Jaunty: Firefox does not get along with OWA Premium of an MS Exchange server

[oss_test_launchpad]

I experienced that when you have to work with an MS Exchange server in your company, Ubuntu completely fails on you.

As far is I experienced, Evolution's OWA connector is far from being ready for productive use and there seems little or little useful response to OWA connector or Evolution related bug reports in Launchpad.

This is more than bad since it does not seem to be possible to run MS Outlook 2003 under WINE either (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wine/+bug/342326).

One theoretical way out might be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 under WINE but this doesn't seem to work yet either (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wine/+bug/342326).

So I tried to simply install the Firefox "User Agent Switcher" plugin and set Firefox's user agent to "Internet Explorer 7 (Windows Vista)". Well, Firefox then loads the OWA Premium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlook_Web_Access#Technology) view which if it worked would give you a nearby substitute for the MS Outlook 2003 client or the MS Outlook 2007 client. However, if you click anything there, nothing happens. There is a large error message printed into the OWA Premium screen which says:

----
/exchweb/img/tf_Messages.xsltable-layout:fixed;width:100%;NachrichtenBKBMBfalseKeine AngabepercentWichtigkeiti4http://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/x-priority-long1101width:13px;cursor:hand;text-align: center;Elementtypstringhttp://schemas.microsoft.com/exchange/outlookmessageclass1101width:20px;cursor:hand;text-align: center;FlagStatusi4http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/x109000031101width:20px;cursor:hand;text-align: center;Anlagebooleanurn:schemas:httpmail:hasattachment1101width:15px;cursor:hand;text-align: center;Vonstringhttp://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/sent_representing_name1001width:23%;cursor:hand;text-align: ;padding-right:3px;padding-left:3px;Betreffstringhttp://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/subject1001width:40%;cursor:hand;text-align: ;padding-right:3px;padding-left:3px;Erhaltendateurn:schemas:httpmail:datereceived1001width:26%;cursor:hand;text-align: ;padding-right:3px;padding-left:3px;ddd dd.MM.yyyyHH:mmGrößei4http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/x0e0800031001width:11%;cursor:hand;text-align: right;padding-right:3px;padding-left:3px;padding-right:3px"http://schemas.microsoft.com/mapi/proptag/0x67aa000b" = false AND "DAV:isfolder" = falseurn:schemas:httpmail:datereceivedDESCdatebackground-color:buttonface
----

which tells you that it isn't enough to just change the user agent ID tag. However, I wonder it would be possible to run OWA Premium without the above mentioned bug, using Mozilla Firefox. (If not, I will have to switch back to MS Windows.)

[oss_test_launchpad (oss-test-launchpad)]

Whoever marked this "WINE" and "Invalid" for Firefox made a mistake. This is no WINE bug. It has nothing to do with WINE at all. WINE is not even involved. This is about Firefox's behaviour when trying to work with OWA premium using the User Agent Switcher plugin.

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

the following was stated in the description:

This is more than bad since it does not seem to be possible to run MS Outlook 2003 under WINE either (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wine/+bug/342326).

One theoretical way out might be running Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 under WINE but this doesn't seem to work yet either (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/wine/+bug/342326).

If this bug has nothing to do with wine why was it brought up at all?
We are unable to provide support for sites that dont allow firefox to be used, like hotmail for example:
cant type an email using firefox (this has beena nd is still an issue for people. This next quote as follows tell me its the site not the browser. MS tends to only allow IE for some sites example Microsoft updates site.

So I tried to simply install the Firefox "User Agent Switcher" plugin and set Firefox's user agent to "Internet Explorer 7 (Windows Vista)". Well, Firefox then loads the OWA Premium (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outlook_Web_Access#Technology) view which if it worked would give you a nearby substitute for the MS Outlook 2003 client or the MS Outlook 2007 client. However, if you click anything there, nothing happens. There is a large error message printed into the OWA Premium screen which says:

Please explain why you think this is a firefox issue and not (wine, website, plugins)

[John Vivirito (gnomefreak)]

Did you try with Opera or any other browser we supply ex. konq. epiphany?

[oss_test_launchpad (oss-test-launchpad)]

John, my idea why it is a Firefox issue is based on the fact that even when you change the user agent you get to see the "Premium" view, but as described above it is not functional. Only the "Premium" view provides essential features like searching for emails or contacts. I believe there is a technical function missing in Firefox that would enable it to work with an "OWA Premium" site.

I only brought up WINE etc. in order to show that currently whatever you try there is no way of getting Jaunty to work properly with an MS Exchange server. Sorry if that confused you.

[oss_test_launchpad (oss-test-launchpad)]

> Did you try with Opera or any other browser we supply ex. konq. epiphany?

Yes, I tried all three of them. Same result. You get to see the "Basic" view which wouldn't allow you to properly do your daily work even if you worked with several workarounds.

[Alex Denvir (coldfff)]

We are closing this bug report because it has not been updated for some time. Please reopen it if you have more information to submit, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!