said by cowboyro:You're presumably already spending $500 for a computer + $200 for Office = $700. That's $42k before even factoring in the cost of servers, support personnel, DR procedures, internet access and even salaries for those who work... And you're actually adding a productivity tool...
All those are valid points. Yet it doesn't change the fact that it's still can be a large cost that hasn't previously been budgeted.
I don't think any of the freebies have an actually usable web interface so you can access mail from anywhere or mail push for mobiles... what you pay is what you get...
OP explicitly stated he just needed a mail server. Web interface, push for mobiles, etc I see as enhancements that go beyond just a mail server. Yes they can be helpful, useful, whatever. But they also may be completely unnecessary.
As to getting what you pay for, I guess exim, postfix, sendmail, and all the other open source mail servers must be crap since you don't pay for those either. Just ignore that any one of their market shares are as big if not bigger than Exchange's.
Exchange is a great product that has an extremely extensive feature list. Such a feature list comes with a price, and that price is paying for a lot of things that likely would not be used for just 60 users.