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Originally Posted by KevinH Well at this time Outlook 2000 support for the connector is pretty far down on our list. There is significant work to make all the features work with Outlook 2000, and from what we can tell the demand for Outlook 2000 is pretty low. |
Demand for Outlook 2000 compatibility may seem low...but that's probably because there aren't many yet that are seriously looking at Zimbra as an alternative. That could change provided you give future customers the option. Research has shown that there are many small to medium sized businesses that still use Office 2000. The reason why so many still use it is simply because many administrators and business owners simply aren't compelled to spend the money to upgrade to something like Office 2003. It's the old "If it ain't broke, why fix it?" mentality.
In my case, I can't very well convince my managers to upgrade to Office 2003 simply because it'll work with Zimbra...that's not even an option right now. The upgrade alone would probably cost us around anywhere from $6000 to $10000 for 75 mixed licenses of Office 2003 Standard and Professional. That's a pretty serious chunk of change just to allow our uses the ability to take full advantage of everything Zimbra has to offer. If I presented this idea to them then they definitely will not go for it simpley because, in the end, going with Zimbra would cost more initially that going with Exchange 2003...which is what they're deadset on anyways.
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Originally Posted by KevinH Since your not on Exchange today I assume your using Outlook as a POP/IMAP client. If so you can use Zimbra today with the same functionality. Of course if your really worried about vendor lock-in then take a look at Thunderbird. They make a very good IMAP/POP client. |
Using POP/IMAP isn't even an option. My managers want Exchange-like functionality...the ability to have integrated e-mail, calandering, public folders, calander and e-mail sharing, hot-sync with PDA phones, the works...pretty much all that Exchange has to offer. IMAP won't allow for this in the same manner that a proper Outlook connector does.
The goal for Zimbra should be to allow customers as many options as possible and to entice them with a solid solution for an Exchange replacement. Without a proper Outlook 2000 connector, you'll simply be locking out a good number of customers who would otherwise greatly consider using your product...myself included. I honestly think you should reconsider making it a greater priority than it already is. In the end, you'll gain a much greater userbase than you already have. Without it, customers like myself will end up having no choice but to give in to our peers and buy back into Microsoft (choke! choke!). Ugg!