What I have been experimenting with, but have not put into practice yet, is using Thunderbird, in conjunction with the Web Client to handle the integration with Office and Windows. I've installed a couple of TB add-ons, which allow the program to startup automatically when Windows starts and minimize to the system tray. This way TB is somewhat transparent to the users. What I found in some of the testing is that TB won't automatically startup, like some other programs do, when you do the "Send To --> Mail Recipient" function. Hence the add-on to startup automatically.
For the most part I think this solution will work. TB works pretty well as an IMAP client. Since you can configure where Sent and Deleted Items go (unlike Outlook), you don't have to worry about messages ending up in two places; everything can be stored on the Zimbra server.
Another added benefit to using TB, for some users at least, is that 2.0 has a pretty good new mail notification built in. Personally I like the Toaster, but some users tell me that it doesn't always pop-up the notifications over their working applications.
Having said all this about TB, I still think if the Zimbra Web Client could be seamlessly integrated with Windows, Office, and other apps it would be a huge benefit.  |