Greg Taylor - EXCHANGE
You might think that 2016 is the meeting halfway point, but again, it means there's no supported options in an Server 2019 environment.
Not correct. Exchange Server 2019 is an option.
If they make on-prem management a requirement, they need to support it on the most current windows server platform, at the VERY least.
We do (see above). Just not for free as has been discussed.
That's kind of the point though. At some point the customer-minded decision was made that "Hey, this isn't an ideal scenario. You need to install this, but we'll cover the cost as a show of good faith while we're working on it" and it's changed to a tone-deaf customer unfriendly tone of "Well, we couldn't get our homework done in time, it's your problem now."
I get it, the writing has been on the wall for a long time that this is what it would be and that it wouldn't be free for 2019, but I think most partners/techs/msps assumed that you'd have gotten this solved well before we'd be sizing and deploying Server 2019 environments. The partners have given you guys a ton of flexibility and you're showing no quarter. That's extremely disappointing to me.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a Microsoft fanboy. If we can build a solution of Microsoft-only products for our customers, we do, so it's not like I'll threaten to take my business elsewhere, as that's insincere on my part. I just wish that I had less of these interactions that show a lack of understanding for the partners. It's getting a lot harder to set aside my resentment for the customer's benefit.