Today my Exchange 2000 server decided to exhibit symptoms that pointed to corruption in the information store. After 2 hours without mail service throughout my workplace, the mail store was back to normal. While waiting for the integrity checks, the mail store DEFRAG (don’t ask), I searched the web for alternatives to Exchange. I simply have had enough of its unreliablity and unfriendly approach to administration.

I had heard of SuSE’s mail server from a while back and decided to have a look at what they offer now. For those who don’t know, SuSE started as a German Linux distribution which grew in popularity. This caused Novell to take some powerful interest. In November 2003, Novell aquired SuSE. :P But enough of the history lesson.

So now SuSE has launched an application called Open Exchange Server. What this is, is a stripped down version of the SuSE linux distribution with a custom developed email server. Not just email but proper groupware. Have a look at the feature list. As standard modules - email, a calendar, tasks, file storage, forums, knowledge bases are included with options such as instant messaging available. It even has a Outlook connector so that staff won’t even notice the difference. A fully functional demo is available here.

What I saw blew me away. The software is elegantly engineered and why this software is not used more I do no understand. After having a look at the demo I emailed SuSE asking if there was any way that I could evaluate the software. Within an hour, I had a personal response from SuSE requesting my postal address so that CDs could be posted to me. Imagine asking Microsoft for evaluation CDs. I have an old Dell Poweredge in my office that is waiting for the CDs to arrive. I cannot wait. Microsoft - sit up and take notice. This is the way you do business.

Note - I will do some more posts on my experiences of OpenExchange from installing, migration and how it works. It should be quite fun!