[GolfBallMan]

Here is my issue: I just left my previous employer, they used Good, and I am looking for something that has the same functionality of Good.. True Push email, 2 way calendar sync, notes, tasks and GAL Lookup. Is there anything?

I've tried Versamail, Chatter, Sprint BC and Snapper. All of which, have their strengths but don't even come close to delivering the same experience or functionality.

Versamail - good for basic email and not much more.

Chatter - locks up my phone and incomming calls go straight to voicemail. Put delivers a good push experience but lacks other functionality such as calander, gal..etc

Snapper - I don't like how long it takes to sync up, some decent features but again, email only.

Sprint BC - Offers more exchange module support than others but I don't like the interface.

I have an exchange smb server at home and want to take advantage of everything but Good only sells in a five pack which won't fly in my circumstance. So life after Good is not so Good.

Help me out here...what is as good as good for my treo 650?

[agi]

Looking for the same (and am in the similar situation, altough did not use Good before).

Would be nice if it worked on Linux or Novell platform.

[santas]

In one of the other threads, it sounded like if you call Good, they'll let you buy a single license

[agi]

You are right. I missed that.

http://discussion.treocentral.com/sh...&postcount=621

[agi]

Again, anything Linux or Novell based?

[GolfBallMan]

Again, anything Linux or Novell based?

I cannot thing of anything on the linux side but if it was IMAP Server -- chatter delivered email well. No functionality beyond email though.

Novel -
http://www.jpmobile.com/mobile_office.asp - enterprise solution

[GolfBallMan]

Anyone ever use this stuff?
http://www.sproqit.com/products_spe.htm

[agi]

I found this - supposedly runs on Linux. I will attend a webinar on 06/23. Will report when I find out more.

http://www.omni-ts.com/mobile-groupwise/

[GolfBallMan]

I found this - supposedly runs on Linux. I will attend a webinar on 06/23. Will report when I find out more.

http://www.omni-ts.com/mobile-groupwise/

Agi -

That looks like cool stuff...I am going to give nexchange a shot when I get my access setup with my new company. http://nextworks.com/products.htm

[nrosser]

as is common in these discussions, sometimes folks miss the fact that Good (and most others as well - Blackberry's BES server, for instance) uses a CORPORATE SERVER to give you all that goodness. It's not just a one-user deal. I'd say that 99% of the Blackberries you see out there are running off a company's Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) - meaning, it's an IT gig, and not just a one-off person with his own individual device. Yes, I know that's not the case with EVERYone, but most Blackberry users (and ALL Good users) are running their device off an intermediary server. In the case of Good, it's the Goodlink server, connected to Exchange. In the case of Blackberry, it's the BES, connected to Exchange or Domino.
So - it ends up being pretty cost INeffective to want to run out and get your own Good (or BES) server if you're just a single random person.

My point is that most folks miss the point that all the great wireless syncing and push email, etc (which is not limited, by the way, to just Good and RIM - there are others out there as well) is MOSTly driven by an enterprise software server, connected to the Exchange server, for instance. Yes, you can use Snapper or Chatter if you can get your IT person to open an IMAP port on your mail server, but not every IT guy will do that. BES and Goodlink (and Intellisync, etc) solve the security risk by creating a secure pipe with the mail server, and encrypting data sent to the handheld.

bla bla - I could go on....but the point is made. Maybe.

[ambtreo]

as is common in these discussions, sometimes folks miss the fact that Good (and most others as well - Blackberry's BES server, for instance) uses a CORPORATE SERVER to give you all that goodness. It's not just a one-user deal. I'd say that 99% of the Blackberries you see out there are running off a company's Blackberry Enterprise Server (BES) - meaning, it's an IT gig, and not just a one-off person with his own individual device. Yes, I know that's not the case with EVERYone, but most Blackberry users (and ALL Good users) are running their device off an intermediary server. In the case of Good, it's the Goodlink server, connected to Exchange. In the case of Blackberry, it's the BES, connected to Exchange or Domino.
So - it ends up being pretty cost INeffective to want to run out and get your own Good (or BES) server if you're just a single random person.

My point is that most folks miss the point that all the great wireless syncing and push email, etc (which is not limited, by the way, to just Good and RIM - there are others out there as well) is MOSTly driven by an enterprise software server, connected to the Exchange server, for instance. Yes, you can use Snapper or Chatter if you can get your IT person to open an IMAP port on your mail server, but not every IT guy will do that. BES and Goodlink (and Intellisync, etc) solve the security risk by creating a secure pipe with the mail server, and encrypting data sent to the handheld.

bla bla - I could go on....but the point is made. Maybe.

Nrosser -

What are your thoughts security-wise if you use Chatter with SSL? Marc is about to introduce a SSL library that can be used with Chatter. Would this create a more secure transmission stream from an Exchange server, or would it still be inferior to Good or BES?

Thanks

[taroliw]

What are your thoughts security-wise if you use Chatter with SSL? Marc is about to introduce a SSL library that can be used with Chatter. Would this create a more secure transmission stream from an Exchange server, or would it still be inferior to Good or BES?

I should point out that Chatter already does SSL quite nicely. The point of the new SSL library he's integrating is to resolve bugs in the PalmOS SSL library that affect ChatterEmail's ability to run in the background w/o causing resets.

I have been a CrackBerry, GoodLink, and ChatterEmail user. In my situation, where I have both personal and corporate accounts I want access to, Chatter is by far superior. I have also taken to using it in the corporate environment in preference to GoodLink. To make up for the loss of PIM wireless synchronization, I've been trying out NexChange's beta... and apart from the fact it doesn't seem to do background updates, periodic manually triggered updates work like a dream.

The thing I've noticed about both Good and Blackberry is that they dominate any device they work on... which is to say that you might get great integration with your one corporate account, but good luck doing anything else with it. For a blackberry device, this might well be expected... but for a Treo running GoodLink I personally found it unacceptable. At work, those who pretty much only use their Treo for GoodLink and a phone love it. A growing number of us who actually use our Treo for other things find it annoying and a hindrance.

[agi]

For one user deal there is NotifyLink hosted solution. I just found out last night. It cost $25/user/year ($300 prepaid) and does only require to provide them with 1 IP and 3 open ports and your are set. Mail and PIM all real time synchronize. Groupwise, Exchange or IMAP.

Will probably bite it as it will not require me to install any additional software.

[tangible]

I know the originator of this post is on Sprint, but for others who are interested, the Verizon Wireless Sync that comes free with the VZW Treos is a pretty good implementation. It uses the Intellisync engine, and doesn't require an enterprise server; just a desktop redirector.
Pro: Two-way sync for all Outlook functions, including syncing the Outlook calendar to the native Palm calendar. Low latency. Low impact on phone availability. Punches through corporate firewall with no involvement from IT.
Con: Gets confused in very complex calendar environments, such as Exchange "delegates" making changes to recurring meetings. And, of course, if the desktop client dies when you're away from the office, you die with it.

[nrosser]

I know the originator of this post is on Sprint, but for others who are interested, the Verizon Wireless Sync that comes free with the VZW Treos is a pretty good implementation. It uses the Intellisync engine, and doesn't require an enterprise server; just a desktop redirector.
Pro: Two-way sync for all Outlook functions, including syncing the Outlook calendar to the native Palm calendar. Low latency. Low impact on phone availability. Punches through corporate firewall with no involvement from IT.
Con: Gets confused in very complex calendar environments, such as Exchange "delegates" making changes to recurring meetings. And, of course, if the desktop client dies when you're away from the office, you die with it.

FYI - they also have a departmental situation, where one PC (not yours) runs the Wireless Sync app, and can act as the proxy for about 20 wireless users. And it's free. So - an IT guy can put the Monitor software on some PC back in the server room, and that PC becomes the 'server' for up to 20/25 users. Works great. All the goodness you state above, with none of the downside of having to leave your PC on and connected. Plus it's free.

[nrosser]

Nrosser -

What are your thoughts security-wise if you use Chatter with SSL? Marc is about to introduce a SSL library that can be used with Chatter. Would this create a more secure transmission stream from an Exchange server, or would it still be inferior to Good or BES?

Thanks

I don't know much about Chatter in terms of security and SSL - I'd have to defer to Marc and the other security gods in this forum. (and the reason I don't know much about Chatter is that no matter where I've worked, the IT guys would NEVER open an IMAP port for access on Exchange. So - IMAP clients like Chatter, Snapper, et al, were not relevant to me).

[GoodGuy]

Pro: Two-way sync for all Outlook functions, including syncing the Outlook calendar to the native Palm calendar. Low latency. Low impact on phone availability. Punches through corporate firewall with no involvement from IT.

Ask your IT guy if punching a hole through your firewall is a 'pro'

However, you make a valid point regarding smaller installations. All I can say is that Good is addressing this..that is about all I can say.

[Chatter]

nrosser - What's ironic, of course, is that IMAP/SSL is no less secure than OWA...

Marc

[taroliw]

Ask your IT guy if punching a hole through your firewall is a 'pro'

However, you make a valid point regarding smaller installations. All I can say is that Good is addressing this..that is about all I can say.

Something else that competitors (like NexChange, which is still very formative still) are doing is leveraging Exchange 2003's imail front-end -- apparently is just a DAV server for the PIM and email data. So by opening up no more than port 443, full PIM synchronization is possible. And no extra software to install on the Exchange server or elsewhere in the IT world.

I've been noting various parameters of the different solutions I've tried, and when they heard that developers were starting to leverage imail, they got *very* interested. Sometimes opening ports isn't the problem... it's which ones you ask them to open and what support implications the software you're using will have.

[taroliw]

nrosser - What's ironic, of course, is that IMAP/SSL is no less secure than OWA...

Totally agree. But many IT people I've known like the "install and forget it" approach. Yes, I know... But they see the installation of more service that they might even have to think about configuring and supporting as a problem. We just see it as reason to hire better IT people.