With the recent launch of Apple’s latest OS iteration, Snow Leopard, many users were anxiously anticipating a more feature rich and integrated experience in corporate networks that employ a Microsoft Exchange server, or as Apple puts it, Out-of-the-box support for Microsoft Exchange. While that may technically be true, it’s not as cut and dry as Apple claims it to be.
Freelance technology journalist Tim Anderson digs into the Exchange capabilities of Snow Leopard in its out-of-the-box state, and reveals that it’s not a full featured Exchange experience, but may be more reminiscent of Mail support pre-Snow Leopard. While previously Apple OS versions only supported basic e-mail connections to an Exchange server via IMAP, Snow Leopard offers support for Exchange Web Services. However, EWS is not a feature complete service, and is only available to those connecting to an Exchange Server 2007 with Service Pack 1, Update Rollup 4. Even then, some features, such as public folder support will require an Exchange Server 2007 with Service Pack 2.
As Tim points out, there are many Snow Leopard users experiencing a myriad of difficulties in connecting their systems to Exchange servers. The saving grace looks like it will come from Microsoft, who in it’s next version of Microsoft Office for Mac, will be replacing Entourage with Outlook for Mac, which promises to deliver a more complete Exchange experience for Mac users.