[ale] OT: Office 365

[Scott Plante]

Well we use Zimbra for web mail & calendar, and it has a "briefcase" feature for storing documents on the server. Then you could still use LibreOffice for local editing. There is also a spreadsheet add-on for it (that you have to buy). Zimbra is open source Linux server based, but you can buy supported version with a few extra features like direct Outlook integration. You could also look at Google Apps offerings. 


That said, 365 is probably still better than Outlook on the client. (Talk about a low bar!) Has anyone tried using 365 from a Linux box or Chromebook? 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Chris Fowler" <cfowler at outpostsentinel.com> 
To: "Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts" <ale at ale.org> 
Sent: Friday, January 31, 2014 3:37:08 PM 
Subject: [ale] OT: Office 365 

Hate to ask questions about Winders stuff. :P 

The wife worked from home during the storm and I noticed she was running Outlook in a web browser via Office 365. This really interested me. My company is a small company so IT tasks fall on me and I'm looking at eliminating as much as possible. Years back I implemented SugarCRM and eliminated ACT! because an employee's laptop died and he was unable to look up customer data. He and I was sitting in an airport and I thought to myself that if I could just give him my laptop he could look stuff up. When we got back I did the conversion. 

Seeing this stuff run in a browser means I can eliminate office software on THEIR desktops. One of my guys still runs Office 2003. My #1 problem is Outlook. So many times I get people that have mail in the outbox that will not leave. My latest problem is where meeting invites will not leave and I think the only fix is a reload of that machine. 

If I can move Office from the computer and to a browser this means that I have eliminated my dependence on their laptops. If they have problems they can simply go to their desktop or another laptop and log onto 365. Is my thinking correct? 

I have them all using IMAPS. My mail server runs CentOS and usese fetchmail to pull email via POP3 from our provider. Everyone uses IMAPS to read their email from the CentOS system. Is this compatible withe Outlook in the browser? 

I would rather people run Libreoffice, but my main problem is Outllook. These guys love it and are old and change will cause me great pain. Converting to 365 in web form only means they can have the same version of Office as everyone else and they are not tied to a computer. 

Anyone see a problem with this plan? 

Chris 


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