A different thread got me thinking about something that has been on my mind lately. Would it be possible to use a web-based intranet gmail-type client for corporate email if the email was served from a private, secure server?
How would this compare to existing enterprise email systems?
This seems like a good idea, so I must not be thinking of something 
- what would the disadvantages of this system be?
soap·box (spbks)
n.
- A carton in which soap is packed.
- A temporary platform used while making an impromptu or nonofficial public speech.
intr.v. soap·boxed, soap·box·ing, soap·box·es Informal
To engage in impromptu or nonofficial public speaking, often flamboyantly.
Idiom:
on (one’s) soapbox
Speaking one’s views passionately or self-importantly.
Hey…I’m just sayin’…
And the previous thread I linked to started having some strong email opinions. Figured same would be seen here.
Where would you have put this?
hehe…if we looked at things that way, EVERYTHING should be posed here since it could elicit strong opinons. The lines are fuzzy. If I were me, (and I am) I probably would have posted it in the chit chat area, or the way you worded it, perhaps in the surveys forum and not worried about it possibly eliciting strong opinions until if/when they got out of hand (which is relatively rare). This forum was set up for you to post what YOU have strong opinons about. Like I say, the lines are fuzzy. I guess I’m a little sensitive to posts I feel could be better placed so soon after major forum name/description and NNTP changes to help get posts to the right forum. Don’t let me scare you away. 
Take more than that to scare me away - just hit a little peeve - when a forum mod tells you something could be better put elsewhere but doesn’t say where or why.
All is explained now - I’ll make an effort to do better next time, but I’m not going to lose sleep over Soapbox vs. General.
At any rate, since the bulk of my post was an opinion - “I think web-based corporate email is a good idea” - I went here this time. <shrug> It is fuzzy down here. Better fuzzy than flaming though.
Neophyte42,
> I’m not going to lose sleep over Soapbox vs. General.
Yea, I’m with you there.
Nothing wrong with the idea. I know some organisations have done a deal with Google to use (a modified version of) gmail as their corporate mail system for $X per seat.
I’m sure you can list the pros and cons of such a system. In some aspects it’s similar to some corporate mail systems like Exchange and Notes where you don’t actually own the mailbox on your machine but it’s served from a server.
If you are a small or medium sized business there might be a certain appeal in such a system as you are out-sourcing a lot of your IT costs. That’s the pitch anyway. Last Month Microsoft announced hosted Exchange services. Microsoft also has LiveMesh.
Microsoft is building huge server farms to support it’s cloud infrastructure.
Microsoft hasn’t disclosed its total number of servers, but Chrapaty [Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Global Foundation Services] told the MMS audience that the company’s infrastructure is growing by 10,000 servers per month. Here’s some context for that number: Last week we noted that Facebook now has 10,000 servers powering its platform. That means that every month Microsoft is essentially adding a Facebook worth of servers. Chrapaty predicted that Microsoft’s growth will accelerate to 20,000 servers per month in the next several years.
BTW Getting your data stuck in the Cloud can be a right pain. Yesterday I got an error message when I went to my Google Docs account. I didn’t think much of it as I rarely use Google Docs but today the tech press is reporting that Google had a fairly substantial outage yesterday that made life a real misery for some.
Several Google users, some of them paying customers, found themselves knocked out of Google Apps and Gmail after an “access issue” knocked out the company’s software as a service suite for 15 hours.
Mind you, sometimes the cloud does better than some IT departments in uptime.
Neophyte42 wrote:
> A ‘different thread’ (http://tinyurl.com/675kww) got me thinking about
> something that has been on my mind lately. Would it be possible to use
> a web-based intranet gmail-type client for corporate email if the email
> was served from a private, secure server?
Yes.
>
> How would this compare to existing enterprise email systems?
You mean like running Outlook Web Access? Something that tons of
Microsoft shops to do provide web based email across the internet.
>
> This seems like a good idea, so I must not be thinking of something
> - what would the disadvantages of this system be?
Security issues abound of course… the cost of SSL encryption… etc.
But lots of people are doing this already (OWA example above).
I don’t get it. AFAIK all corporate mail systems have a web interface. Novell Groupwise, MS Outlook, IBM Domino…
Uwe
The outlook used at my place of employment is it’s own application, distinct from the web browser.
On 08/08/2008 Neophyte42 wrote:
> The outlook used at my place of employment is it’s own application,
> distinct from the web browser.
You mean it is not Outlook Web Access?
Uwe
Nope. It is the Outlook that is a stand-alone application - part of Office 2003.
If Exchange server on the back-end you can usually use either OWA (i.e. outlook web access via browser) or Outlook (client software ). OWA doesn’t work very well with Firefox (go figure). I use IEtab to automatically switch to the IE rendering engine within the Firefox.
If you are off-site and using the Outlook client (rather than OWA), it should also be set up to connect to Exchange Server using RPC over HTTPS (aka Outlook Anywhere) unless your IT people have turned on SSL/TLS support for IMAP connections. You can also set up Thunderbird to connect to Exchange server using HTTPS (see MozDev Webmail but the OWA file is only available on Google Groups).
We have OWA enabled at work, and I have to say, I fell off my chair when I was able to access it from Konq and it worked very well. No weird rendering issues or anything like that. Clicking on attached spreadsheets to open in openOffice, or pdfs to open in oKular, etc., makes it all seem very natural.
I can’t give up my corp-issued Windows laptop at this point, too much I need that is Windows only, but it’s nice knowing that I can check in on my work stuff without having to wake-up my work lappie when I’m at home.
Just my 2c…
Cheers,
KV