A wake for Exchange 5.5
December 1 2005
In the category of "I'm not making this up", The Inquirer reports on a wake which Microsoft held for Exchange 5.5:
Nothing wrong with wakes, but this time Microsoft is celebrating the death of Exchange Server 5.5, an eight year old product which the executives described as a "she".Gee, where was my invite? I would have left a day early for London if I had known.
Link: The Inquirer: Microsoft holds weirdest press conference ever > (Thanks, Kim)
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- 2
Philip Storry http://www.not-so-rapid.com | 12/1/2005 11:28:31 AM
This is a very serious announcement, Ed. I've covered it here:
{ Link }
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check that my chainsaw still runs... ;-)
- 3
Danny Lawrence | 12/1/2005 12:38:55 PM
Given the number of Exchanged 5.5 servers still in use, I'd say it wasn't a wake it was more of an Exorcism as in "Die, your cursed thing, die!".
- 4
Roberto Boccadoro | 12/1/2005 12:47:31 PM
My grandmother told me that dreaming somebody's death actually increased his/her life expectancy (what a good nanny won't do to reassure a scared kid......). Along the same lines, since MS can't have their customers upgrade from 5.5, they keep mournings in order to grant some more life to these servers. Oh........BTW........wasn't us that were dead? And 4 times already :-) :-)
- 5
Damien Katz http://damienkatz.net | 12/1/2005 12:59:24 PM
This is definitely them trying to send the message for customers to upgrade. I guess announcing end of support in a normal fashion wasn't working. It's a bit like flipping on the light when a bar is closing to signal to people it's time to go. Except the hangover is going to be much, much worse.
- 6
Alan Dalziel | 12/1/2005 1:04:16 PM
I loved the plaque pictured in the Inquirer story - { Link } - especially the last line . . . "toast the immeasurable future promise of her offspring" Zero is immeasurable, right? ;-)
- 7
Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 12/1/2005 2:49:25 PM
The phrase goes "you can't take it with you". Is that true? I know some people with Exchange servers that died and they took all the data with them.
So know that it's officially dead, are we allowed to refer to the remaining Exchange 5.5 installations as zombies?
- 8
Wild Bill http://www.billbuchan.com | 12/1/2005 3:29:51 PM
Well, I can imagine the existing Exchange v5.5 customers who are booked up for the "Exchange Unplugged" (or "Unplug Exchange") tour in the UK wont be too chuffed that their product (flaky as it is) is being cut out from below them...
The "3-R's" from Microsoft: Rip. Replace. Repeat.
(Can I have that on a T-shirt, please ?)
---* Bill
- 9
Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 12/1/2005 4:27:26 PM
Bill, there you go: { Link }
Don't forget to check out the other t's. You may want to have more than one: { Link }
- 10
Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 12/1/2005 4:31:39 PM
Before anyone tries to understand all that german. They only deliver to Europe. { Link }
- 11
Ports http://www.mrports.com/ | 12/1/2005 5:28:34 PM
Exchange 5.5 was better than MS Mail 3 and, in some areas, almost as good as cc:Mail :)
- 12
Mike Brown | 12/1/2005 6:17:19 PM
Seem to remember Steve Jobs coming on stage at Macworld a few years back with a copy of Mac OS 9 in a coffin.
As ever, Microsoft can't think of anything original.
Cheers,
- Mike
- 13
Bill Brown | 12/2/2005 6:56:29 AM
Why does this remind me of the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail { Link }
where the person says "I'm not dead" { Link } ?
- 14
Tony S Lee | 12/2/2005 8:16:42 AM
@13 LOL!!! I love that scene. I can almost picture Gates (or Ballmer) clubbing Exchange in the wheelbarrow.
- 15
Richard Schwartz http://www.rhs.com/poweroftheschwartz | 12/2/2005 11:18:46 AM
A new slide for you, Ed! "Bring out your dead!" WAV file here: { Link }
-rich
- 16
Bob Knieff | 12/2/2005 3:22:02 PM
@13 - I love it! I'm sure many more Holy Grail references come to mind such as:
- Both African and European species of Domino are "non-migratory" -- you can upgrade in place!
- "We are the Knights who say 2003, and we demand . . . new hardware!" And of course a Domino admin will say "I won't do it - it isn't necessary!"
- 17
David Bell | 12/2/2005 7:18:59 PM
@9 - could this be the basis for the Lotusphere 2006 cult T-shirt ?
- 18
Ross Hawkins http://www.merauderweb.co.nz/ | 12/3/2005 10:36:40 PM
@14, would he be using a Chair to be doing the Exchange clubbing, or do they only get thrown?
to add to the wierdness as mentioned in the article but probably missed by the international audience, yesterday was St Andrew's day, St Andrew being the patron saint of Scotland, hence the reporter being perplexed by the timing of the wake in an Irish bar. Not that they would have got near the place on St Patrick's day.