On Mon, Nov 14, 2022 at 12:19:17AM +0200, Björn Bidar wrote:

[...]

> Maybe I should have phrased it differently but the mapi protocol to
> connect to Exchange is only implemented in Microsoft Exchange.

As usual, reality isn't as clear cut as to fit into such a small
sentence.

There are several free projects which implement parts of MAPI, to
several degrees of completeness. Parts of MAPI are publically
released.

Sometimes, a combination of reverse engineering, very perseverant
lobbying work by free software associations and the ultimate
threat of anti-trust action end up cooking a big vendor (think
Samba).

Big vendors think strategically. Free software advocates have
to, too.

Nowadays, big vendor's strategies are shifting away from software
and protocol secrecy towards the methods of surveillance capitalism
(what Zuboff calls "the means of behavioral modification").

I think those are more insidious (cf. Microsoft and Github).

But back to your assertion above: I'd say "all generalizations
suck" :-)

Cheers
-- 
t