[mattwdelong]

Just for my own personal curiosity, has any company made a reasonable attempt at competing with Google apps core services? I know Microsoft offers similar services, but it's not that well "put together" the last time I looked.

You're probably not going to be able to compete with Google Drive integration, but if someone put together a well designed integration of inbox, calendar, and contacts with an API, they would do well.

[markokocic]

Zoho actually has quite a nice offering of web based applications. They have mail, calendar, contacts, documents and various additional tools. I used it for some time, but switched back due to a lack of sync of contacts with my phone. But for a business, it looks promising, though not as flashy as what Google offers.

[mattwdelong]

Thanks Mark, this is the mind of answer I was looking for. I think I tried Zoho a few years ago, but maybe I will check them out again.

[ommunist]

Dropbox is moving that way. Apple tried and failed.

[uxp]

> Apple tried and failed.

I've been using Apple's Server.app (Formerly OS X Server) for quite some time now at my home. Its definitely a bit of work to maintain, specifically on the CalDAV and CardDAV integration. But failure is something I would hardly attribute to the setup. It's certainly not any worse to use than configuring and maintaining Postfix/Dovecot/Roundcube and CalendarServer individually.

In what way would you suggest Apple's Server.app has failed (outside of the obvious hardware compatibility)?

[ommunist]

I referred to MobileMe solution when pointed about Apple failure. You are quite right on your opinion, but the question was whether is a viable alternative to Google Apps somewhere. And yet there is nothing on horizon except some distant plumes from Dropbox, and now I must add Podio and box.net.

[meaty]

Yeah buy a file server and office. Seriously.

[mattwdelong]

This is not really a well thought out response. Most businesses don't have the resources to employ a system administrator to manage their Windows install, let alone manage all the other services required to run to meet the same level of functionality that "ready to go" services like Google Apps provide. Seriously.

[meaty]

You still need an administrator for google apps.

Managing a file server, even if it's just a static workstation on a windows network is easy from security to backup - it's all guided configuration.

Seriously - everything that google apps does can be done on offline MS office and a cheap hosted exhange account.

[derekp7]

Does anyone have a current best-of-breed list of web enabled applications (preferably open source) that you could run on your own server? Ideally, I'd like to put together a kit that is easy to install, either on your own server or on any hosted provider. Bonus points if the kit includes replication tools built in so that you can use multiple web hosts, and have your own redundant cloud.

[meaty]

Rdp into your windows file server and work there (I work over rdp for about 7 hours a day).

The web is shitty for serious productivity apps from experience.

Regarding open source, use openoffice instead.

Alternatively use Windows' offline files feature when you are away from the fileserver.

[mattwdelong]

Derek, this would be a cool project. If someone could work alongside a talented UX/Designer and bundle together some open source software with a nice UI, that would be quite useful. Roundcube seems to be taking a pretty good stab at this.