I really like the idea of Openchange and I don't actually see this as a M$ solution.
Windows is still totally dominant as a desktop, which finally is being chipped away.
I have argued this before and that one line was the whole crux of the matter.
That dominance for many dictated the need for M$ servers if you wanted AD and group policy control.
Deliberately after XP UAC and batch script permission elevation needs made windows clients windows server junkies.
Christian was brilliant with networks but got rather upset when I called him a hobbyist.
He also used the Home version as his desktop in conjunction with Zentyal, which apart from licensing issues I just wouldn't be able to get away with it with the nature of my clients.
Its not me but my clients would of definitely viewed Windows Home in there business as unprofessional, irrespective of being right or wrong.
I used Zentyal with XP and a NT4 style samba domain then M$ started to deliberately kill that and force Active Directory.
That is why we had the biggerst IT European antitrust case ever
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union_Microsoft_competition_caseWhy some people still argue there wasn't and isn't a need to provide Opensource interoperable server systems to allow a toehold in the desktop dominance of Microsoft is beyond me.
Generally we had become M$ junkies and MSSQL, Exchange and Windows Server started to be an exclusive party.
I never understood the mindset because the way things where set out Microsoft was deliberately excluding non Microsoft technologies.
Samba4 is the only Opensource interoperable system that will allow this. We have the whole 3.0 series with a myriad of error's surrounding S4Sync because there is not direct translation between the two.
Then the community went through a stage of deliberate miss-information, deliberate denial and a refusal to discuss the problems openly.
Without doubt it was ill advised, detrimental to the project and extremely hobbyist, but that is just my opinion.
Samba4 is the only seamless solution for authentication and interoperability in current heterogeneous IT desktop environs.
So S4Sync got dropped and the potential bad design of two LDAP's has been rectified and we move into another LTS.
The whole BETA nature of Samba4 and its implementation took up the complete life-cycle of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
I think Samba has bedded down into a stable and secure product and generally its on its way to being a success.
Openchange which is also another huge undertaking has me worried purely because it is another BETA and if I have to wait to 16.04, I don't have to say anything...
Openchange and High Availibillity should be modules of Zentyal, which in essence they are. Many stipulations and needs are creeping in to the base system to accommodate the previous two and that shouldn't be the case.
I agree with Escorpiom "(some modules moved to Contrib)" who wants to be bothered with the upkeep and packaging.
I can't understand for the life in me when this has been proposed time and time again by not just me, we have so much reticence to making simple customizations to Zentyal.
Why we don't have a simple menu and form editor in Zentyal so that community scripts and modules can really take off without the need for packaging is beyond me.
Actually I fear the rationale is purely short sighted control with a belief that things need to always be branded with the Zentyal branding. I am suprised we don't see logo's 'Powered by'
Also going back to the all-in-one Linux box why did they kill the 2.0 series?
The 2.0 series was perfect for Linux only solutions which are still very valid.
We will have a 4.0 series that is based on M$ directory services on an open platform.
The 3.0 series where Zentyal totally ignored its community and users irrespective of which camp the sat in and continued blindly with 3.0
Its been really strange as my search for the M$ replacement because of my own dislikes to EOL and forced obsolescence.
Being bullied into adoption and dropping of technologies on a whim and having to deal with this omnipotent, god like entity provider of all IT.
The strange bit is that actually Zentyal are probably worse than M$ not just in the products but the manner they employ them and treat there users.
PS I was writing this before Robb posted, the Openchange Beta is a huge problem on an already battered and bruised community.