Re: And so it begins...

On Jan 21, 2008 4:28 PM, Joe Pluta <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

If anybody is interested, I'm in the process of changing my email
infrastructure. I've read a lot over the years about the weaknesses of
Outlook and the joys of a "real" email client (many of those statements from

Outlook is a Groupware Client that also has some E-Mail functionality.
Reading Mailinglists with it is a PIT.

1. VMWare. Freaking astounding. I've only scratched the surface of this
tool, but the things it can do are incredible. In fact, in some ways the
product is too good. I actually find myself asking it to do the impossible
and being upset when it only handles minor miracles.

Virtualisation is very nice technology. But it also has it's downsides
- especially I/O can become very expensive, and backing up virtual
machines can become a PITA if you do not want image based backups.

Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP2 / Virtual PC 2007 are not as
advanced as VMware yet, but VPC07 is a lot cheaper (free). VMware
Server OTOH is better thann VS2005 and also free.

2. Linux. Way too many decisions for one man to make. Just trying to
figure out the flavor or Linux (the "distro") is enough to make your eyes
roll up into your head. You think picking a version of Vista is bad, try
picking one of a hundred different Linux versions.

Ah well. The differences aren't that big though. I would still advice
to stick with one for a bit, and not switch every second .day.

I'm not done yet by any means. Converting from a POP3 server with Outlook
to an IMAP server using Mozilla isn't going to happen in a weekend (although
a lot of it did). But if you're interested in my travails, I'll probably be
writing a few articles in MC, and I'll answer questions here if I can.

After just email, it'll just get more and more interesting. Especially
when groupware comes into play. And more infrastructure, like central
authentication, desktop management, update management, etc.

Good luck!