Yahoo! spruces open source Exchange rival

Re: Chocolate teapot

There's an open-source package called SoGo (http://www.scalableogo.org/english.html) give you nice calendering and also has a free plugin for Thunderbird that makes it very outlook-like. Not that it helps if you're specifically tied to Outlook, but the functionality is there.

Open Source

I'm hoping that maybe RedHat or Canonical will buy up Zimbra and re-license it under the GPL and charge for commercial support. Okay I'm guessing it's not as simple as that but hey I can dream.

What I've used of the Open Source Zimbra I do like, although it's the YPL I don't trust completely.

Rob

No Dice

I mildly like Zimbra, but it's just not complete enough to fully replace Exchange/Outlook for my company. Especially when the cost of fully paid up Zimbra + Mobile Access for all of my users works out at 3 times more than an exchange server with all the CALs

More cost for less functionality just to say it's Open Source? No Tah I'll stick with being called a Microsoft Whore.

Cost

@No Dice Really? You can buy Exchange for $12.67/user per year?

For 50 users as an example

Zimbra Professional

$28/user per year for 50 or more

Zimbra Mobile

$500/50 users per year

Total = $38/user per year

Exchange 2007 Standard Server

$699

Exchange Cals

$67/user

Total = $80.98/user per year

Neither option gives you BES, both get WinMob, neither gives you support, both require OS but Zimbra can be on a secure OS that is cost effective if not free.

Not exactly apples to apples and with potential discounts for this that and volume, I still don't believe that you can legitimately get Exchange for a third of Zimbra. Even if you did, you'd still be using Exchange.

I suspect that you are using Outlook against a POP server and think you have Exchange.

--Pete

@Pete

Surely then over a 3 year period Exchange is cheaper... As Zimbra is a yearly cost and Exchange is a one off purchase.

@Pete

Seriously?!

If your paying that much for your licences I'm glad I'm not in charge of your IT budget...!

As and AC mentioned, your systems run for x years before upgrade / replacements...? What's the cost over 3 years for Exchange? $80.98 using whatever super inflated licensing scheme your resell spun you. Zimbra cost $114.

I'll skip the fact that Exchange 2010 has archiving and already has compliance tools in the 2007 version - which Zimbra charges an EXTRA $24 per mailbox.

Anyway, for 3 years that's a total cost of $4049 for Exchange, and $5700 for Zimbra. Let's hope you don't run it for 5 years... (then it's $9500 - over twice what you paid for Exchange.)

P.S. 5 year life time WITH archiving and compliance is $13,100...

not just yearly

There is a perpetual license option. Works out about £40 user.

Support (includes upgrades) is not far south of £1000 per year for 75 perpetual users

Zimbra Mobile is £1500 per year for 75+ perpetual users

For true like for like, compare that with exchange with software assurance (server and CAL's), antispam and also antivirus.Then there's also outlook, thats £70 a piece if you buy on it on its own.

As said by Rob, it would be great if they would just commit to the red hat way of thinking and just charge for support only.

What i'd really want thought, is for zimbra to make the opensource edition less crippled by including the option to do online backups and have zimbra mobile, even if you have to pay for it as optional modules.

Paris, becuase i wonder what her perpetual charges are

The best thing for Zimbra

I think being sold to another company might be the best thing for Zimbra right now. Yahoo!'s dance with Microsoft (not to mention Vole's insiders within Yahoo!) casts a shadow of doubt over Zimbra's future as long as it remains part of Yahoo!

@Pete

Or, you're just another ignorant and arrogant open source/anti-ms ass. Zimbra's cost for a perpetual license for 50 clients is $80.98/client. Its pricing stays on the same scale regardless of clients up to 500 clients. Whereas Exchange Server software is $699 and is always $699 regardless of clients. You only have to pay for the CALs. This in turn makes Exchange cheaper.