Hey everyone! I work in outsourcing in the EU, and my company has largely focused on selling and supporting Microsoft solutions. We've transitioned from traditional on-premise systems using VMware ESXi to a growing reliance on Microsoft 365 cloud services. While this shift isn't necessarily bad for us as a company, I often feel uneasy about it. I'm concerned that this transition is mostly beneficial for Microsoft rather than for our customers, who are facing growing management challenges and political and data privacy issues.
I'm searching for open-source alternatives to two critical Microsoft products: 1) Active Directory, where I'm looking for functionality that goes beyond just user and group management, including group policy management; and 2) Exchange, specifically an email solution that offers robust mail and calendar functionality with syncing across devices. I'm curious if anyone here has successfully transitioned away from Microsoft solutions and would appreciate recommendations. Have you tried alternatives like Kerio, Grommunio, or Univention Corporate Server? Thanks in advance!
1 Answer
Honestly, there aren’t many alternatives that match the feature set of Active Directory or Entra ID. It's a tough spot to be in. However, for email, Google Workspace is one option, though you won’t completely escape Microsoft just because of how they intertwine with user needs. Plus, if your users are accustomed to Excel, you might have problems there, as Finance teams typically prefer Excel.
That’s true! People often cling to Excel. Still, I'm not too concerned about moving completely away from Office, especially since Microsoft offers perpetual licenses for their software. I just don't think switching to Google actually fixes the underlying issues.