As a PC tech in our company I'm the only one that actually uses and promotes Linux and while most of the tools I use are open source and cross platform I cannot see the company using Linux full time as their daily OS for various reasons:

- Most of the mobile repair section relies on Windows-based software
- The company's job sheet and invoice system is Windows only
- Outlook
- Good as our staff is, Linux is totally alien to them and they would require some training

With that said, without Linux my job would be much harder as I use Parted Magic from USB 90% the time at work. My Windows desktop PC at work is used only for when I need to extract product keys and backups from failing HDDs.

Feda: What you mean that there is no replacement for outlook?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_email_clients

Quoting: Avehicle7887As a PC tech in our company I'm the only one that actually uses and promotes Linux and while most of the tools I use are open source and cross platform I cannot see the company using Linux full time as their daily OS for various reasons:

- Most of the mobile repair section relies on Windows-based software
- The company's job sheet and invoice system is Windows only
- Outlook
- Good as our staff is, Linux is totally alien to them and they would require some training

With that said, without Linux my job would be much harder as I use Parted Magic from USB 90% the time at work. My Windows desktop PC at work is used only for when I need to extract product keys and backups from failing HDDs.

Gogogo bring them to Linux :P You can do it, just make it familiar to them and let them learn some new software to replace proprietary counterparts, they should be happy after they get used to it!

Quoting: GuestWhile Linux can't run all the business software having an e-mail client that can replace Outlook would open up a huge market for Linux.

That's simply a matter of weaning people off of Microsoft products, which I recognize may be an almost insurmountable challenge considering the near-monopoly Microsoft has established.

Quoting: GuestYou still can't beat Windows 7 for productivity, especially if you open a lot of files all the time. Jump lists are just amazing for that. I use Linux at home and I'm happy with it, but I would have a hard time getting work done as efficiently as I do now if I were to switch to Linux at work.

I suppose it depends on what you're used to. I haven't used Windows for any sort of productivity or business related tasks in well over a decade, so it would be very difficult for me to sit down with a Windows computer and get any kind of serious work done.

As someone pointed out earlier, there are dozens of large organizations that have successfully transitioned to Linux, so it's not impossible.

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: ColomboFeda: What you mean that there is no replacement for outlook?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_email_clients

There are plenty of e-mail clients but I'm not aware of a single one that integrates with exchange the way Outlook does. If you know one, please let me know I would love to try it.
I have users using the web client on the Linux laptops, but web client is not nearly as good as Outlook. And I hate using web clients for anything that desktop software should do.

What about thunderbird? It may not look very nice but it has awesome functionality, way over what I personally need and I'm more than happy with it. I'm not sure how does it compare functionality wise to Microsoft's proprietary counterpart but I'm pretty sure that all the things that an average Office computer user can do on Outlook can do on thunderbird on Windows and also on Linux :) I did use Outlook back in the day though...

Quoting: GuestThere are plenty of e-mail clients but I'm not aware of a single one that integrates with exchange the way Outlook does. If you know one, please let me know I would love to try it.

Thunderbird with the Lightning calendar add-on and its Exchange provider should be worth a try. I know Gnome's Evolution also features Exchange integration, but I can't honestly recommend it based on my experiences with the software. YMMV of course.

Thunderbird is a different from outlook in many aspect. But once you figure out how it works, it is in fact almost the same. But you have small option that add lisibility if you use this client for work. You can highligt important mail or other mail with colored markers. And if you want to go, to another plaform, like windows or mac, you just have to copy one folder, to get all your mails, settings, and contacts back. I had to set this up in some council buildings where they used to have windows + windows live mail, which can not even import or export correctly it's own format, and loose way too many files and contacts.

There are also many plugins for thunderbird which are very convenient. For exchange I never used it myself, but set it up for customers and never got called back for problem with it. There are also some themes using outlook or iMail interface.

And if you prefer outlook, and don't find what you expect, then stick with it :)

Quoting: GuestIf you are running a Windows server and Exchange for your e-mail, lack of an e-mail client is a major deal breaker for switching any computers to Linux.

You got your both feet caught in a concrete block and you ask to people the best way to jump higher. The best way is to get rid of concrete block. So get rid of Windows Server and Exchange.

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: ColomboFeda: What you mean that there is no replacement for outlook?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_email_clients

There are plenty of e-mail clients but I'm not aware of a single one that integrates with exchange the way Outlook does. If you know one, please let me know I would love to try it.
I have users using the web client on the Linux laptops, but web client is not nearly as good as Outlook. And I hate using web clients for anything that desktop software should do.

Thunderbird is pretty capable. I have it set up with an exchange account, address book works, calendar is functional (I have some shared calendars set up also). There are a couple of quirks, it isn't 100% functionality of Outlook but is pretty good. Have to use a couple of add-ons, ExQuilla for Microsoft Exchange ($10 per year individual, not sure about bulk licensing) and Exchange EWS Providor (free).

Quoting: Guest

Quoting: tuubi

Quoting: GuestThere are plenty of e-mail clients but I'm not aware of a single one that integrates with exchange the way Outlook does. If you know one, please let me know I would love to try it.

Thunderbird with the Lightning calendar add-on and its Exchange provider should be worth a try. I know Gnome's Evolution also features Exchange integration, but I can't honestly recommend it based on my experiences with the software. YMMV of course.

I've tried both of those and was unable to figure out how to set them up to work with exchange. I did not like Thunderbird at all. Evolution is nice, I use it at home, but it doesn't work with exchange as far as I can tell.

you need the evolution-ews package (Exchange Web Services). I had it working but it was a long time ago and I don't remember how to set it up. Google should be of help there. There was some issue I had with it, don't remember exactly what it was. It may have been that the calendar does not work.

Neither Exquilla or Echange EWS Provider for Thunderbird are very intuitive for setup, but I believe both have moderately good instructions available from their perspective websites. I have both working and have been using them for ~2 years.