Seems like v16 is still in beta with a new release every week.  We are in a production environment with multiple servers and thousands of users who expect their email to be up 24x7 (thanks, Gmail, for setting the bar :).

 

We would prefer some stability with maybe one release per month at the most. So far there have been roughly 57 releases for v16 and it has only been out a little over a year. Engineers don't like getting up at 4:00am to install a new version on multiple servers, only to find out the new version they just installed introduced another problem.

 

A good rule of thumb is to wait a couple weeks before installing a new release. And if there are no problems being discussed in the forum, it's safe to install.

There are numerous reasons why we have delayed.  The top 5 reasons are:

a.) Stability - although this doesn't appear to be a main concern... now,

as you outlined, there have been a lot of fixes.

b.) Learning curve for our web-based customers. Probably actual now surpassing the stability issue, is making sure our doc is updated along with videos to support our clients. After looking at Sm17, we are thinking about jumping on to that release... but Sm17 vs Sm16 look similar, so either way.. we have started working on our doc.

c.) API interfaces/inter-action.  Main thing was simple issues just trying to get our users logged on to SM16 through simple interfaces.  It looks as though this issue has been resolved, we haven't gone back to verify.

d.) Initial Reports of Hardware resource changes.. For quite sometime, it sounded like the resources for hardware were being increased too... So upgrading AND moving to a new server.. didn't sound like something we wanted to get onboard with for quite some time.  Based upon community feedback, it sounds as if some this has been addressed to.

e.) Just avoiding the pain  of upgrading in general.  Functionally, there were no NEW functions(improved vs new)... that would be an incentive to upgrade.  Sm17 offers the hope of true MAPI interfaces.. thus new functionality.

 

SM15 had over 10 years of refinement and improvement to the User Interface. SM16 was 'redesigned and rewritten from the ground up' to work on a mobile device. In doing so, the UI seems to have lost both beauty and functionality.

 

SM15 has a great UI which allows customers to use the web interface instead of an email client like Outlook which is expensive and a hassle to support and upgrade. The SM16 UI is mobile-friendly, but seems like it has less functionality, less info on screen, more scrolling, etc. compared to SM15.

 

The SM16 UI might be great for mobile, but nobody runs email in a browser on their smartphone. Everyone uses the built-in email apps to get the benefit of push notifications, contact and calendar sync, etc. We don't see any value in simplifying the web interface for a tiny screen.

 

Recently we lost a large customer to G Suite because they looked at the SM16 UI and the new Gmail UI. They saw less functionality in SM and more in Gmail with its new right-hand side panel.

 

Not trying to be negative. Just reporting this in an objective manner in the hopes of seeing UI enhancements that get us to upgrade. We have a lot invested in SM and want to see it succeed so that we attract and retain more customers!

I just did the upgrade to 16.x from 15.x last week.  I waited this long because people kept telling me not to do it.  Here is what I noticed

1) I had to change the hard drive from a hybrid/ssd drive to a full on 2tb drive. - massive improvement. no lag at all for a 1500 user system

2) domain admins  couldnt figure out how to do stuff

3) users are confused with no check boxes to select mails for whatever action

4) harder to reach some admin features I was used to

 

otherwise its a very solid system. i also love the responsiveness by support and developers for issues I find.