Background and History of Exchange 

Microsoft's Exchange is more than just email. Although most people only think of it in those terms, it is actually a collection of multiple applications that coalesce into a platform used for digital messaging. Those applications include services for mail, contacts, a calendar, tasks, notes, and journaling (which no longer exists). We will discuss these in more detail later in this chapter.

Traditionally, this platform has also been used for collaborating with coworkers and colleagues, such as partners, vendors, and volunteers. With the advent of collaborative platforms, such as SharePoint, BaseCamp, Lotus, WebEx, Google Apps, and Zoho, email applications such as Exchange have been relied on a little bit less but still form an integral part of the collaborative process. With the release of Office 365 and its more intricate collaborative platform, Microsoft Teams, use of email for collaboration is on a slow decline.