In my configuration mail is port forwarded to a qmail server in the DMZ and then after spam and virus checking sent to an exchange server in the DMZ. I have to date used evolution as my mail client because it seemed to have the best capabilities when dealing with an exchange server.
I have recently upgraded to Maverick Meerkat kubuntu. Evolution in Maverick Meerkat is broken in my case. It crashes it does not display some messages and it is slow. I decided to try Kontact, that is kmail and kaddresbook
Kmail is configured to use the imap interface to the exchange server, no problem. Outlook contacts proved to be a major problem. Whilst it is possible to export contacts as a csv I could find nothing that could reconstruct the csv into anything that made sense.
However the answer is gmail. Gmail seems to be able to import csv and maintain the notes fields and categories. It seems to be the only thing. Export from gmail in vcard format and import into kaddressbook, with all fields preserved.
The next catch is that you will want to use the address book in kmail. To use the address book you must go to:
"System Settings" -> "Personal Information" -> "KDE Resources" and select your new address book. You will also want to click the "standard"
Job Done.