But what about GroupWise

| 7 Comments
Today I picked up my dead tree version of NetworkWorld, and saw an item on the cover:

Looking to exchange Exchange?
Joel Snyder tested six alternatives to Microsoft's Exchange 2007. OUr findings: the Exchange alternatives are adequate for midsized networks, but Exchange offers the most comprehensive set of features and management hooks for networks of all sizes. Page 22
(online version)

GroupWise was NOT in this test. This surprised me greatly, as the Big Three mailers have always been Exchange, Notes, and GroupWise. Notes was also left out of this test. The online version already has a few comments regarding GroupWise, and Joel Snyder replied with this:
By Joel Snyder on Tue, 03/10/2009 - 10:09am.

Sorry, Groupwise fans, but Novell just didn't show up on our radar in the mid-size email business.

When you're looking at this space, Microsoft and Lotus together own 96% of the on-site mail service in businesses (the numbers that IDC, Ferris, and Radicati offer all vary a lot, but no one seems to give the non-MS/non-Lotus camp more than 10% total for everyone). Slicing up the remaining piece is a pretty difficult task, with lots of little players. While Groupwise used to be a major mover-and-shaker, there is no obvious "#3" in this business anymore.

It's clear that we've got a pile of Groupwise fans (why am I remembering the Windows vs. Netware war of about 10 years ago???) here, so maybe we should take a quick look at Groupwise and see how it stacks up.

Considering Novell has spent quite a lot of effort trying to convince people that they're the number three behind the MS/IBM duopoly, this is somewhat concerning. I have no idea what the real market-share numbers are for the mid-size enterprise groupware market.

7 Comments

Joel Snyder is widely known for doing a novice job at evaluations. He typically forgets the market leaders in all segments he tests. Hes a real beginner, so dont worry about him. Its the stupid magazine that hired him you have to worry about.Groupwise 6.5 still beats exchange 2007 in number of connected users, throughput, minimum hardware requirements, etc. In the real world where people can make up there own minds, and not just order IBM, Groupwise still has presence, whether Joel thinks so or not.

His explanation for why GroupWise was left off(96% market share with Notes) basically negated his entire article of alternatives. Ignoring Notes and then turning around and using it as part of a market leader percentage doesn't really make a whole lot of sense to me.At any rate, I'm willing to bet the guy hasn't ever had to admin any mail system of any significant size, exchange or otherwise. As Anon above claimed, I wouldn't worry about his opinion.I do, however, wonder about GroupWise and why it isn't a larger player in the market anymore. Is it technical or is it just another example of Novell's meager sales and/or marketing abilities?

We use GW7 here. 8000 users. One Fulltime Admin, No issues. We did an estimate of the the cost to go to Exchange, they stopped counting at 2million in equipment and licenses along with 4 additional FTE's

DBGallohow many POs, servers used ?

We're about to fight this same battle. Our consultants insist we NEED Exchange... apparently our paid for and working Groupwise servers are inadequate for some unexplained reason.

The Silent Rider, I'm sure you already know this, but it basically equates to billable hours.

We're a company with approximately 500 mailboxes on Groupwise. We're probably going with Exchange due to some changes within the company but also the fact that Novell keeps bumping the prices up more and more every year by an average of 10-15%! It's ridiculous. I love the product. It works great. Damn stable. But when we start pricing out Exchange, while it's expensive, it appears to cost one hell of a lot less than Groupwise does in the long run. Also why doesn't Novell smarten up and offer a free version for say a maximum of 25 mailboxes? That would get them in the door with smaller companies.