Re: Replacing Linux with Windows, based on *cost*?
OK, I'll bite, since I would love to ditch Outlook, but have not found an alternative.
1. UI. Outlook's UI isn't stellar, but it's very flexible. Multipane windows, instant switching between contacts, tasks, calendar and mail, message preview, search shortcuts, these are all things that Outlook users rely on.
2. Programmability. Outlook has a rich set of third-party plugins that no one else can offer. Need to schedule WebEx sessions from within the client? Send info to your CRM platform? Outlook is the only game in town. There is also the ability to script outlook using VBA, which we use to write simple plugins that connect to our internal systems (eg see a message from X, press a button and it opens a support ticket on our web portal and inserts the message text). I imagine that less than 1% of users worldwide program Outlook like this, but still, it is important to us.
3. The calendaring function is really smoothly integrated with the messaging client. Nothing I've seen on Linux comes close to Outlook's ease of corraling multiple coworkers in different time zones plus the rooms and resources needed for a meeting.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
