I was just doing some research, and within the federal government there are over 283,000 employees and more than 200 departments or crown agencies. Right now there are over 100 different e-mail systems for federal government employees.
Look at him; he's cringing.
The federal government's e-mail systems are not fully compatible. While approximately 80% of the departments use Microsoft Outlook, 15% use Lotus Notes and 5% use Novell GroupWise for their entire system. Departments have different versions and have adopted a variety of rules and practices. This results in fragmentations and higher costs and seems extremely inefficient.
You said you weren't there in 1998, but did your colleagues tell you that you had a very similar situation?