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Top alternatives to Microsoft Outlook

By Michael Palamountain, Enex TestLab on February 25th, 2009 
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Summary

Product Vendor Price Interoperability Future proofing ROI Warranty and support Overall
Apple Mail + iCal Apple Component of Mac OS X 3.0
Mac OS only		 3.0
Reasonable email and calendar functions		 3.0
Basic application, free, limited collaboration tools		 4.0
Good vendor support		 3.0
Entourage Microsoft Component of Microsoft Office for Mac 3.0
Mac OS only		 3.5
Good calendar and email functions; AppleScripts		 3.5
Reasonable collaboration tools, great interface, good value if Microsoft Office is also required		 4.0
Good vendor support		 3.5
Eudora 8 (beta) Qualcomm Free download 4.0
Windows, Mac, Linux		 3.0
Reasonable email and calendar functions		 3.0
Reasonable features, plug-ins and interface, but perhaps not ideal while during transition to open source		 3.0
Reliant on user forums		 3.0
Evolution 2 Novell Free download 3.5
Windows, Mac, Linux; issues with CSS handling		 3.0
Reasonable email and calendar functions		 3.0
Basic application, free, limited collaboration tools		 3.0
Vendor support under SuSE Linux		 3.0
Gmail + Google Calendar Google Free 3.0
Web based, no offline access; issues with CSS handling		 3.0
Reasonable email and calendar functions; not dependant on host OS		 3.0
Basic application, free, limited collaboration tools		 2.5
Reliant on user forums		 3.0
GroupWise Novell US$179 4.5
Windows, Mac, Linux, web		 4.0
Good features, but prefer to see IM; secure and highly customisable		 3.5
Excellent user interface, security and features, but a little pricey		 4.0
Good vendor support		 4.0
KMail The KDE PIM team Free (component of KDE desktop) 3.0
Windows, Linux; HTML issues		 3.0
Reasonable email and calendar functions		 3.0
Basic application, free, limited collaboration tools		 3.0
Users of Linux with service contracts will have vendor support		 3.0
Lotus Notes IBM AU$160 4.0
Windows, Mac, Linux, web; CSS trouble without Domino server		 4.5
Full office tools and browser in tightly integrated unit		 4.5
Excellent range of tools		 4.0
Good vendor support		 4.5
Thunderbird Mozilla Foundation Free 4.0
Windows, Mac, Linux		 3.0
Reasonable email and calendar functions		 3.5
Reasonable features, plug-ins and interface		 3.0
Widespread user forums available		 3.0
Windows Mail Microsoft Component of Windows Vista 3.0
Windows OS only		 3.0
Reasonable email and calendar functions		 3.0
Basic application, free, limited collaboration tools		 4.0
Good vendor support		 3.0
Zimbra Yahoo US$35 (US$875 for 25 users, per year) 2.5
Web based, but desktop beta available; web trial could not be fully assessed		 4.0
Broad feature set including many web gadgets, not dependant on OS		 4.0
Excellent user interface and many handy plug-ins available; reasonably priced		 4.0
Good vendor support		 3.5
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Talkback

Outlook

Given the breadth of products you studied, it's a pity you didn't include Microsoft Outlook itself as a reference point. That would help people answer the most interesting question of all - are the alternatives better?

niclanniclan February 28th, 2009
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Outlook/Exchange

Agreed. Outlook and Exchange are still number 1 here, and it's because (despite their problems), they're still the best.

I think the Notes client is worse than the GroupWise client (although GroupWise has had problems on the server end).
As has been mentioned earlier, Lotus Notes sucks big time (big usuability problems, the single-threaded UI of the Notes client, the larger number of help desk calls, higher staff requirements, maintenance issues, etc.), and saying it's good enough for IBM is just pathetic - it's their product! (I'd like to see the numbers when you remove sites where IBM is the outsourcer. I wouldn't use Microsoft as a reason to recommend Exchange/Outlook, nor Novell with GroupWise).

ReaderReader February 28th, 2009
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Groupwise server problems

What server problems are you talking about I have been in groupwise shops with 20,000 users and they only had two administrators for the whole system- Groupwise and Novell. When you talk about server problems what about the fact that you have to take the whole information store down to to any king of maintance on the server. Not with Groupwise you and check individual or entire postoffice without taking anyone off of the system. What about microsoft offline defrag which requires you to have 150% free storage space to run. That is very expensive for storage cost. There is no such requirment for groupwise. You and also run groupwise servers on linux, netware, and windows. What about the high number of viruses that attack outlook. Do some checking and compare the number to exchange/outlook.

Doug WilsonDoug Wilson April 3rd, 2009
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Groupwise Server Probelms??

I would have to agree with Doug on this one, we just recently made the decision to explore Exchange but more and more you find Total cost of ownership are so much higher than Groupwise over all. We have about 500 users and run great some mailboxes we have are 25gb and run, how many exchange admins have a client like that in their active mailbox. I just dont get it. They are #1 because of marketing and advertising, its simple advertise enough of something people will think its standard because that is all you hear. Just google how many companies are available to maintain and patch your exchange server, that's a sign people, do the same search for groupwise and see what difference, ITs becasue it just works. On a typical year I might experience 4-6 hours of down time and that is to apply the 3-5 new patches a year that is released, and reboot. with exchange, new patches every week to apply, security vulnerabilities, A big bulls eye for the hacker community, so even if it was running perfectly all year and you only spent a half hour applying patches that is still 26 hours of down time. What am I missing here. Now I understand that everyone coming out of school knows microsoft, thats why a student can buy office for $30 and then a business has to pay $400 for that person to continue using it. Thats why microsof is #1 they are the best marketing company that is and will ever exist. My findings overall Micro$oft is about 60% higher than comparable solutions in Novell is this worth the additional pain, I dont know.

GregGreg June 21st, 2009
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"its simple advertise enough of something people will think its standard because that is all you hear. Just google..."

Ahh, the irony...

LightWeightBABYLightWeightBABY October 25th, 2011
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Groupwise Server Probelms??

I would have to agree with Doug on this one, we just recently made the decision to explore Exchange but more and more you find Total cost of ownership are so much higher than Groupwise over all. We have about 500 users and run great some mailboxes we have are 25gb and run, how many exchange admins have a client like that in their active mailbox. I just dont get it. They are #1 because of marketing and advertising, its simple advertise enough of something people will think its standard because that is all you hear. Just google how many companies are available to maintain and patch your exchange server, that's a sign people, do the same search for groupwise and see what difference, ITs becasue it just works. On a typical year I might experience 4-6 hours of down time and that is to apply the 3-5 new patches a year that is released, and reboot. with exchange, new patches every week to apply, security vulnerabilities, A big bulls eye for the hacker community, so even if it was running perfectly all year and you only spent a half hour applying patches that is still 26 hours of down time. What am I missing here. Now I understand that everyone coming out of school knows microsoft, thats why a student can buy office for $30 and then a business has to pay $400 for that person to continue using it. Thats why microsof is #1 they are the best marketing company that is and will ever exist. My findings overall Micro$oft is about 60% higher than comparable solutions in Novell is this worth the additional pain, I dont know.

GregGreg June 21st, 2009
Report offensive content Reply (0) (0)

Groupwise server problems

What server problems are you talking about I have been in groupwise shops with 20,000 users and they only had two administrators for the whole system- Groupwise and Novell. When you talk about server problems what about the fact that you have to take the whole information store down to to any king of maintance on the server. Not with Groupwise you and check individual or entire postoffice without taking anyone off of the system. What about microsoft offline defrag which requires you to have 150% free storage space to run. That is very expensive for storage cost. There is no such requirment for groupwise. You and also run groupwise servers on linux, netware, and windows. What about the high number of viruses that attack outlook. Do some checking and compare the number to exchange/outlook.

Doug WilsonDoug Wilson April 3rd, 2009
Report offensive content Reply (0) (0)

Groupwise Server Probelms??

I would have to agree with Doug on this one, we just recently made the decision to explore Exchange but more and more you find Total cost of ownership are so much higher than Groupwise over all. We have about 500 users and run great some mailboxes we have are 25gb and run, how many exchange admins have a client like that in their active mailbox. I just dont get it. They are #1 because of marketing and advertising, its simple advertise enough of something people will think its standard because that is all you hear. Just google how many companies are available to maintain and patch your exchange server, that's a sign people, do the same search for groupwise and see what difference, ITs becasue it just works. On a typical year I might experience 4-6 hours of down time and that is to apply the 3-5 new patches a year that is released, and reboot. with exchange, new patches every week to apply, security vulnerabilities, A big bulls eye for the hacker community, so even if it was running perfectly all year and you only spent a half hour applying patches that is still 26 hours of down time. What am I missing here. Now I understand that everyone coming out of school knows microsoft, thats why a student can buy office for $30 and then a business has to pay $400 for that person to continue using it. Thats why microsof is #1 they are the best marketing company that is and will ever exist. My findings overall Micro$oft is about 60% higher than comparable solutions in Novell is this worth the additional pain, I dont know.

GregGreg June 21st, 2009
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No need for an alternative to outlook when outlook 2010 comes out. With the social media plug ins, outlook 2010 will make outlook the email killer app again. Check out the beta version if you have any doubts.

brucemillsbrucemills March 21st, 2010
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I'd agree with that. The beta version of Outlook 2010 is already very promising. The final release will hopefully meet the expectations. Outlook, even though a 'default' choice was ans is my e-mail client of choice. Each version came with useful improvements. Together with Lookeen (a search add-in which is much faster than the normal search --> www.lookeen.net) Outlook is unbeatable team in my opinion....

Tony2kTony2k March 29th, 2010
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Lotus Notes (client)/Domino (server) version 8.5.1

We run a medium-size allied health care company. We started off using Eudora clients linking to a mail server at Connexim. Pretty slick. Next we brought the mail server in-house running MDaemon from AltN and Connexim as a store and forward service, still using Eudora clients. Worked OK, but Eudora started to spiral out so we tried Lotus Notes clients (6.5) for the MDaemon SMTP link. Cool stuff, and the cost wasn't prohibitive.

The next jump was to a Domino server & we upgraded the Notes clients as well to 7. Domino worked just fine with 12 users on a P4 with 512 MB and Win Server 2000. Not sure that you could do that with Exchange...

We're now using Notes/Domino 8.5.1 with Domino on a HP ML350 G2 & Win Server 2003. The clients are in two flavours - basic if you have a P4/Win XP, standard if you have a Core2/Win XP/7. We're rolling out our first 2 iPhone clients next week and the testing looks good. Some of our remote users use a VPN connection and run their choice of Win/Mac/Linux clients. Others use the web client which runs on most browsers and self-destructs on log-out - great for airline lobbies and client sites.

This brings me to some of the killer advantages of Notes Domino.

1. Minimum licence qty is 1. For that you get Win/Mac/Linux/Unix versions of Notes (Basic/standard/web/iPhone), Domino (including DB2 run-time), Domino Administrator, Domino Application Developer - plus 1 years updates. You buy extra licences as required. Annual maintenace runs about 50% of initial, and includes all upgrades. This is a biggy. User 'hate' being told, "use this platform or OS." Notes is OS agnostic, and that's very important these days.

2. You can develop your own apps in Notes or get a 3rd party to do it. We are currently running bespoke Client and Timesheet apps, and are evaluating full CRM and Reporting systems. Several other apps are available.

3. We use Domino as our web server. Works just fine, and no extra cost. If you want to see a larger site, go to http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/Home

4. Longditudinal compatibility. Like most in health care, we have to keep client records for 7 years after the last client contact. This means that clients that we first saw in 1988 and last emailed in 2009 can't be culled from the system until 2016 (a 28-year span of IT!). The letters we sent in 1988 were in WordPerfect 5.1. Notes allows us to store documents within the client records in original format, or as images if we need to produce stuff on demand.

5. Domino allows us to automatically replace attachments with pointers to a single archive file - handy when there are multiple 'reply with attachments' or a large cc/bcc list.

6. There are some really good 3rd party Notes support people out there.

---

All this stuff adds up. Its not about just interface or speed. Its about managing resources, meeting client needs, and meeting legal obligations. If you're in business, these are the really important things. I mean, Paris Hilton was so hot 2 years ago, and now -- who cares?

LarrySLarryS March 28th, 2010
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Like a lot of organisations, the one work for has used Vista's slowness as an excuse to do nothing on the IT front for 5 years. Posts above talk about Notes 8.5 and 8.1.
A lot of us are still stuck on Notes 6.5! From a user perspective it is truly a horrible crippled old mail solution to have to work with.
Eventually if we upgrade to Windows 7, probably not until MS refuse to support XP, we might get Outlook or Notes 8.5.
I have been testing Outlook 2010 elsewhere and have no problems with it at all.

Notes 8.5 would want to be a massive improvement in user interface and functionality if I were to consider it.

Yoda7Yoda7 April 10th, 2010
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Just use gmail services for all your mail server needs. That is it.

syampillaisyampillai April 13th, 2010
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Thnderbird os very hacky... I got an email froma company that sent maybe 100 addresses with bcc and Thunderbird showed me all of the emails. My firewall kept blocking it too.

PoserPoser April 16th, 2010
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You should check out Daisho - http://www.daisho-blacksmith.com
It's an integrated productivity (time management, contact management, email client) fpr windows, Mac and Linux

kwiedemannkwiedemann May 29th, 2010
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The argument for GMail . . .

You briefly mention in passing that Google has a premium GMail option but then proceed to discuss the free version which is really for home users (ie. equates to hotmail) even though you're talking about commercial use?

The commercial version is what you should have considered because as soon as you go over 50 users you need to go commercial due to the Google user cap on the free version (But that still makes it okay for small to medium)

As soon as you start looking at the commercial version the real benefits start to turn up that makes it an extremely viable alternative to Outlook - no point talking about it here - go look it up in google: http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en-GB/business/features.html

You also then failed to consider the fact that over the next 5 years the mobile/smartphone platform is going to be a hell of a lot more important than the desktop - and the whole point of Google's Android platform is its strong integration and support out of the box for Gmail.

Once you start with gmail for email and calendar you then start to look at the other "stuff" i.e. buzz, google talk, websites, global directory and so on. All stuff you left out of your consideration?

At $50AU per head per year for not 7G, but 25GB and the option to turn off ads it's way cheaper than paying the microsoft tax for outlook and exchange. (And going down the Lotus path will cost how much again?)?

Oh and remind me again - what's the relationship between Lotus and IBM - I ask since you refer to IBM as using Lotus as being a major reason to consider it?

(I'll give you a hint the product is actually called "IBM Lotus Notes & Domino")

just my two bits worth..

harryharry July 16th, 2010
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@The author....

How does one segway from 'If you are using Microsoft Windows..." to offering Apple Mail as an alternative.... wtf??? This list is crap. ZDNet churns out more and more of these poorly written "Top 10 Blah Blah Blah" lists, and its getting to the point that I am going to have to start filtering my search results to weed this domain out... ugh.

thewebsiteisdownthewebsiteisdown November 10th, 2010
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I am using OutlookReflex to share my outlook emails to mobile while on the go. This app really keeps me updated on my outlook mails.

peterpk85peterpk85 October 11th, 2011
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What a joke! The first "alternative" you suggest is for MAC!!! You sir are an idiot.

desmondinyofacedesmondinyoface October 17th, 2011
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