*Update added on 11/4/2021
**Update added on 1/12/2022
***Update added on 3/1/2022 ****Update added on 3/23/2022
We are quickly approaching the November 1st deadline when the minimum versi...
Updated Mar 24, 2022
Version 9.0
Blog Post
Microsoft Your attitude is just astounding, and reflects the very reason for the outrage on this forum page.
There is no reason that Microsoft must stop supporting the older versions of Outlook. It uses an exchange format that is in the product
today, that you clearly support now. As a technical excuse, one could say that "one day" after all support has been dropped because you
have forcibly stopped allowing connection from old clients; that you can then, one day, drop the support from the Exchange Server product.
But in reality, you never will do that for many and various reasons. So the reality, THAT EVERYONE KNOWS, is that this is just a money
grab, to stop things that ARE WORKING, and meet client needs just fine, and make that STOP WORKING, so that you can force more
money out of people.
We pay for an Exchange Service, that worked with our clients. And now you are saying, oh gee, our service will no longer support you.
And you expect everyone to just bend over and take it with a smile. It really is outrageous, and unjustifiable with any words written or
spoken. The real answer for people is to find alternative hosting, which is out there, it is just unfortunately more expensive in most cases
than what we were paying for Microsoft's 365 Exchange hosting. But getting on the yearly money train doesn't price out. While the
alternatives are more expensive than 365 Exchange, they are FAR LESS expensive than 365 Exchange, plus the yearly cost of 365 Office
licenses, or new 2021 Office standalone costs (plus new standalone buys every 3 years, which seems to be Microsoft's adopted pricing
model based on the jump from 2016 to 2019, 2019 to 2021, and 2021 to ???.
But the Microsoft arrogance, that is truly ugly to behold. I would say that of your customers in this "bracket", 50% are finding alternatives.
Granted, this bracket is probably only 10% or maybe 15% of sales total, so that's a 5% or 7% loss of business (and I may be overestimating
the numbers of these small installations, typically the sub-100 count businesses, and often the sub-50, or the small individual or family.
But you are basically just giving people the finger, and we are not taking it. Its just time to move off of your products, starting with the
Exchange 365 offering, which went from being "best in class", to now being "worst in class", because you want to use it as a money lever
for supporting Office 365 subscriptions. Tell the Office 365 Marketing Genius he can go take a bath in acid.
The solutions are out there, a google of "Microsoft Exchange Hosting 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019" find a SLEW of hosting companies that all
are happy to take this business from Microsoft. Microsoft has formally, and informally told us all to take a hike, and so we are, hiking off
to other companies.
Good luck with your strategy.
We pay for an Exchange Service, that worked with our clients. And now you are saying, oh gee, our service will no longer support you.
And you expect everyone to just bend over and take it with a smile. It really is outrageous, and unjustifiable with any words written or
spoken. The real answer for people is to find alternative hosting, which is out there, it is just unfortunately more expensive in most cases
than what we were paying for Microsoft's 365 Exchange hosting. But getting on the yearly money train doesn't price out. While the
alternatives are more expensive than 365 Exchange, they are FAR LESS expensive than 365 Exchange, plus the yearly cost of 365 Office
licenses, or new 2021 Office standalone costs (plus new standalone buys every 3 years, which seems to be Microsoft's adopted pricing
model based on the jump from 2016 to 2019, 2019 to 2021, and 2021 to ???.
But the Microsoft arrogance, that is truly ugly to behold. I would say that of your customers in this "bracket", 50% are finding alternatives.
Granted, this bracket is probably only 10% or maybe 15% of sales total, so that's a 5% or 7% loss of business (and I may be overestimating
the numbers of these small installations, typically the sub-100 count businesses, and often the sub-50, or the small individual or family.
But you are basically just giving people the finger, and we are not taking it. Its just time to move off of your products, starting with the
Exchange 365 offering, which went from being "best in class", to now being "worst in class", because you want to use it as a money lever
for supporting Office 365 subscriptions. Tell the Office 365 Marketing Genius he can go take a bath in acid.
The solutions are out there, a google of "Microsoft Exchange Hosting 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019" find a SLEW of hosting companies that all
are happy to take this business from Microsoft. Microsoft has formally, and informally told us all to take a hike, and so we are, hiking off
to other companies.
Good luck with your strategy.