Zimbra Office: now this is something for Microsoft to worry about.
![zd-defaultauthor-marc-orchant.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/4b2242807bd552bf3e237cd5a268cfe0be7f1383/2014/12/04/fb3ca4d0-7b6b-11e4-9a74-d4ae52e95e57/zd-defaultauthor-marc-orchant.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
Last week, Dan Farber provided a look at the next step in the evolution of the Zimbra Office which features two "notebook" apps - a document processor and a spreadhseet and a new approach to sharing data between web-based applications called ALE (AJAX Linking Embedding). More than anything Google or the all-software-should-be-free contingent is doing, this is what Microsoft needs to fear - a disruptive player coming out of nowhere, delivering solid usability in a well-designed interface that takes on a cash cow (in this case Exchange Server).
![zimbraALE.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/2014/10/04/81fa7f04-4b85-11e4-b6a0-d4ae52e95e57/zimbraale.jpg)
Exchange is an expensive proposition. Zimbra is not - an open source version is available as are a Network Edition that adds value and support for a fee and third-party hosted versions. This project has ramped up quickly, has solid financial backing, and seems to have a long view strategy in place that is being executed with deliberate intent. That should raise a few eyebrows in Redmond.
UPDATE: Richard MacManus has posted an in-depth walkthrough of Zimbra that shows off some of the very nice features this alternative provides.