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Why is the big boss so hellbent on Exchange? Posting from a GroupWise Admin

Why is the big boss so hellbent on Exchange? Posting from a GroupWise Admin

Came across a posting the other day that I thought expressed the sentiments of many of the GroupWise admins that I speak with on a regular basis. With permission, I have placed the post of speedygeo's post here and my personal blog at http://gwbliss.blogspot.com

To read his post at the source visit: http://speedygeo.livejournal.com/40930.html

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Why is the big boss so hellbent on Exchange? Methinks he is up to no good. I see this ending in one of several ways:

1. He is escorted out the door by security.
2. I find a better opportunity.

I don't like either one of those choices, but I'm somewhat limited in my choices. I've been doing email for the better part of a decade, most notably GroupWise. 'I built this place' comes to mind when I think about it. I put together a system that's for the most part there when they need it. It does have failures, but there are things out of my control. I don't control the switches that connect the servers together. If there is a hiccup, cluster services can and does pooch the services. It causes a temporary (under 2 minute) outage.

We could put everyone in Caching Mode, which emulates what you have in MS Exchange and Notes. It saves server computing power, and it saves network traffic. It puts the burden of handling certain functions (such opening messages and attachments) to the desktop system instead of having the client go out to the server, make the request, the server getting the data and pushing it down to the client to display. Also, if the service migrates to another node the clients don't see it directly. Their client will not shut down due to lack of connectivity to the post office.

In Outlook, what happens if you lose your PST/OST? You are shit out of a mailbox. GroupWise doesn't work that way, even in Caching Mode. Your mailbox blows up in Caching Mode, you can wipe it out from your desktop and recache it. We keep your email on the server at any time. You have multiple methods of access.

Having Exchange is a great way to screw productivity simply because it's got a big target painted on it. When you tie the OS in with the services it provides, you sacrifice the security. When you allow seamless integration into the client, you sacrifice security. When you allow the sort of scripting that is present in Outlook to run on your client (typically using a hack that has more rights than the user that's logged in) you sacrifice stability and security.

You can (or at least you could) view anyones email box in Exchange. Even if they've hardened the security I'm willing to bet that there is STILL a way for you to do so. With GroupWise, it's not that way. All data on the server is compressed and encrypted.

Is this pure nerdery? Yes it is. Am I preaching to a bunch of tech savvy folks? Maybe. But understand that holding a handful of Microsoft certifications (including one for MS Exchange) and exactly zero in anything Novell. I'm telling you that while there are things that make Microsoft great, there are just as many things that will make you cry as an administrator.

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Thanks to Speedygeo on LiveJournal for putting together an excellent post and for giving me permission to repost here and on my blog at http://gwbliss.blogspot.com