On 4/6/07, Robert Smits <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Friday 06 April 2007 08:34, Chris Cioffi wrote:
> Outlook is far more than just email. The Outlook/Exchange combination is
> something I haven't seen really replicated yet. The combination of Email,
> Calendar, Todo and Journal, even if individually lacking, combine into a
> very powerful tool. Especially the ability to *easily* schedule meeting
> and assign tasks.
Outlook is a bug-ridden Windows product that introduces more viruses to its
users than any other email client.
Outlook is a major business application with more people being daily
users that just about any other email/PIM product ever developed. The
last couple of versions aren't too buggy, just showing their
underlying design flaws. I can't argue the security issue. In no
small part that's why I'm evaluating OOo and hoping that it comes out
with a decent replacement for Office.
> So, given that Thunderbird is an inferior tool for serious business why
> would you promote it? And, given the glaring omission of a PIM in OOo
> right now, why should a business choose it?
Lack of inclusion of a PIM in OO does not mean businesses don't have access to
a PIM. If they're using Linux, they already have PIMs.
Well, OOo runs on far more than just Linux. And I still haven't seen
a huge migration of corporate desktops to Linux. (Note: Now that
Vista is out I suspect there might be, but XP still has a few years
left in it.)
>
> Seriously, in a business setting users expect a full featured, integrated
> PIM like Outlook/Exchange. Yeah, Outlook sucks for email and it's not even
> close to the best for anything else it does, but it's a single tool and
> when integrated with Exchange it really does set a very high bar for
> overall functionality. Not everyone in an organization needs it, but guess
> what? The folks making the decisions do! And they aren't going to settle
> for a second rate solution.
If they settle for Windows they already have. You haven't described anything
in Outlook that Kontact doesn't already deliver. Why waste all that time
reinventing the wheel?
If all you're offering is another wheel why should I switch? And, of
course, the question needs to be asked: if we don't want to waste
time re-inventing the wheel why are there multiple PIMs for Linux?
Why isn't there just 1 really good one?
> PS: Yes, I know that not all midsize+ organizations use Outlook/Exhange
> and that there are alternatives if you cobble together enough different
> tools. The fact remains that Outlook/Exchange is currently king of the hill
> in that space, and calling it just an email system ignores a significant
> part of it's value proposition.
I'm not even sure it's "king of the hill" in Windows unless you mean more
people are deluded enough to use it. Lotus SmartSuite and Lotus Notes
provided that functionality to Windows and OS/2 users long ago, and did a
better job sooner.
I've used both Outlook and Notes. While Notes _may_ have better
functionality, it is just about the worst user experience I can
possibly imagine. In fact, Lotus Notes offers a compelling case for
going back to paper memos sent via interoffice mail.
In the real world, software success is easily measured by the number
of people using the product. Calling people deluded for using a
product that meets their needs isn't likely to help your cause.
Especially when by any reasonable measure your alternative is little
more than a curiosity.
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