DataSync Business News

With the proliferation of Google Apps, Meebo, email web clients and other web applications, it’s very clear that we are moving away from a traditional client-server model of desktop software and moving towards server-side web-applications which we can access using nothing more than our standard web browsers. When it comes to web based email clients which are being increasingly adopted by businesses and universities, there are two primary competitors when it comes business & corporate email solutions, and they are Zimbra (OSS) and Microsoft’s Outlook web client. Which offers an overall better user experience & has technically superior functionality? Let’s find out.

Customization – Outlook’s web client only allows 4-5 different color schemes developed by Microsoft. Zimbra offers close to 10 different themes which each significantly change the look and feel of the client. In addition, developers can create their own Zimbra themes whereas Outlook’s themes are limited to what Microsoft creates.

Address Book, Contacts, & Tasks – Outlook & Zimbra both offer very good address book, contact, and task functionality. These are fairly mature pieces of software and we won’t likely see much change in the near future between either of the clients.

Document Management – Outlook has no support for document management. Zimbra has what they call a “Briefcase” which will allow you to upload and store files in your email server, which can come in really handy when you don’t have a flash drive. It also makes it so you don’t have to email files to yourself.

Instant Messaging – Outlook has no support for instant messaging and Microsoft instead suggests that their customers rely on the Windows Live Messenger service that they offer, but this requires a desktop client, which not everyone wants. For corporate and educational environments, Zimbra offers a very functional instant messaging client. You can add anyone else in your network and chat with them when they have their email clients open, so it’s a great solution for business environments.

External Mail Delivery – Outlook’s desktop client allows you to add multiple POP3 and IMAP email accounts from various servers, but Outlook’s web client is missing this functionality all together. Zimbra’s web client allows you to add as many POP3 and IMAP accounts as your hearts desire.

Preferences – Zimbra has 9 different tabs of options & customizations that you can modify to your heart’s desire, whereas outlook only has one page and very meager settings and customizations that users can play with.

So where do we stand? Zimbra is clearly technically superior because it has all sorts of functionality that Microsoft’s Outlook web client is missing. It also provides a much better user experience because it’s versatile and can be customized to whatever the user’s heart desires.