Recently, John Fontana, a writer for Network World, wrote an article called "Exchange 2007 will shake up messaging." You can find the full article here.

At first glance you might believe that this is an article extolling the virtues of Microsoft Exchange 2007, but on closer inspection you come to realize that it is the exact opposite. That this article lays the groundwork for some of the most compelling reasons companies will find to leave the Microsoft platform and begin, in earnest, to look for an alternative.

Let me clip a few lines from the article to help you understand where I'm coming from.

Fontana states in the very opening paragraph:

"Corporate users who migrate to Exchange 2007 will face mandatory infrastructure changes that...could add complexity and costs to their networks."

Suddenly "...shake up messaging" begins to have a clear definition. But Fontana doesn't stop there, he keeps going in the second paragraph;

"The major changes beyond 64-bit-only platform...has the potential to require users to roll out up to five types of Exchange servers to support functions..."

In the third paragraph we read;

"In addition they will not be able to do in-place upgrades between Exchange 2000/20003 and Exchange 2007."

Okay, we aren't even through the first half of the first page of the article and we are being hit with a major shakeup:

1 - 64 bit hardware only
2 - Additional servers (all 64-bit)
3 - No in-place upgrades

Holy Cow! It is as if Microsoft has just told their entire install base that their investment in a Microsoft future was for naught. That they, like all the other millions that Microsoft is attempting to lure to the new platform, are in the same boat. Your investment in Microsoft software and the hardware to support it is compeletly useless. You have to start completely over, and it is going to require even more hardware than you currently have.

And when it comes to clustering, Microsoft has completely reversed themselves again.

"In the past, the idea was server consolidation, but not anymore. Now it is scaling out again. My footprint increases in that I need more servers and more money for licensing [Exchange and Windows}."

Okay, so if your management is still considering switching to Exchange after all of this, here is the clincher at the end of the article that should cause them to rethink their position:

"Users also might find that...third-party plug-ins to Exchange, especially those that run on the server, may not run properly."

So let's recap. Exchange 2007

New expensive hardware
More servers than before
No in-place upgrading
Reversal of Server Consolidation
3rd Party Apps might not work

Now we understand John Fontana's title to this article. Exchange 2007 will shake up messaging because millions of users, thousands of companies, are now going to be forced to reevaluate their investment in Microsoft. Some will continue to shove money into the pig trough and claim it is in the best interest of their organization, but many others will realize that this is EMAIL that we are talking about. Simple email to send messages. Why are we spending so much money to do something that is so simple and straightforward. Because Microsoft would have you believe that it is more than email. That you need everything else that goes beyond email.

Maybe, but if all I need is email, this is so far off the reasonability track, that I don't know how you will be able to listen to anyone make the proposal for Exchange and not laugh them out of the room.