Outlook XP Contacts Sharing (and tasks, and journals etc.)

[Uykucu 0]

Hi Guys.

Is there a decent piece of software to do this or am i missing something on my deployment.

 

Here is the scenario i face regularly:

 

Small 100MB Lan (5-10 terminals) no server W2k P2P Networking with static IP's etc.

 

They just bought Office XP and we set it up. They discover the outlook contacts and calendar and nearly always they wonder if they can share it....

 

I know you can assign tasks to other people and everything can be forwarded by e-mail but it is tedious work for them.

 

Is there another way of synchronizing the contacts on all systems. Please note EXCHANGE IS NOT AN OPTION! Reason: ££££!

[Allanv 0]

As far as i know there isnt a way to do it with office XP correct me if i am wrong as MS took out the microsoft mail client part of it.

 

if it still contains it then you need to setup a MS postoffice which MS took out of Win2K also but can be added back by extracting 2 files from the NT4 CD to one of the win2k boxes.

 

i can direct you in this proceedure but i need to check if outlook XP has the connect to MS mail...

 

other than that i believe ACT 2000 can do the same

 

Regards

 

 

Allanv

[Vermyn 0]

Previously, an MS Postoffice or the net folders feature accomodated this. Net folders was extremely unreliable, however, and was removed.

 

In some small LANs, I set up a PST folder on a computer and added the PST to everyone's profile to connect across a share. This works sometimes, but every now and then a record-locking error would pop up. Ultimately, there is no good solution in Office XP except to get an MS Exchange Server or revert back to Office 2000 and use net folders...

 

--Alexander

[BladeRunner 0]

We too used to use Net Folders through Office 2000 but unreliable really wasn't the word for them.

It was an administrative nightmare with things failing to update and replicate correctly.

In the end we just decided to take the plunge and purchase Exchange Server 2000 and I must admit that although it was expensive it has already paid for itself and I've now moved all of my users onto Exchange and it's been 100% stable and reliable.

 

I know you said Exchange is not an option for you, so with Office XP I don't think you have the options, dropping back to Office 2000 would give you the sharing facilities back but be warned they are a tad unreliable.

[Vermyn 0]

Heheh I thought you said unreliable wasn't the word for it?

 

In all seriousness... Exchange 2000 is a pretty good messaging solution. It has a few rocky places, but Microsoft's support of the platform is excellent.

 

--Alexander

[Uykucu 0]

Well, Net Folders are not an option either since they have just bought Office XP, and backward compatible or not i can't put them on Office 2K.

 

And since they are refusing to buy Exchange, they just have to live with only being able to play with themselves when they are not inputting contacts.

Thx. Guys.

[Vermyn 0]

Why not let them bake on their own for a while, then install a demo copy of Exchange and let them see how it works, then take it off after it expires? That's Microsoft's favorite trick.

 

--Alexander

[BladeRunner 0]

Well you could install the trial version of Exchange 2000.

The trial version does run for 120days, so 4 months is plenty of time to see it in action.

You've just got to warn them of the rather large cost if they decide to upgrade the trial version to the full one.

 

With the amount of clients you are using have you considered MS Small Business Server as a solution for them?

We used to use SBS 4.5 I think it was and it was great as it includes everything you need and the latest version of SBS is also great.

We just needed more in the end so had to switch to a Win2k Domain instead.