January 30, 2003

Should Enterprises Dump Outlook?

My spin: By all means!! I've used Eudora for years and love it. Guess what? Viruses don't directly attack Eudora but they do attack Microsoft Outlook. In fairness, MS Outlook has some great advanced features and collaboration tools and integrates very well into MS applications unlike any other program can.

One alternative, Novell GroupWise, supports the Outlook interface for administrators who do not wish to foist a new client on end users. It also implements instant messaging and a Web interface.

Bad things happen to good software. In particular, security transgressions happen to very popular software, more because it presents a big target than because of an inherently frail constitution. Such is the case with Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) widely installed enterprise e-mail solutions, Exchange and Outlook.

Both Exchange on the back end and Outlook as the front-end client are exposed to a slew of Microsoft-targeted viruses and worms. The cost of downtime as a result of this malware plague is measured in dollars, lost productivity, disrupted communications, and massive doses of aspirin to treat IT administrators' headaches.

Is the pain harsh enough that IT administrators are ready to dump Outlook and Exchange? And would doing so be a wise move?
(full story)

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