Apple is leveraging the power of open source development in a new effort to directly target Microsoft Exchange Server. A new standards based, open source Calendar Server will debut this year with Leopard Server; the source itself is already available at MacOSForge.org,” Daniel Eran writes for RoughlyDrafted.
Full article here.
“Apple’s new Calendar Server is part of a new push into workgroup servers,” Eran writes. “Rather than trying to copy Microsoft’s tools, Apple is building its own
vision of collaborative workgroup services. Why Apple is offering a calendar server might come as a surprise.”
Full article here.
I love people who say, ‘This can NEVER happen’. *LOL* How many of you can predict disruptive technology emergence? Oh yeah, that’s right — none of you. How’s that crystal ball, Mr. Know-it-all? Broken, as usual. And the people who say, ‘Show me, and I won’t believe it until it’s here’ — they’re just as intellectually dishonest. Go to the links, you lazy dingleberry, and see for yourself. I mean, sheesh!
Think roll-your-own “push mail” to the IPhone for the SOHO.
Forget the large enterprises (say 1,000+ employees). It will be a decade or more before Apple gets any significant penetration there. (Apple effectively gave up that market in the early to mid 90s.)
What Apple is after are the SOHOs and SMEs. With this product they become much more viable in these markets. Expext Apple to make strides here.
Unfortunately, Apple’s new (802.11n) Airport Extreme base station lacks gigabit Ethernet for LAN networking, and this cripples it for use in new generation home offices. And a faster FireWire 400 drive would have been a much better choice than USB, though I realize Windows converts might appreciate this…
I’m hoping Apple might release an Airport Extreme Pro with these capabilities…
If this new server will talk effectively to Exchange through iCal and integrates with Mail and allows me to see other Exchange calendars in iCal (and my IT department miraculously decides to implement it), then I can ditch Entourage and I’m a happy camper. Otherwise, I have to stick with Entourage, for those very reasons.
BustingTheSkullsOfIdiots: “Go to the links, you lazy dingleberry, and see for yourself.”
Hey, do you believe everything you read? If so, you need to bust your own skull for drinking the Kool-Aid so easily.
My point was that even if Apple bundles and supports a calendar server, that is NOT likely to pose any significant competition to Exchange’s entrenched position.
Why? Because Exchange is more than a calendar server, and well-funded companies like IBM and others have tried to break Exchange’s dominance without success.
A few customers, probably in the small and medium enterprise market, may very well adopt Apple’s calendar server, if and when it ships.
But that is hardly likely to pose any serious challenge to Exchange’s success with Fortune 1000 companies. And if you belive otherwise, then you’re a moron and your own skull should be in pieces.
For you nay sayers, please read the article by Daniel Eran at roughlydrafted.com
He has addressed most of your arguments.
I would say Daniel Eran is arguably the best Apple analyst out there. He undesrtands the history and the technology of the industry not just Apple and comes up with amazing essays.
Steve Awesome: So if a fanboy like Daniel Eran writes something, it must come true?
Why not? I’m sure all the CIOs in Fortune 1000 companies are thinking the same thing right now: Eran’s a genius, so let’s stop making up our own minds and just follow what Eran says.
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Just pointing out how silly it is to assume that people who make decisions will think the same way an analyst does.
I have been saying this for over a year.
In order for Apple to threaten M$ they need to make middle wear.
An attack on back orifice is just the thing……
Just My $0.02
Apple will win over small business. I know because I use them in my high end construction business. It would be great to have more software alternatives like this Calendar server. We use .Mac now and piecemeal solutions together. If they ever get a total solution though, it would be great. I won’t use Microsoft.
Uh – wow!
If we actually get a real alternative to Exchange, the next thing is to push it hard. That means advertising on tv, and mailing advertising to all IT depts. everywhere. I expect to see lots of mail come to our IT department hounding them to look to alternatives to Exchange.
People, stop creaming in your pants. The MDN headline is very misleadiing. Apple isn’t going to displace Exchange anytime soon.
Yes, some percentage of small and medium business – percentage wise, probably in the single digits or low teens – might adopt Apple’s calendar server, if and when it ships.
But even a fanboy like Eran admits that “Obviously, there are not many large Enterprise organizations that have standardized on Notes or Exchange that will suddenly jump ship to Apple’s server offerings this year.”
So feel free to dream on about replacing Exchange in your own company with Apple’s future offerings (which remain vapor ware as of today). But unless you’re a small or medium company, it’s not going to happen, and Exchange isn’t going to fall this year or next or the one after that.
And MDN: Get a clue about writing more accurate headlines.
MacBill
Nah… Microsoft Exchange is too entrenched & just too damn good. Apple’s piecemeal approach can never unseat Microsoft in the enterprise. Never. Let’s face it, folks… it just isn’t going to happen.
Sorry MacBill, but you are wrong. Apple has a hammer lock on certain segments of the computer requiring population and those people will leap at a chance to go with an all Apple solution.
There is also nothing piecemeal about Apple’s offerings. They have the superior hardware/software integration their clients love, and they have the power of Open Source to deliver solutions on timescales Microsoft can never match. Education is a huge market, and working with as many schools as I have I know it’s all Macs in the classrooms and WinPCs in the office. And while one part time guy can look after a school full of Macs, it takes one dedicated IT guy to keep a dozen WinPCs and a server running.
Offer them the chance to go All Mac, All the Time, and it’s a done deal.
Apple’s products will change everything. The foremost reason being because they already have…
I thought Lotus Notes (IBM) was more used in enterprises than Exhcange, anyone has figures on this.
Apple is going to have a tremendously hard road with large Enterprise deployments, but I don’t think that is where they think they can have a big impact. SMBs, SMBs, SMBs! Easy deployment, no IT department, fixed cost.
@Macbill
Exchange Server is a very comprehensive offering – but it is too comprehensive for most small to medium businesses who don’t need the advanced multi-server networking features of Exchange. It is also expensive unless you buy it as part of small business server – which is horribly complex to set up and run despite all the efforts by MS to make it simpler. After 13 years of running Exchange in my business, I am migrating to OS/X server for mail, file and print sharing. Its just so much easier to set up and run – and of course its more secure and I am happy to connect my OS/X server to the network without virus software protection (I ran Symantec Norton AV for 12 mths until the licence expired and I printed the report which said it had found 0 viruses in 12mths…)
Most larger enterprises, and even smaller ones, run Exchange as a standalone application. This makes it vulnerable, especially at upgrade time, to a cheaper, simpler solution on OS/X.
Be scared Microsoft. Be very, very scared… Bit by bit, niche by niche, the end of the Microsoft era is upon us. And before anyone accuses me of being an Apple fanboy – I am relatively new to Mac; have 30 years in this industry, MCSE certifications (very out of date I will confess), and 8 Windows NT/2000/2003 servers in my business.
If I could move my whole business to Apple today I would. Instead, I am replacing servers one by one – starting with Exchange – to avoid having to upgrade the O/S and Application at huge expense to acquire features I will never use.
I’m actually amazed to say this but this is an awesome article. Great find. Thanks.
Seriously, if the language were tweaked and edited very slightly and some citations for the numbers were added (and a few more numbers for comparison), you’ve got the beginnings of an executive summary of an IT restructuring proposal. I can’t wait for the next article.