Open-Xchange Inc., maker of an open source version of Microsoft’s Exchange server software, will bundle its open source collaboration platform with Novell/SUSE Linux and Red Hat Linux distributions. The platform, called Open-Xchange Server 5 (OX), is an open source-licensed collaboration suite that offers a typical array of collaboration features, including e-mail, calendar, contacts, appointments, tasks and others. All are accessible either via a Web client or a fat client, including Outlook, Palm and KDE Kontact.
Open Source Exchange Teams With Red Hat, Novell
14 Comments
2005-07-17 6:15 am
Let us hope that this OX finds more friends with wider distribution. Otherwise, it is time for the glue factory.
I do hope they get a qualified designer to redo the wretched web client. That is probably the #1 reason the thing wasn’t doing well.
Wow one more example of OSS guys copying stuff. When will they invent something…what a pity..
I visited their webiste, http://www.openxchange.org
and didn’t understand a shit of it, looks to me like it’s “business” soundbites and lots of pooh-pooh. even microsoft exchange is not marketed in such a way.
i am more interested in what it actually DOES, and which protocols are supported and so on.
maybe there is wonderful software and integration behind the effort, but they hide it very good.
Some confusion here. There’s at least openXchange http://www.openxchange.org/ , open-xchange open source http://mirror.open-xchange.org/ox/EN/community/ and open-xchange commercial http://www.openexchange.com/ .
This story appears to be referring to open-xchange open source.
They all might consider a name change or a consistent adjective if they want more mindshare and to avoid confusion. Apart from anything else, openxchange is a pretty unmemorable name. Generic names only seem to work when you’re dominant in the market. Maybe that’s what they’re aiming for. 😉
What’s actually happened is that Novell/Suse has dropped their product based on OX (Suse Openexchange Server). In response, OX will directly sell OX and offer it bundled with either Suse and Red Hat. It’s certified for both, and they have a resellers agreement, but otherwise there is no “teaming” of any kind going on here. This is actually the story of a product dealing with a major blow, the loss of their Suse deal.
OX is an open source collaboration server ala Exchange, I believe (this may have changed, there seems to be a lot of changes lately) only the expensive, closed-source version includes support for Outlook (needed to be a drop-in Exchange replacement in the real world). As someone else mentioned, the web interface is horrid. Lots of parallels with OGO.
Details:
http://mirror.open-xchange.org/ox/EN/community/
Openchange is an open source Exchange server that I have looked at before: http://www.openchange.org/. There are probably more.
I had to replace an old Exchange 5.5 server recently for a client. We decided to use Scalix, from http://www.scalix.com. Sure it cost something, but its more stable than Exchange and is backed by a company. Their web interface is clean and nice, much nicer than Open-Xchange. Which we considered for about an hour, then ditch it and went with Scalix.
do you know if evolution calendar and contacts works with scalix? I mean contacts lookup including busy free times on the calendar.
thanks,
Yes it <a href=”http://www.scalix.com/news/release10.html“>does
Egroupware (www.egrouwpare.org) does more than open exchange, is very sable, easier to install, has no licensing fees and has a wonderful community of users via its sourceforge mailing-lists.
It also has open source connectors in the making for Outlook and Kontact (Kontact’s connector is already distributed with KDE).
Had the OpenExchange guys not priced themselves out of the market or tried to build artificial barriers by only providing a good installer with the for-pay version, they could have had a first-mover advantage in the field for open source groupware servers. This is no longer the case.
I wish them well, though as a little competition to egroupware can always be healthy.
http://www.egroupware.org/Screenshots
You might was well use a VT100 terminal. Other than a few screens, it is all terminal-like text.
It’s like the developers forgot that even a lowly web browser is miles beyond an ANSI terminal.
Why open source apps pretty much never have a good user interface amazes me.
It points out a brain area that is absent in most geeks, likely the ability to see something from another person’s point of view. Which is also why “disagreement = trolling” in the geek world. It is sad.
>You might was well use a VT100 terminal. Other than a few screens, it is all terminal-like text.
>
>It’s like the developers forgot that even a lowly web browser is miles beyond an ANSI terminal.
I looked at several of them and I think they look good. I also thought the fonts were extremely readable, and overall look excelent. Oh, and next time you post something could you please spare us all the part at the end where you start whining. Thanks.
Re:open source / wretched interfaces