small business leaving Outlook 97

[Steven Avery]

Hi,

A small business with 3 computers, separate, but probably networked shortly in some manner, would like to leave Outlook 97.

The idea of a web email is good, reasonably $ paid service is expected, probably 5 to10 email addies, there is a domain hosted with HostGator, registered from GoDaddy that can be used for the name.

Gmail has some niceties like a very good forwarding built-in. And good searching. (I suggest keeping a home account from the server with a client like old-tyme Eudora and mirroring email to that inbox.)

However, this does not sound like a Gmail friendly situation. So who to go to ?

Normally I am not web-mail based, and in my personal use I use gmail only as an auxiliary, in this situation a good solid web-mail seems to be the way to go.

Now I know this question is asked 1000 times, anyway who are the three that should be considered? And what are the biggest advantages.

Normally when I ask questions here it is about more arcane stuff like inline pictures and Greek unicode support. That type of stuff is not really a factor here, what is needed is ease of composition, ease of reading, stability, security, a support person when needed. Imap that works?

Your suggestions for the ones to consider today? Ultimately I'm looking for about 3 names, and then I will test and choose.

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It is good to be able to compose and read from either the web box or the singular home box with whatever appropriate email alias capability keeps the return addy the "special" addy.

I think what I am trying to say is that if he mynamewebmail.com company forwards, and the forwarding goes through the internet supplier to a box that might have a mundane name like mybox@verizon.net. However the customer will always have mynamewebmail.com , the web name, when they hit return. If I'm missing something here ... help me out .

Steven Avery
Bayside, NY

[jarland]

Sounds like you already have a capable account at HostGator and you're migrating away from your email software. Based on your description of the situation I recommend simply upgrading your email software, and webmail is already available if you're using HG for the mail server. If you're not using them for the mail server, you are already paying them for said feature

[Steven Avery]

Hi,

Hosts change occasionally. Hostgator is probably temporary . Email has to be continuous. Granted, if the forwarding feature is reliable that can cover that base.

One fellow recommended the Google Apps for Business suite, where they give something for about $50 per year per user. That is one option to be considered.

Smartphone integration of some sort is one feature that will be nice.

Steven

[Cory]

I would look into options such as Luxsci, Polarismail, Rackspace Apps, Zoho, Google Apps for Business, and Office365 for Business and see which is best for your business. All of these companies provide packages that offer mobile sync abilities. Unfortunately I can't recommend one in particular but I have tested/used all of the above services for at least a short period of time and find their feature sets to be great.

There are other options that would work as well, and I am sure other people will be recommending them soon . For what you need almost any email host would work I'd imagine though.

[popowich]

Originally Posted by Steven Avery

Now I know this question is asked 1000 times, anyway who are the three that should be considered? And what are the biggest advantages.

Hi Steven,

The top 3 that come to mind, and my first thoughts about each are:

Google Apps for Business - It's not only Gmail, you get all of the other Google applications too, and you can choose to continue using your desktop email programs.

Office 365 - They have good customer service for their paid accounts, you'll get access to Microsoft Office applications if you get the right type of license, but you are forced to use their webmail or a program that supports ActiveSync such as Microsoft Outlook since IMAP and POP3 are not supported anymore.

LuxSci - It's the go to service when you're looking for a name that's a little more off the radar, has fast responding technical support, and offers extras such as web hosting with the email service, bulk mailing options, and a focus on security such as secure web forms and HIPAA compliance.

[cptlo306]

Originally Posted by popowich

Hi Steven,

The top 3 that come to mind, and my first thoughts about each are:

Google Apps for Business - It's not only Gmail, you get all of the other Google applications too, and you can choose to continue using your desktop email programs.

Office 365 - They have good customer service for their paid accounts, you'll get access to Microsoft Office applications if you get the right type of license, but you are forced to use their webmail or a program that supports ActiveSync such as Microsoft Outlook since IMAP and POP3 are not supported anymore.

LuxSci - It's the go to service when you're looking for a name that's a little more off the radar, has fast responding technical support, and offers extras such as web hosting with the email service, bulk mailing options, and a focus on security such as secure web forms and HIPAA compliance.

Office 365 still supports IMAP.

[jarland]

Give namecheap.com's e-mail a look. They use OpenXchange and have quite an incredible offering for the price. It's gone up a bit from what it used to be, but it's also matured a lot as a product.

[cptlo306]

Originally Posted by jarland

Give namecheap.com's e-mail a look. They use OpenXchange and have quite an incredible offering for the price. It's gone up a bit from what it used to be, but it's also matured a lot as a product.

OX App Suite is nice but Namecheap has had lots of problems with their email service lately. I have an account with them and it's been down at least 6 times over the last 2 months.

[popowich]

Originally Posted by cptlo306

Office 365 still supports IMAP.

It depends when you signed up and the package/license you have.

Companies signing up for new service that I'm working with do -not- have IMAP access.

Some companies on the old Office 365 servers still have IMAP access, but as far as I'm aware, I wouldn't expect that to last forever.

[cptlo306]

Originally Posted by popowich

It depends when you signed up and the package/license you have.

Companies signing up for new service that I'm working with do -not- have IMAP access.

Some companies on the old Office 365 servers still have IMAP access, but as far as I'm aware, I wouldn't expect that to last forever.

I'm surprised by this. Discontinuing imap would be stupid. Did they announce this at some point?

FWIW, I've got 3 different company accounts setup with them and all have imap (last one with 40 mailboxes was setup in November).

[popowich]

If you Google around you'll find most of the problem reports starting last fall.

I asked Microsoft support a couple of times about it. They'll help with other issues, but ignore the question about does Office 365 support IMAP, even if you ask them on the phone.

It makes for an awkward moment on the phone when there is silence until you ask a new question

Please feel free to call the support and see if you can get a better answer about if you'll lose IMAP service eventually "so that you can prepare for the change" ?

I'd be interested any any official response that you can get.

[Steven Avery]

Thanks for your thoughts, all.

Right now, the leader is LuxSci. They seem to have some advantages in their office environment, be on the cutting edge on mobility and sync and have their normal stellar rep for customer support and security.

Also PolarisMail was extremely excellent. The price was about 1/2 LS (about $120/yr where LuxSci would be $240) they flew through most everything with flying colors, including mobility and sync, and I know they would be good.

The apparent advantage of LuxSci in the office collaboration environment is enough by itself, for this business, to justify the difference. The main couple of people are used to using Outlook so that addiction can not be handled cold turkey.

(Polaris was definitely acceptable, it is just that LuxSci is very nice looking in office and interface and seems more robost in features.)

RackSpace, Fastmail and Runbox were my major other possibilities.

RackSpace keeps the data in .pst files, according to the salesman, and I simply do not feel the architecture is right. They have a nice ability to work with their web software and then move to the Exchange thing. Money could be saved with them, if that was a big factor. For a big boy, they seemed to be very fine, and I could see considering them in other situations. Note that I did not really compare their office collaboration environment much.

And I did not do much with Fastmail and Runbox, because it was hard to see how they would be better than Polaris (based on other threads and tidbits) and also we have a bit of a USA preference. They lost a little edge simply because their sales office was not open to receive a call due to time zones, however I am almost 100% sure that Polaris would edge them out for my specific need (those three are in one unit, similar price and features and excellent reputation overall.)

And then LuxSci seems to be edging out Polaris.

I'll try to share more in a bit, we may finalize before the day is over.

The more I studied, the less I liked any Google Apps, Microsoft, or Zoho or Zimbra style solution. With the possible exception of using RackSpace with Exchange (in some cases). Google seems to bring forth a coterie of developers and programmers who like their ever-changing gadgetry and really align with them, and who then recommend Apps for web hosting and/or mail. For me Gmail is only going to be a personal mail non-mission-critical auxiliary use assistant.

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Apparently on Office/365 there is a Business or Small Business edition that supports IMAP, not the home edition that came inexpensively when a new puter was bought. However, none of this is sure, I'm just going second-hand.

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I'm also ready to do a personal permanent account with two or three addies. There Polaris might edge out LuxSci and I will be checking Fastmail, Runbox and one or three others. There, if there is good mail forwarding and more in a $25-50/year account I might save against the difficulty of getting Polaris or LuxSci below $120.

Steven

[William9]

LuxSci is like having your own IT department for email at least.

[Steven Avery]

Hi,

All fine with LuxSci. The moderately robust collaborative office tools was an unexpected plus, although it is nice to see the focus with email. (Compare to say gmail where you are assaulted with widgets and gadgets.)

The support is very fine. The head fella of the company, used to Outlook and a spot of gmail, took to LuxSci quite nicely pretty much from day one.

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Here is a question or two about my desktop client software accessing the imap webmail. I could ask by doing, please allow me to ask by asking.

First, Thunderbird set up fine. My Eudora, loaded with pop-boxes (granted, old by now) seemed to have difficulties trying to also work the imap. I might just let it slide by, ferget about it, just use it for pop.

Are there any favorites beyond T-bird for those who like a desktop option? Does anybody compare and have fun working with T-bird, Becky! TheBat! and others as imap clients? In my experience, a couple of things can be nicer on desktop, (like boolean serching with Eudora)

Also does mail sent from the desktop through the imap webmail work transparently the same (e.g. return address, sent box) as when sent from online? Are there little differences or gotchas to be aware of. I also wonder about the filtering and mailbox setup. Is that all top-down? (i.e. Set up in webmail and thus down on the client.) Or are there any ways to have uphill capabilitiy? Just wondering.

Any help understanding this appreciated. I do realize you can webmail LuxSci very satisfactorily. And the LuxSci people sort of encourage that approach. However, if I can walk both ends in a way that allows some of the desktop advantages, I want to at least try it out.

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Is there any way to combine the default mailto: with a webmail. Luxsci said no, however maybe there is a little trick?

Thanks.

Steven

[Steven Avery]

Hi,

Here is a place where LuxSci has been weak.

For an email account, searching by all mailboxes, or a group of mailboxes is not possible, it is only one at a time. This is planned to be enhanced in a future release. "We are however looking to add this feature in future releases."

Right now, this almost cripples the LuxSci search function, since often the email you are looking for could be in the wrong box, and you can't find it easily.

Here are the workarounds I can think of:

a) forward all the mail of an account or a domain, to a gmail account. Search and find in there when it does not show up in LuxSci. easily
b) work with Thunderbird or Becky! or Eudora or some other imap client software. Eudora I know has superb searching.

(a) is a real concession and annoyance. Plus it might go against your security policies.
(b) goes against the LuxSci assertion that you really can simply do your email online. I'm not necessarily opposed to using a client, but I would like the LuxSci interface to be strong enough without one.

Your thoughts welcome. I will say that I am not comparing LuxSci with Polaris or another email on this, however this is a real issue.

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Let me add another one.

Filtering seems to be only inbound, there is no manual filtering. Manual filtering is important for trying to use a 2-stage approach, let all the important new email gather in one place at first, study them in one area, then filter a group of them at one time. No outbound filtering, either, although that is less significant.

LuxSci says that they have added this request to the "Feature Request List" for possible implementation in the future.

Also, less significant, filtering is not elegant like it is in Eudora, when you can highlight a particular email and its header features (subject, from, to) can show for filtering. It looks like you have to individually cut-and-paste or type the words to be filtered.

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Third, and related to these, there seems to be a paradigm of only showing 25 emails on a page at a time. If you have a mailbox of 500 emails and you want to move many or all somewhere else, it is a long and cumbersome process.

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I'm still working a bit to confirm the last point. So maybe some LuxSci users have ideas.

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This may sounds like I am expecting too much. Definitely not on searching all mailboxes in an email account. This is Email Search 101. The future release could be soon, or not so soon. I'd be curious in comparing the implementation on these aspects with other email providers.

I'm not a fan of Gmail's implementation, except on quick global search (for an email account) where Gmail shines. Anyway, they are not really in the mix.


Thanks!

Steven Avery