Thanks for the article Where are the Exchange Killers?
I really can't see there be an Exchange killer anytime soon. That's not because Exchange is significantly better than the competition (there are a number of products which are every bit as good - or possibly even better - than Exchange), but rather because:
- Familiarity breeds contempt - and loyal customers. Yup, while there are a number of things not to like about Exchange, at the end of the day it's a well-established applications with which many businesses are already familiar. With Exchange, a business knows exactly what it's getting - both in terms of the application itself and its support options. And the devil you know is better than the devil you don't, right?
- Small Business Server. SBS represents such good value that it must be next to impossible to sell an Exchange alternative to any business which uses it.
- Support. The availability of experienced support staff has to be an important consideration for a business choosing a mail server. While staff experienced in Exchange are two-a-penny, the same cannot be said for Zimbra et al.
So, no matter how much the comptition catches up, I think Exchange will continue to be the dominant corporate email platform for some time yet. In many ways, Exchange stands in a similar position to Windows. While the Mac and *.nix OSs may be just as good as Windows (and many would say better), it'll be a heck of a long time before either overtakes Windows as the most-used OS.