I find it interesting that you mention companies are looking for alternatives to Exchange with one of the reasons being licensing costs and then mention that they still want to use Outlook.

Re: Concerned about migration? You're not alone.

Are these people using Office? It seems that if you are ditching Exchange 2007 because of licensing costs and then proposing using Outlook, your a fool. The only reason for using Outlook is the integration with Exchange.

Of course, you neglect to mention in your article that Microsoft is putting the screws to everyone by not providing Outlook as part of the Exchange 2007 CAL either further increasing costs. Unless you are a customer with Software Assurance now on your Exchange CAL's, plan on shelling out more dollars for Outlook.

We're looking at alternatives. Microsoft has just gotten too greedy. They have priced themselves out of the market now and created a wide open opportunity for others to fill a gap based solely on price. Once the search begins, we'll probably also find there are other just as capable products available too.