Snow Leopard Mail and Exchange

So it's here and in the consumer hands. The questions I expected to be thick and fast have been more of a trickle. When can we switch over, what applications will be disabled (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3258), do we need new hardware and what happens if we've just bought new hardware with the previous Leopard OSX (http://www.apple.com/uk/macosx/uptodate/)?

Initial upgrade installations have all gone well. Performance does seem enhanced. Many changes have been made away from the standard users eye, but these should manifest themselves in the simple tasks like starting, shutting down, TimeMachine speeds and Mail's general efficiency!

We've long been stuck with the Mail app, it's random SBOD (spinning ball of death), the sent Mail sitting in the Outbox quirk, and the incompatibility with the most common Mail server, 'Microsoft Exchange'.

Well, now a large change has been made. Apple have licensed Microsoft's Exchange technology, to enable Mail, iCal and Address Book to integrate with Exchange Mail systems (http://www.apple.com/macosx/exchange/). Previously, this has been barely possible and has notoriously involved numerous additional points of failure via third party apps etc… Otherwise, it has meant the purchase of the 'full version' Office 2008 suite. This is the only version with a copy of Entourage capable of dealing with Exchange (costing approximately £260 per seat)!

With such a claimed level of integration, Apple must be aiming for SMB market share.
However, I haven't come across any other users who think the acknowledgement of local calendar, contact data and the mix with Exchange based calendars (including global contacts lists and groupings) is a huge jump on for the Apple Mail app!

Sources used:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8227071.stm
http://www.bmighty.com/blog/main/archives/2009/08/does_apples_sno.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8224517.stm