another company I did work for) Calendar... but they >> have information ownership and accessibility issues, but there are also >> implementations that you can set up on your own web server if you have one. >> I've always recommended web-based calendars for small companies due to their >> cost-effectiveness. >> >> Here's a link to one that I tend to recommend to small companies... it's >> simple, pretty, and free: >> >> http://www.k5n.us/webcalendar.php >> >> If your company has a website that supports SQL databases (I use MySQL but >> POSTGRESQL works seamlessly as well), you can install this in a directory of >> your web server and your folks can get to it from anywhere. If you want to >> keep it *completely* private and in-house, set up a small linux box in your >> office and put it on there. You can share the calendar in house, and it'll be >> completely unhackable. >> >> I have never played with Sharepoint. >> >> >> Hope that helps, and I'll be more than willing to get into details... I >> didn't want to overwhelm anyone with an initial opinion. >> >> Peace, >> >> -keith >> >> >> >> >> >> According to Pitch on 12/13/06 8:20 AM, word on the street was: >> >> >>> My new company needs the ability for its 5 employees (each located in their >>> own home offices) to be able to share to-dos and preferably a calendar, >>> too. There's a couple of Mac and a couple of PC users. Everyone uses either >>> Entourage or Outlook. While we know our perspective programs pretty well, >>> none of us have used Exchange. >>> >>> We're wondering if this is what Exchange will do for us. Is there a >>> tutorial somewhere that explains what Exchange does? >>> >>> Also: one of the PC partners has the ability to set up a Sharepoint >>> account. I'm wondering if anyone has played with this as an option. >>> >>> I'm open to anyone's ideas on how to set up some kind of network >>> cross-platform to-do tracking system. I'd so love to remain inside of >>> Entourage, so that I don't have to create two systems, but I'd be willing >>> to do it if it made sense. We're looking at things such as BaseCamp, too. >>> Any personal experiences in this realm will be most appreciated. >>> >>> Scott >> >
