Howdy,

Just wondering if any of you have tinkered with or use Open Xchange.

IF you have no idea what im talking about, check out http://mirror.open-xchange.org/ox/EN/community/

It looks like an exchange replacment is pretty near.

Back to the point, I was wondering if anyone has used it or uses it and if it lives up to all it claims?

I have a fully working install on my server at home so I'll give you the pros and cons of it.
Pro's:
- It's free.
- Does everything it says it does, and well. It also runs suprisingly fast on my old dual P3 500Mhz box.
- Easy to use. Interface is clear and easy to customise
- All the group collaberation stuff works like a charm and is really handy. You can check availability of members in your assigned groups, share files with given groups, etc.
- Webmail isn't a bloated mess like the MS Exchange offering.
- Works with Outlook if you use their (OpenXChange's) module thingy

Cons:
- It is a pain in the ass to install. This is mainly due to LDAP and getting the ACLs (Access Control Lists) set up correctly, but there are other little bugs that can keep you pulling your hair out and swearing in frustration. If you do decide to install it, the most likely cause of your problems is permissions on things like the database, LDAP data files and the OpenXChange files. The good thing is that there is heaps of info out there on installing it and you should be able to find a solution to most problems.
- The webmail page has a rather random layout and all the frames can get frustrating
- There is no admin interface as standard, all your admin work is done via scripts on the command line. While I dont mind it too much, it is annoying if you want to add users when you aren't somewhere where you can SSH into the box you are hosting it on. There are a few add on admin modules people have written for it so look into it if it bothers you.

Thats about it really. Overall it is a fairly stable, polished product and very usable. I've never used a full blown MS Exchange setup (besides webmail for uni) so I can't comment on how it compares but I am certainly happy with everything OpenXChange does. It can be a pain to install but there are fairly detailed guides for most distros on how to go about it (I'm running Gentoo and the install guide for it was superb) and plenty of forum support to get you out of trouble. Hope that answers all your questions, let me know if you want some more specific stuff answered.

Check out Zimbra - I use it at home and its the bee's knees for an Exchange/Outlook type replacement.

Edit: link fixed

last edited by TicMan at 09:41:46 17/Apr/06

Thanks wallacedom, that was actually a really good summary :) Ill have to give it a go I think.

Ticman, that link didnt work :(

Was a .com instead of a .org

Cheers. Something I noticed ticman is that apparently in the open source version, it doesnt allow connection from outlook ? of are you using a "Free" copy :P

I just used the web client instead of the Outlook connector.