[There's a reason that Yoda is the unofficial mascot of SBS. Size indeed matters not.] Should Exchange be free? - THE OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE SBS "DIVA"
Monday, May 26, 2008 5:44 PM bradley

Should Exchange be free?

http://www.arlingtondev.com/thoughts/?p=38

Interesting post.  Should Microsoft make hosted Exchange free so that it keeps people "tied to Microsoft".  Or should Microsoft provide a cloud filtering service to ensure that small businesses aren't ripping out Exchange? 

Spam is winning, make no mistake, and it's still my strong opinion that one should not, nor cannot these days deploy a mail server without an edge filtering device of some kind.  (I use Exchange Defender at the office)

But should everything that a business depends on be free?  Remember the old adage.... Nothing in life is free and we all pay for it in the long run.

"Report it to your insurance, it's free"= higher insurance costs

"They overcharge us anyway, they won't miss one"= average loss rate in retail

If we depend on email, if our business relies on it, should we have it as free?  Can a company monetize support services if they give something away?  I just have a hard time having as a business asset a free service that gives me no reliance that it will remain with the same service.  Long term wise, no company can give away service or product without some long term monetary strategy.

Conversely, I'd argue that email is not as dependable as we think it is.  It's certainly not secure (can be sniffed if not protected), and unless we all turn on return receipts (which are annoying), you cannot, nor should not expect that it's reliable unless you call and follow up and confirm that it got there.

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# re: Should Exchange be free?

Monday, May 26, 2008 8:31 PM by Larry Seltzer

e-mail is a disaster. It's the door through which the vast majority of threats enter a home or business, and the world has been highly resistant to changes that might address the problems.

I recently ditched my SBS for a hosted Exchange (Appriver, i recommend them), but before that I used Sunbelt Ninja for edge defense and it worked very well.

# re: Should Exchange be free?

Monday, May 26, 2008 11:09 PM by Chris Knight

It's a waste of time turning on return receipts - they're easily filtered.

The lack of guaranteed service with "free" assets is really no different to the commercial assets. How many technology companies have been and gone over the last however many years who would have all touted their wares as the next best thing since sliced bread? The really important point is to have a strategy to migrate onto a new platform if the current service changes unacceptably or disappears entirely. Those of us who have used SQL 2000 Std or ISA 2004 in SBS Premium will know all about this :-)

Follow up is important, by whatever means is useful. It could be just as easy to use IM, Twitter or any other technology you're comfortable with.

# re: Should Exchange be free?

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 12:57 AM by Isal

Nice article. I combine my sbs with linux firewall & amavisd to reduce spam. So now my IMF only catch less than 50 spam a day. Previously without linux, my Imf work very hard to catch 1500 spam email a day.

# re: Should Exchange be free?

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 9:08 AM by Tim Combs

I echo your sentiments.  Remember the Heinlein novel, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress?"  TANSAAFL  "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch, or these drinks would cost 1/2 as much."  Relying on free services that my clients depend on is chancy at best.

Tim

# re: Should Exchange be free?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 6:09 PM by Nick

No.

At least if it's a paid product it's easier to hold someone accountable, and I don't think MS is going anywhere anytime soon.

We use ED for edge defense as well. Our IMF filter rarely gets hit, and if it get's passed ED, most likely the IMF won't catch it either.

# re: Should Exchange be free?

Monday, June 23, 2008 5:09 AM by Brian Reid

Don't use any filtering apart from the built in Exchange filtering and get nearly zero spam. Configure SenderID, IMF, RBL, Sender Filter, Recipient Filter correctly and you are good to go.