Is it time to “delete” my hosted Exchange service?
We’ve talked in the past about the many benefits an Exchange server provides. For a mobile device user, it’s been a very solid option for your mail, contacts, appointments, tasks and notes as we pointed out in our "Hosted Exchange 101" article. Now that Gmail is rolling out IMAP support however, I’m taking a long, serious look at closing down my hosted Exchange plan. I don’t expect I’ll make a choice for another week or two yet, but wanted to start the thought process and conversation now.
I still think that Exchange with a Windows Mobile powereddevice is the simplest and most bulletproof option, but other choicesare now more compelling than before and less expensive. My generalstarting point thoughts on this:
- Hosted Exchange costs me $12.95 a month; using Gmail is free and provides more storage, which would save me around $156 a year.
- If I need more storage, I can use Google’s Premier Apps for $50 a year; that nets me 25 GB of space.
- I can use my kctofel@jkontherun.com e-mail address with Gmail which means I don’t have to make an e-mail domain change.
- I’m carrying my iPhone much more often than my Dash. The Dash inunlocked, so I have to take my SIM out of the iPhone to use in the Dash.
- I’m currently touching many of my e-mails twice: once on the iPhoneand once in a mail client due to the way IMAP and Exchange worktogether. Not good for a mobile device user.
- I’ll need some third party options for the Mac in order to sync my Google Calendar with iCal. Spanning Sync looks to be worth a look.
- I’d lose over the air synching of non-mail items suchas calendar events, tasks, contacts and notes. I can live without notesand I don’t add too many contacts when I’m out and about. I would haveweb access to my calendar so that might work OK considering I writefull-time and have far fewer appointments than I did when working inthe corporate world.
- Direct Push e-mail is nice, but I can now get by with my iPhone checking for mail every 15 minutes.
Again, just starting points. I still swear by Exchange; it’s an outstanding solution for those that need it.I’ve realized over the past six months of full-time blogging that myneeds have changed and I just might not need it. For folks in acorporate or high-pace environment, moving to the solution I’mconsidering would be a tougher option for sure. James, for example, isalways on the go with his job and the Google option probably wouldn’tbe best for someone like him. It’s simply a matter of finding andapplying the best solution for your needs. Mine may be met withoutExchange and I’d be foolish not to consider the options.
Of course, Iwelcome your thoughts and will share my additional steps along the wayto the decision!
If I learned one thing from your podcasts, it’s “Free is good.”
How about setting up your own exchange server at home? I’m sure you have an older machine laying around somewhere, and along with a server edition of windows, you’re good to go. If you don’t have a static IP, try a service like http://www.no-ip.com, and you don’t need the high speeds etc. that the big services provide you with, a simple (a)dsl line or whatever it is you have there should to the trick just fine.
This is just wild talk, really. I have no idea how difficult/expensive it is to set this all up, but it sounds like just a one-time investment, which gives you everything you need, without the monthly expenses. And you can even split the costs with your fellow mobile gadgeteer James if you wish.
Just a thought
.
-Dave
I don’t think Google’s offering is an end-all be-all solution just yet. You still have to jump through hoops to get it all working the way you want and it still depends on outside syncing utilities to help keep things managed. That said it is an excellent start, especially for those who only care about e-mail.
I will not be surprised to see Microsoft counter Google’s move with Windows Live Hotmail. The Outlook Connector option is a huge benefit now, but it’s a purely desktop solution, not a mobile one.
However, the latest Windows Live Hotmail clearly indicates that they’re moving the interface to the more traditional Outlook Web Access format. Hotmail has run on Exchange services for years now, so it’s purely a matter of implementing the service over IMAP or ActiveSync. This would effectively make Hotmail a hosted-Exchange option, and it would certainly make Hotmail more attractive, considering the massive mailbox sizes they’re offering now.
Dave,
Actually, the expense is the biggest issue for running your own setup. The licensing and setup can be expensive and time consuming, but once it’s setup it’s fantastic. I run Exchange on my own personal web site and have for years now. I can’t imagine using anything else.
The advantage to the hosted Exchange option is that even though there’s a cost involved, you don’t have to go through the full expense or administrative hassle.
I still think a hosted Exchange option is the best for most individuals, but I like that Google and others are beginning to provide alternatives.
It sounds to me like it’s going to come down to how well the 3rd party solutions work over time. I’m not sure how well they work, it comes down to how well they compare to the overall solution of the Exchange Server. Interesting concept though.
I think this could work.
There is a lot of interesting work being done with SyncML that will be ported to the iPhone soon.
If you want to host your own look at setting up a Funambol server, otherwise scheduleworld.com is free.
I just dumped my hosted exchange account for Gmail this week. My biggest problem with this setup right now is that iTunes will only sync calendars with Outlook on a PC, and I lost my Outlook license when dropping the hosted Exchange Server account.
I’m crossing my fingers that Apple will add Google calendar syncing soon.
Hey Guys,
I have been using mail2web for sometime on their $1.99 plan. It served my needs just fine. But last month they pulled a very cheap and unprofessional rate increase that really gave me a bad taste. I have sense then just converted down to their FREE Exchange Plan.
But the good news is that Push EMAIL Provider SEVEN has just announced FREE service on an EXTENDED BETA. I couldn’t find any proposed length of time anywhere for the length of this “Extended BETA” (didn’t look that hard) but after setting the acct up and installing on my Verizon Wireless XV6700 so far I am impressed. And since Kevin is shopping, like Joe says “FREE IS GOOD”. In fact very good! So check out SEVENS FREE Extended BETA guys, http://community.seven.com/forum/main.php In case this forum doesnt handle the URL well I made you all a TinyURL as well fot the BETA Site http://tinyurl.com/36pxep
I think you may like what you see. (By the way they are offering different levels as well, up to a 25 unit plan for business)
I think Leopard Server from Apple Inc. would work best for you. Take a look at it. It has a cool podcast and video cast creation tools. Leopard server also has iCal and iChat capabilities. Since you are a professional blogger, podcast, and videocast producer you should give a look at it.
Thanks,
Joshua A. Hall
What about calendar, contacts and tasks? I find having these synced across all my devices is just as important as having my email synced. Does GMail offer these as well? Even if it did, they can’t be synced via IMAP as far as I’m aware.
@GoodThings2Life, I’m not sure Microsoft will try and compete with Google on this one, at least not for their free accounts. They pulled POP3 access for new free accounts about a year ago so I doubt they would make IMAP access available.
No real mobile professional can live without over-the-air sync of Calendar and Contacts. E-mail is only a third of the mobility equation. And, IMAP Gmail or no IMAP Gmail, Exchange is still the only real mobility solution.
I use hosted Exchange from http://www.itsolutionsnow.com which is as cheap as the competitors but offers unlimited (!) storage. Quality of service is good and their support is excellent. Much recommended!
One of my favorite sayings is “You get what you pay for”. Gmail is good but has a long way to go compared to a paid for hosted exchange account. Push email, sync’d calender, contacts, notes, folders (rather than labels), all things I would miss for sure and I only use 3 devices!
It depends. If you just host your own calendar, to-do and contacts on the Exchange, it may not be that tough to give up.
Meanwhile, we use Exchange at work and I can sync work mail, contacts and most importantly, the calendar and to-do, between myself and my colleagues directly. It would be very tough to give those up at this point.
This totally works for me. I am on a Treo, and I can sync the calendar wirelessly with GooSync (SyncML based). If you upgrade to their paid service for about 20 British pounds a year, you can sync contacts too! IMAP from Gmail IS push if you use an email client that supports the IDLE feature of IMAP such as Chatteremail. I don’t really care about to dos and memos when I am out and about, so the solution is wonderful.
Too bad GooSync can only sync with one device at a time at the current time..many of us have multiple devices thus an exchange works better
Following Kevin’s advice I have merged all my mail accounts on a Gmail one and it works flawlessly on the Q1 with Outlook 2007. However, what refrains me from keeping this setup is that when I reply a message, it will always use the main account and not the destination one. What a pity
I was not happy that mail2web had increased rates also. Since I use a smtp proxy it is very easy to switch hosted exchange providers. I switched to 4smartphone.net. It’s a bit more than I paid before but I get a free copy of Outlook 2007. There is no way I could live without Exchange Server.
Try hosted Zimbra Collaboration Suite from http://www.01.com — lots more storage than most hosted exchange accounts and friendly to Mac’s and Windows as well… outlook/isync connectors available… standard SSL IMAP, excellent webmail w/ keyboard shortcuts and the whole Web 2.0 thing to boot…
Hello Jose, did you realize gmail has new features which “Get mail from other accounts
Now Gmail can check for the mail you receive at your other email accounts. You can retrieve your mail (new and old) from up to five other email accounts and have them all in Gmail. Then you can even create a customized ‘From:’ address, which lets you send messages from Gmail, but have them look like they were sent from another one of your email accounts. Please note that you can only retrieve mail from accounts that have POP3 access enabled.”
I have been using http://www.123together.com for a long time now, and have never had any problems. I was a beta tester for Exchange 2007, and I’ve seen first hand the benefits of a solid and well supported server. As you said, Exchange is a bullet proof option. Combined with the 100% uptime guarantee of 123toghether.com at such a low price, it is an unbeatable combination for managing communication. I can’t imagine switching away from it.
As an IT consultant, I have several clients of mine with NetVigour’s Hosted Exchange service (www.netvigour.com) and they honestly couldn’t be happier. The service is rock-solid, you can spread the storage across all of your users, and of course the mobile features are great! And, they have a nice reseller program (paying way more than most everyone else) to boot…
Good Day,
In my work we are using this software;
http://www.unitedteam1.com
and the truth that we are very satisfied is very easy to use and for a very competitive price.
Thanks.
I just did the switch, and my main reason was spam. My microsoft exchange setup netted me 100’s of spam’s a day and i just couldn’t take it. now i’ve got the iphone with the imap set up and i do miss the calender sync and i could have used postini to clean up my spam but google is free and no matter how you argue it, Google is going to do a better job than me at fighting spam, backing up my stuff, security etc. etc. etc… so i’ll deal with out calendar sync for now (c’mon, someone will fix that out in time) and I’ll enjoy my spam free world, my God it’s wonderful!
Windows Live Hotmail now supports “push” email with Windows Mobile 6 devices (I know this works for the Professional edition, not sure about the Standard edition) – however it still doesn’t synchronize contacts.
On the other hand, for syncing contacts and calendar with most web-based PIMs (MSN/Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc.), Funambol has made available a hosted sync server with connectors for web-based PIMs in addition to the standard enterprise connectors for MS Exchange and Lotus Notes. Something worth looking into …