14.11.2011 - OSX Mail + DavMail + Exchange2003 = <3

I love OSX Mail. It's simple, easy to use, and searching for old emails is really quick. What I don't love though is that like many other email clients, it's a pain in the ass to connect to Microsoft Exchange Server because of it's proprietary protocols (surprise surprise). So for the past few years I've been simply ignoring the problem and living with accessing Exchange mail through the limited functionality of Outlook Web Access.
Until I discovered a wonderful little gateway called DavMail.

The main goal of DavMail is to provide standard compliant protocols in front of proprietary Exchange. This means LDAP for global address book, SMTP to send messages, IMAP to browse messages on the server in any folder, POP to retrieve inbox messages only, Caldav for calendar support and Carddav for personal contacts sync. Thus any standard compliant client can be used with Microsoft Exchange.

This little app has saved me so much time that I thought it deserved a blog post. I can now access all my Exchange data from OSX Mail, iCal, and Address Book. If you've ever had an irrational (or rational) urge to rid yourself of everything Microsoft, you might want to take a look at DavMail.
J
PS: If you're wondering why I need to connect to Exchange, it's a necessary evil of work.