Hi I was wondering what people's thoughts were to the advantages/ disadvantages of Google Application Mail vs Exchange 2007? There seems to be a lot on the Internet about the advantages of using Google (mainly price based), but does Exchange 2007 have any benefits over Gmail? Also - I see that Gmail can integrate with Outlook via IMAP. How does this work with Calendaring? I understand that only MAPI supports full Calendar support?

Hi,Please view the below article to make better understand the Exchange 2007:http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/2007/evaluation/topreasons.mspxFor Exchange 2007 work with Calendar, see the following link:http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa998606(EXCHG.80).aspxThanksAllen

I read the linked pages, but I think what Sheen1990 and I are both looking for is a comparative breakdown between Exchange and G-mail. In my case, I'm trying to convice our GM that Exchange 2010 is a much better choice than G-mail for our users - especially with the high volume of e-mails we deal with. His inbox (on his Mac) has 60,000 messages alone, to say nothing of the roughly 125 gigs of mail that the other 18 users have. Google has a lot of information slamming Exchange (mostly on cost), but I can't find much ammunition from Microsoft to return fire with. I really hate to see them move everything up to Google - once they do it will be a huge mess that I'll be stuck trying to support.They say things like"Switch to Google. Save money. Avoid hassles.""Manage your business, not your mail server"http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/switch_exchange.html

Hi Marc,I got this from one of my sales guys.. ===================================== Google Apps and Microsoft Hosted Exchange are similar in a few ways. Let's take a look at just exactly where they are similar: Email - Both services are going to give you extremely reliable up-time on your email service Spam Filtering - They both offer excellent spam filtering Multiple domains - You can have multiple domains, or aliases, per account (Had to talk with a Microsoft rep to get that info...) Web interface - Both offer a web interface to their email service Archival - Both offer email archival included in the price of the accounts Okay, so now you know where they are similar, but how do they differ? Storage - Google offers 25 GB per user, Microsoft 1 GB per user Price - Google is $50 per user per year, Microsoft bills in monthly increments at $10 per user per year, coming out to $120 a year Document Collaboration - Google offers their Google Docs service, Microsoft gives you nothing. You have to pay extra for hosted Sharepoint. Desktop email client integration - Exchange, frankly, kicks ____ here. If your users use Outlook heavily, Exchange is the way to go. Google provides IMAP and POP access, but uploading calendars and contacts requires a Google Desktop Sync application that only runs on Windows. Web client - While both services offer web interfaces, Google takes the cake here. Google Apps was built from the ground up for the browser, and it shows. Exchange Outlook Web Access (OWA) has been improved though. Intranet - Google Apps offers the Sites service, which is like an extremely stripped down version of Sharepoint. As I stated earlier, Sharepoint is an extra monthly cost for BPOS. IM/Chat - Google Apps offers this out of the box with the Google Talk application, the option is not there even if you are willing to pay for it with Microsoft currently. Tasks - Exchange has tasks, Google Apps doesn't. Mobile Phone Integration - Exchange takes the cake here, almost every single smartphone on the planet has Exchange support. Google Apps support is all over the map, with Blackberry being the best supported, then the iPhone. Email isn't a problem for either, but if contact/calendar syncing is important and you don't use Blackberry's, stay far far away from Google Apps Video conferencing - This is a new feature from Google, but one that is a key differentiator in my opinion. Microsoft does not offer it. Support - Microsoft blows Google away on this one. As a reseller, I can call up a Microsoft rep 24/7 with any question whatsoever. With Google, they only provide phone support if the service is down, they do not help you implement it in your organization. Google does provide excellent online documentation. Active Directory Integration - No surprise here, hosted Exchange is much easier to integrate with AD. There are ways to integrate Google Apps with active directory, but it requires some Python scripts. Microsoft wins here. That pretty much covers the major differences that I have come across in my time working with both products. Raj

Thanks for the info Raj,There are a couple of things that I wonder about though. Also, please keep in mind that I'm not talking about HOSTED Exchange - We would use an internal Exchange 2010 server. We can't really use Sharepoint because of legacy issues here (from the Macs and from users) and user training. Too many "I've always done it this way" people who refuse to change.The mailbox capacity is certainlyimportant to me as I was told previously that there are no size limits to mailboxes in 2010 were essentially unlimited in size.OWA in 2010 (to me) gives all the same functionality as Outlook. Especially since we're in a mixed environment of Win7 PC's and Macs (argh!), that is very important. Most of the Macs are using Entourage, and I'm currently testing the new Entourage Web Connector to see if that helps improve connectivity problems I'm having.We already have an open-source internal chat server, so no issue there.Video conferencing is also irrelevant in our case - they're having enough trouble just trying to use the VOIP system we have.Support is basically me - and that would be the case either way.Since we're on a mixed network we only have partial AD use - the Macs don't really do anything with AD.The mobile phone integration is VERY important - thanks for the info.

Hi Raj,Great to know! We'd be using an internal 2010 Exchange server, so mailbox size limits aren't there. The Sharepoint capabilites also are a non-issue as all of our docs are on our local file server (135 gigs worth). The phone synch issue would be major for us though! I'd really appreciate a few minutes of phone time if you think you could swing it. I'd be happy to call if you could send your number to me. You could send it via the contact me page on my website: http://www.marcmedina.com/contact.htmlThanks,Marc