MAPI Connector Crashes Outlook 2007

eliteweb · Post by **eliteweb** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 1:55 am

We currently use SM 5.5 and when ME 4.x came out we were really interested in the MAPI feature. This would essentially have the same functionality as using MS Exchange 2007.

So we setup a test server:
Win 2008 SP2 64-Bit and the latest ME build.

Client:
Windows XP, Outlook 2007, latest build of ME MAPI connector.

I was able to create a new email box fine. However I noticed that the reply to email address was not correct. So I had to go into advanced options to fix this.

I got it to work, and when it works, it really works! However when I close Outlook, it crashes and tells me the Mailenable plugin is crashing Outlook.

Then upon restart, it asks me to disable the mailenable plugin. I know its still in beta so I am just letting you guys know.

I think you guys are really onto something here and we would definitely consider switching from SM to ME. However this really needs to be fixed and the system needs to be stable before we even consider this.

eliteweb · Post by **eliteweb** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 2:45 am

Discovered a new problem.

Seems like I cannot uninstall the ME connector in Windows XP. It does not remove the items from the Add/Remove menu

mrwillis · Post by **mrwillis** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:50 pm

do we need to pay Microsoft or Mailenable to use Mapi? how much will this add to the base price?

eliteweb · Post by **eliteweb** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 7:12 pm

I believe what they are doing is a hack. I doubt it is licensed by microsoft because there is no such thing as unlimited accounts licensing. So i think what you pay $699 is what you get. Unfotunately the hack is crashing outlook so it is no good at this point. Also per my post above, you can't properly remove it either.

mrwillis · Post by **mrwillis** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 8:21 pm

having outlook allows us to use mapi on the client but for the mail server to support it, either we or mailenable will need to license it from Microsoft. there has to be a cost and i'm scared to implement anything before understanding licensing. it seems that adding any Microsoft features cost more than the mail servers themselves. i used atmail and they released activesync and then removed it in a so called UPDATE after Microsoft saw it. i cant go through that again. they still aren't providing activesync.

eliteweb · Post by **eliteweb** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 8:34 pm

Then I think you are going to have the same issue here. I understand ms licensing as well and like I mentioned above I think this is a hack that is why they are not publicly marketing it. Because to me this features give the exact exchange functionality.

Post by **MailEnable** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 10:08 pm

The client connector is still in beta, so I will move this under the beta section.

That is also why:

1. MailEnable has not marketed the connector yet.
2. You may experience some instability.
3. MailEnable has not finalized any cost associated with licensing the connector (despite indicating that it will be significantly cheaper than exchange).

Now in in terms of the licensing question/concerns...

When you develop a MAPI Service Provider, you do not need to pay royalties to Microsoft unless you implement/license the Exchange Transport Protocol (MailEnable does not use this protocol because it has developed its own).

The principal issue with developing your own MAPI service provider is that they are very low level and complex and can require years of development.

Mr Willis is correct in that ActiveSync is an example of a protocol that you do need to license from MS, and hence those who implement it without licensing the protocol needed to stop doing so.

Specifically, there are no addional license fees due to Microsoft when you use the connector. You will however need to license the connector seperately from MailEnable.

eliteweb · Post by **eliteweb** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 12:26 am

Hi Andrew,

So question remains, will there be a charge for using ME MAPI connector? Or is it included with the purchase of Enterprise version $699?

mrwillis · Post by **mrwillis** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 2:00 pm

you got me interested and I took a look. this doesn't seem to link to the primary post office in outlook which means if I recieve a calendar appointment it puts it in the attached / secondary calendar. this means outlook reminders won't work. i mentioned atmail before but I also tried mailsite. they have outlook 2007 syncronization which doesn't require any downloads but has these same limitations. i was under the impression that using mapi would mean that the main posiffice in outlook would be used so that all of outlook features would function. did I do something wrong?

it's nice that outlook allows for multiple calendars and tasks. but if they are used, accepting appointments and other standard tasks in outlook don't work well. hope I'm wrong?

mrwillis · Post by **mrwillis** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 8:55 pm

eliteweb- did you notice this when testing it?

Post by **MailEnable** » Sun Oct 11, 2009 11:45 pm

MailEnable is its own MAPI service implementation moreover than a synchronization solution. So as a service provider we have control over where appointments are located within the message store.

Each Outlook Account or Delegate will store appointments into the active/primary calendar for that message store (which is where reminders come from if it configured as the default message store). It is important to know the role that the default message store plays in Outlook. Outlook only generates reminders from the default message store. (You might imagine how annoying it could get if you configured outlook to use many accounts and/or delegates and received reminders for all of them - thats presumably why Outlook only generates them from the default store).

So, for reminders to work, you need to configure Outlook to have MailEnable as the default message store. This is what happens when you create a new message store or if you configure outlook to designate the primary/default message store.

Did you create a new message store with MailEnable as the primary account/message store or just add it to an existing profile as an additional message store?

eliteweb · Post by **eliteweb** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 5:56 am

Hi Andrew,

We are currently using SM 5.5. They recently released version 6 and soon 6.5. I was about to pay the money to upgrade until I received an email from Servertastic about Mailenable 4. Right now your stongest selling point is MAPI and a much improved webmail. I could care less about Activesync since SyncML works fine (haven't tested Mailenable yet). As we all know, Outlook is a shitty IMAP client and unfortunately the majority of my customers use Outlook. It takes some getting used to for IMAP, like marking for deletion and purging / exponging. That's why your MAPI client is so important to us.

Now I personally think that you should not charge extra for the MAPI client. It should be included in the purchase price if you want to stay competitive with SM and others. Since you don't have to pay microsoft any licensing fee, this will give you a huge edge. We have installed your Enterprise Edition and will be testing it extensively over the next few months. We really want to implement your MAPI plugin but it is way too buggy right now. So please give us a reason to switch to your mailserver.

By the way, should we ask questions in the forum or email?

Post by **MailEnable** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 3:01 pm

Thanks for the feedback.

There was another beta update today - and it should be much more stable than previous releases. We are pleased that we are close to being able to release the connector, because it will has placed some development constraints on the platform/base product itself. Our focus is to get the MailEnable's MAPI service provider stable and released with core functionality.

Now I personally think that you should not charge extra for the MAPI client.

In terms of the costing, we are aiming to keep the cost of the connector down as low as possible (but it won't be included in the base cost of Enterprise Edition). The primary reason is that we do need to at least have the connector fund its year to date and ongoing development. Again, the formal cost schedule is still under review, and we hope to make an announcement within the next week.

With respect to SyncML and Active-Sync....

MailEnable's SyncML implementation supports WBXML, so it will also work with thin SyncML clients (mobile phones and PDAs). Apple now supports CalDAV (as does MailEnable), so thats another (no additional cost) alternative to activesync (at least for calendaring and IMAP). I spose with CalDav, SyncML client and IMAP on iPhone you could get core Active-Sync functionality.

By the way, should we ask questions in the forum or email?

In terms of direct questions to someone at MailEnable, I personally prefer e-mail rather than posting, because it instinctively works as a queue and things are less prone to getting lost. If you have specific discrete questions/comments relating to the beta, you can of course e-mail them to beta@mailenable.com. I would say though that if you are looking for someone to woo you over from the dark side, sales@mailenable.com is probably a better forum.

eliteweb · Post by **eliteweb** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:49 pm

Its funny, when I first launched my hosting business many years ago, I installed Mailenable standard (FREE). Since then I have moved to Merak and then SM. Keeping an eye on Mailenable for years and haven't noticed any significant improvements. I thought your webmail was ugly and the server itself lacked features other mail servers had. I thought the development of Mailenable stopped or something.

Then version 4 comes out. I love the clear webmail skin, and personally I think its better than all the other webmail interfaces I've used. Great job guys!

I have only had Mailenable Enterprise up and running for 2 days so its a little early to judge but so far so good. We are excited on the release of your MAPI plugin. I'll download the new beta today to see if it works. Good thing I have windows XP virtual machines that I can destroy to test these betas.

if you keep MAPI pricing low, for sure we are going to jump ship from SM

eliteweb · Post by **eliteweb** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 6:54 pm

mrwillis wrote:eliteweb- did you notice this when testing it?

mrwillis, you know what I really haven't played around with it much since it kept crashing my outlook. But I will download the new beta today and see how it functions.