Ran across an offer for a Windows Phone the other day. $0 on a contract extension. Since I have multiple cell lines one of which was recently extended, to me it amounted to a virtually free phone.
After an hour of quick research I had decided.
Right now:
No Windows Phone currently has a front camera or videoconferencing app No official instant messengers. Absolutely none. Web messengers only, like the iPhone in 2007, or sketchy third party ones.
Microsoft Lync Launch - The Next Generation of Unified Communications Recently Microsoft launched their latest unified messaging system - the successor of Office Communicator 2007, it features full telephony via SIP and instant messaging via Jabber/XMPP, making it capable of communicating/federating with a large number of existing open systems. The really dishy part? It comes in at around a third the price of the traditional enterprise PBX. I had been working on just such a thing myself a few months back and it’s good to see I was on the right track with where the Industry is going.
For the first two parts of this review series, please view the following links:
Practically Replacing Microsoft Exchange Server - A 3 Part Series - 1 of 3 Practically Replacing Microsoft Exchange Server - A 3 Part Series - 2 of 3 - Zimbra Collaboration Suite Kerio MailServer 6.5 - The Exchange Killer
Kerio MailServer, like Zimbra, has until only recently been an ‘almost but not quite’ Exchange alternative. It has offered Outlook support and integration with Active Directory since 2002, but did not initially support groupware features such as calendaring and shared contacts properly until years later.
**** Zimbra Collaboration Suite - A Full Exchange Replacement
For a long time, Zimbra has been an ‘almost but not quite’ Exchange alternative - it offered the web GUI and the Outlook compatibility, but not the standards based calendar protocol (CalDAV) or the mobile device support of its big brother. Zimbra’s latest version, which has only been in the wild for a few months, is different.
Client Software Compatibility
Zimbra provides an Outlook connector enabling Windows users to continue using the app they were trained on.
Part 1 of 3: Workgroup/Corporate Collaboration - The Phantom Menace
For years, workgroups and corporate environments have needed a solution that combined a mailsystem with collaborative tools, like a calendar and shared contacts. For years, this solution was only provided by Microsoft in the form of Microsoft Exchange. For years, Microsoft Exchange was bar-none the best tool for this job. It supported all the features major enterprises requested, it supported all mobile devices and had an ecosystem of products and support around it that simply made it better than all the alternatives.
Many credit Microsoft’s Mac support for saving the platform in the late 90’s. This is very true, but while they did this it’s important to keep hold of the more objective view of their Mac support. It’s whitewash. Microsoft’s motivation to support Apple in its hour of need was clear. Antitrust proceedings forced Microsoft into a corner, and the destruction of Apple would have only proven Microsoft’s nature as a monopoly force that was eradicating its competition.
One long-standing issue people have with QuickTime for Windows is its apparent insistence on becoming the default handler for video and images in IE and throughout the Windows environment, despite the setting of file associations to the contrary. Even if you set everything up to open in Windows Media, for some reason QuickTime is still invoked. This bothers a lot of people and is probably one of the reasons QuickTime for Windows is disliked.
