[LUNI] Email Iritations

[Demetri Mouratis]

Hi,

I've spent a good portion of my workweek configuring email of all things 
so please forgive this rant and lend a hand if you can.

Like many of you, my company is a Microsoft shop and I'm the "Linux 
Admin."  We run a hosted Exchange server for corporate email.  For the 
first year or so, I was getting by with OWA (Outlook Web Access) from my 
Linux box combined with my BlackBerry, a second email client.

This week, I finally got fed up with the inability to search email and 
installed Thunderbird on my Linux box.  IMAP on the Exchange server, 
check.  Right away, I loved it.  Thunderbird was so snappy and elegant. 
I had some issues getting the company address book but powered my way 
through the Active Directory integration.  Once I got that sorted I was 
very happy to have thrown off the shackles of Microsoft and felt great. 
Score: Demetri 1, Mircosoft 0.

Or so I had thought.  I realized I have a third email client, a 
company-issued Windows laptop at home, formerly running Outlook.  I need 
this guy for a Windows-only VPN client for remote access.  I thought, no 
problem, I'll just install Thunderbird under Windows, everything will be 
cool, and I'll be done with Outlook forever.  Or so I had thought.

Problem: mailbox synchonization.

My work email client has greatly improved, Thunderbird is slick and no 
more Outlook Web Access (yeah!).  However, My home email client has now 
gotten out of sync with work.  I was able to install Thunderbird but my 
mailbox looks like it did two days ago and doesn't reflect the recent 
messages at work.  My BlackBerry is still cool as far is it goes but I 
have never used it for archiving all my old messages instead using it for 
sending quick emails on the go or reading while afk.  I can't search snet 
items at work.  My home email has sent items only up until Decembe 2006 
where the import from Outlook->Thunderbird barfed.  I've now realized this 
isssue is inherent in IMAP and how it treats mailboxes versus the 
(server-side?) handling of Outlook/Exchange.  Score: Demetri 1, Microsoft 
2.

I feel as though I've started down the rabbit hole.

Does the above make sense?  Does anyone out there have a similar setup 
with a better solution?  Have I stated my requirements clearly?  Should I 
start installing a X-Windows environment on my laptop ;-)?

Thanks for listening and any pointers.