Exchange has distribution lists that we use mostly for small personal email lists a person can set up themselves. We have been moving those to listserv lists if the person wants an unsubscribe automatically function. If we have external user email addresses involved in list email exchanges we also would rather use listserv.



I generally evaluate systems on how much they cost, how much I have to maintain them, and how much people complain about there. We have used several list list products and our complaints are way down using listserv. One product would always infinite mail loop. Others like Exchange seem expensive to maintain and following a different set of standards.



-----Original Message-----

From: LISTSERV site administrators' forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Liam Kelly

Sent: Monday, November 22, 2010 10:32 AM

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: Listserv and MS Exchange 2010 mailing lists comarison ?



Like you say, there really isn't any comparison.  Exchange distribution lists may be appropriate for a small number of the things for which people use LISTSERV.  We don't use Exchange in-house, but my understanding is that Exchange distribution lists are basically just aliases that mail to some subset of your active directory users.  Sort of like the mail aliases that LISTSERV was designed to replace back in the 1980s :)



Off the top of my head:



- LISTSERV lists allow for users to subscribe/unsubscribe

- LISTSERV lists keep searchable archives, including RSS feeds

- LISTSERV lists automatically process bounced messages

- LISTSERV lists allow for message moderation

- LISTSERV lists can have customizable templates for the mail and web interfaces

- LISTSERV lists can filter attachments by size or content type

- LISTSERV lists can keep a changelog with posting and subscription stats

- LISTSERV lists have per-recipient user preferences for things like digests and html/text



I could go on, but looking at the LISTSERV feature checklist at <http://www.lsoft.com/products/listserv_checklist.asp>, if we added a column for 'Exchange Distribution Lists', pretty much every feature would be a 'no'.  Of course, I can't speak to which particular features your site is using, and which ones you aren't.



For most sites, I would guess the main draw to Exchange lists would be integration with Active Directory.  Of course, LISTSERV can use Active Directory, too, by way of the LDAP interface.  The folks pushing for Exchange lists may not know that.  If there's anything that Exchange distribution lists can do that LISTSERV can't, I'm not aware of it (but would be interested to know).  I think you would just be 'upgrading' to something with drastically reduced functionality.



-- 

Liam Kelly

Senior Consulting Analyst

L-Soft international