Please think a year ahead... (Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 4.5)

Member Name: AndreBoyle

Product:	Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 4.5
Date:	06/07/00 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: MS, Good range of products, Price for smaller companies

Disadvantages: Limited Licenses.

Windows NT server is nice. Fact! People say that it's not got good security. But if you're prepared to use a security product out of the box which is free then you're usually asking for trouble.. Take it from someone who knows about security.... very little you know is as good as you think... yeach... I can tell you some horror stories... but that's a whole other website! :)

The only main issue I have with this package is the limited number of licenses allowed. Sure it's fine for now, but think about company growth over the next year/two years. If you're still happy with purchasing new licenses, etc then feel free to go ahead. Opinions of sub-components follow :-

IIS
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Sound, stable, nice for intranets and if you've got a leased line good for extranets/internet stuff. Beware the security boogerman though. Install extra filtering, etc and be safe kids.

SQL Server 7
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Oh I do love a bit of SQL. Nice server, infinitely more efficient than the 6.5 version. Blobs fields are now an option people... did you hear me? THEY'RE NOW AN OPTION!

Exchange Server
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Solid intranet mail server. Nice groupware features. Standards standards standards, all important with mail don't you know.

Modem Stuff
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Lovely juvvley. Read more about this on the MS site and I can tell you I like it. Simple as that. It works technically and it works for me.

Proxy Server
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I've written about this elsewhere. All I need say is that it does what it says on the box and does it rather darned well to.

Frontpage 98
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GET the 2000 version. It's much more feature packed. But this one function just beauifully.. it simply does less for you you lazy !!!

Overall an excellent product. But as I said at the top... think a little into the future and read about MS licensing for this products growth.

Summary: