SmarterMail Server on Linux and Android eMail Client

Idea shared by Howell Dell - 1/14/2021 at 3:06 AM

Proposed

I know this has been discussed before, however, its now January 2021. These times are a changing...

While SmarterMail is .NET its certainly possible to run .Net Applications cross-platform on Linux with some effort! While I am not an expert on .NET I do understand that Microsoft is trying to focus devs to one .Net solution to work on "everything" from Intel, and ARM CPUs plus small MicroControllers for hardware so .NET apps can on run on IOT, Android, Apple macOS and i OS, XBOX to PCs plus Servers. It even looks like Apple is going to consolidate MAC and i Device Apps over the next few years as well. I hope to be evaluating an ARM Server running VMWare or Proxmox plus Debian Virtual Machines in 2021. Its time to get those Linux skills up as I've been practicing for a couple of years now.

I have moved my VoIP Platform from Windows to Linux as the my vendor supports both which I NEVER thought I would DO! Second Generation ARM Servers with PCIe are here to run 64 Bit Linux OS. Windows will be on ARM soon as well. Microsoft is developing its own ARM CPU!

Debian is a good flavor to consider especially since Red Hat as done something interesting with CentOS. It also getting harder to use SmarterMail with ActiveSync on Android. Android 10 has dropped its stand-alone eMail Client that supports ActiveSync. Outlook on Android won't work with ActiveSync. Microsoft is looking to kill off Exchange and force everyone to their Cloud as I understand it.

So my suggestion is that SmarterMail should make a version runnable on Linux -- I know its been talked about for quite some time -- V17 is upon us!

We are also going to need an Android eMail Client. I am looking for a local Android eMail Client to integrate into Android eMail Store Format plus Contacts and Calendar so that other local Android Apps can access that Data. A Web Client won't do that! We need to be ready when Microsoft makes their left turn!

I don't know enough about Apple to comment as I just use Android.

15 Replies

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echoDreamz Replied

1/14/2021 at 5:44 PM

SmarterMail is based on .Net Framework, which does not run on Linux. We will need to wait until SmarterMail moves to .net core or .Net 5, which depending on all their 3rd party dependencies could make that transition harder.

This has been discussed in other threads, but I think SmarterTools needs to hold off on moving SM over to .net core and Linux until they've got all the major issues worked out and we finally have a really good stable platform to go on before they focus on a entirely new OS platform with a brand new .net runtime to run on which will introduce even more bugs and issues.

Sébastien Riccio Replied

1/14/2021 at 10:08 PM

Totally agree. I feel like it's not anytime soon and wouldn't count on an usable SM Linux version before at least half a decade.

Sébastien Riccio System & Network Admin https://swisscenter.com

Howell Dell Replied

2/23/2021 at 8:20 PM

Given the end of Exchange as we know it and that M$ is going to route all of YOUR eMail thru their Cloud Infrastructure to SPY on you this is a serious compromise of privacy of OUR eMails! Everyone should be ALARMed and we should COMPLAIN COMPLAIN to MS!!!! This is the opposite of OPEN Internet!!! If we let Microsoft get away with this end Google is sure to follow!!

SmarterMail should make the eMail Server available on Linux immediately -- soonest!
SmarterMail should leverage someone else's SYNC technology to integrate into the following---
- SmarterMail should make a Android Client
- SmarterMail should make an iOS (MAC?) Client
- SmarterMail should make a Windows Client

Need to start looking at new eMail Client for customers!!! Maybe Thunderbird with TbSync!?!?!

echoDreamz Replied

2/23/2021 at 8:51 PM

I still think Linux is a long ways out. SmarterMail still has plenty of issues on Windows, let alone a completely different OS on a completely different .net platform.

There is already a good desktop alternative if you dont like Outlook, eM Client is really really good. The $50 price tag on it is nothing.

While it would be cool for SmarterTools to make their own client, lets be real here, they are busy enough on SmarterMail itself without introducing 3/4 client apps that will make their support and development costs go sky high. Supporting SmarterMail for all of us is surely "fun" for them as it is, I can only imagine also having to support client apps.

John C. Reid Replied

2/24/2021 at 1:21 PM

.NET will run on Linux, it is just a bad idea.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/linux

John C. Reid / Technology Director John@prime42.net / (530) 691-0042 1300 West Street, Suite 206, Redding, CA 96001

echoDreamz Replied

2/24/2021 at 9:08 PM

What makes it bad John? We have many in-house developed .net core apps that run on Linux (Ubuntu) without issues.

Matt Petty Replied

2/25/2021 at 7:25 AM

Employee Post

I've got little side projects and stuff, as well as tools I've created to fix/do various things. Everything I've done lately is net core and in a couple instances I've got a simple hosted site running off of Linux and dot netcore. I've been very happy with it. Quite a bit of performance enhancements as well, some of the work they put into performance for dotnet core has slightly trickled into .net framework.

Matt Petty Senior Software Developer SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com

Howell Dell Replied

4/10/2022 at 4:24 PM

Now that Microsoft has announced changes to their Partner Program, IMHO, is more evident than ever that Microsoft is becoming a CLOUD only company! I'm moving more and more services to run on Debian Linux using VMware and soon looking at Proxmox and KVM via TrueNAS Scale. It would be great to have SmartMail on Linux! Another company that I resell software from, 3CX VoIP, did this years ago and they saw the handwriting on the wall. However, 3CX was written in C++ so they did not have to concern themselves with .NET.

Urs Replied

4/9/2023 at 12:04 PM

I am wondering if anybody can share a update or roadmap for the Linux version now.
Hopefully this new released version has been built on a code base to enable easier portability to Linux.
As Microsoft licensing gets more worse every year, SmarterMail on Linux would be a great advantage.

Ben Rowland Replied

4/10/2023 at 8:13 AM

Hi, .NET Core runs on both Windows and Linux. The question is how much legacy code is in SmarterMail, and how many libraries it uses are not .NET Core. Beyond the code issues are the system issues. SmarterMail installs as a Windows service. Webmail also installs under IIS.

Were this merely a web app, they could migrate it to .NET Core and deploy on Linux (say, via Azure app services, where you can choose between Windows and Linux), but this is a little more complex architecture that would need to be reconsidered.

Nathan Replied

8/4/2023 at 7:31 AM

Having been wholly Windows based we have over the years moved to being Linux for everything, except SmarterMail hosting. The one thing we cannot easily replace is SmarterMail but it would be so much easier if we could at least host it under Linux (Debian ideally).

Are there any plans to move SmarterMail from .NET Framework to .NET Core and at the same time support Linux deployments?

Kyle Kerst Replied

8/4/2023 at 9:04 AM

Employee Post

We are actually in that process currently (core transition) though I can’t speak to how far along we are. I’ll ping Tim and have him chime in here when he has some time but I believe there is some existing conversation here on the community about it a few weeks back as well if you want to check that out. We look forward to our adventure in Linux!

Kyle Kerst Acting IT Manager SmarterTools Inc. www.smartertools.com