msexchange.org: Overview of E12 features (slightly updated)

September 1 2005

A look forward at the 2006 version of Microsoft Exchange...I always appreciate when they document the current state of affairs in order to explain why the future will be so much better:

Exchange is infamous for its database problems. Anyone who has ever had to migrate all the information using Exmerge because of a database problem knows what I'm taking about. A single corrupt item in Exchange can bring a whole server down. I've seen it happen.
and I didn't know about this little nugget, though I certainly knew how important Global Catalog servers are in an Exchange deployment...
One of the annoying features that remains to this day is the inability of Outlook to determine the appropriate Exchange server for a user. This is a bit silly, seeing that the information is handily available on the nearest global catalog server. The new wizard provided with Outlook XP and 2003 is perhaps more user friendly, but takes more time to configure manually.
Anyway, it sounds like E12 is going to have some new features, but that E12 will look a lot like Exchange 2000, only without those annoying collaboration bits (you know, instant messaging, conferencing, workflow, etc.), without active/active clustering, without the promised SQL database...

Link: msexchange.org: Overview of E12 features >  (Thanks, Ports)

Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Microsoft  Add/View Comments [6]

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  1. 1  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 9/1/2005 6:35:46 PM

    I noted this from the article... "Exchange will remain essentially the same". Is that a good thing? Of course they don't mention that active / active clustering is being removed, which is a fairly good indication that this architecture which is "essentially the same" has some problems that just can't be resolved. As Ports pointed out, this in an architecture that was cancelled, and then retrieved from the development trash can when it's successor failed to show up. Exchange customers, that's what you're buying into.

    When you compare the list of stuff delivered in Domino 7 (available now) with the list of stuff that Exchange 12 will have late next year, Microsoft's list looks a bit scant and a bit late.

  1. 2  Damien Katz http://damienkatz.net | 9/1/2005 7:30:54 PM

    heh, I totally read that as m sexchange.com.

  1. 3  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 9/1/2005 7:38:42 PM

    I can only imagine what jokes about Exchange this is going to spawn....

  1. 4  Wild Bill http://www.billbuchan.com | 9/2/2005 3:59:26 AM

    Sheesh! Talk about damming something with faint praise!

    So this is the market leader, according to the MS blogs ? This is whats sweeping our customer sites ?

    This is cc:Mail version six, tied into a shaky Active Directory infrastructure. Without cc:mails reliability, of course.

    Perhaps I will go for that Exchange certification. I have an hour spare today...

    ---* Bill

  1. 5  Cheyn Rushing  | 9/2/2005 7:51:16 AM

    @2 - And the 'm' stands for 'micro'.

  1. 6  Mike "5 Things Wrong..." Drips  | 9/3/2005 12:00:01 PM

    Ah, Exchange! Yet another almost complete Microsoft product left in the hands of inept product managers. If you thought there was a big hole in the New Orleans levee, install Exchange and observe the apperance of a massive security hole in your network. Well, I will admit that Microsoft has shored up the security a tad, but Exchange is still a pain to manage. Hmm...sounds like the subject for another "5 Things Wrong.." article.