Microsoft Exchange on Linux?!?
No doubt about it, Microsoft Exchange is pervasive. It's easily the dominant e-mail server in the enterprise.
For some though, the downside of Exchange is that it only works on the Microsoft Server software, a real downer for administrators craving a more Linux-like technical (and licensing) environment.
One way to avoid this lock-in may would be to deploy
OpenChange, an open source implementation of the Microsoft Exchange server protocols.
At an informal chat session at the USENIX conference, being held in Boston this week, Samba developer Gerald Carter mentioned this project, which we haven't heard of before. In much the same way Samba brought Windows sharing to non-Microsoft platforms, so too could OpenChange Microsoft Exchange's functionality for platforms other than Microsoft's, he said.
Running on Linux, OpenOffice offers Microsoft Outlook (and its open-source clone
Evolution) services such as "a messaging server, shared calendars, contact databases, public folders, notes and tasks," according to the Web site. We're adding the usual caveat emptor here, given our unfamiliarity with the project, but it may be worth looking at.
Posted by Joab Jackson on Jun 26, 2008 at 2:33 PM