Another Outlook vs. Entourage Conundrum

[MyPhyve]

Hello, and I must say, "Thank you!" to those of you who provide these
valuable tips for users.

Here's my question....

My spouse is moving from a business that has complete technology support to
his own independent business. At home we have been a Mac family for years
and he recently purchased a Mac notebook for his new business but would like
to continue using Outlook for his email, contacts, calendar, etc. I have
done a lot of reading regarding the use of Entourage vs. Outlook and after
all I have read I still don't know if I can recommend one over the other
which is where I would welcome advice.

From what I can glean from the experts out there Entourage is no Outlook and
won't be anytime soon. 2008 Entourage provides some improvements but still
does not make it function as Outlook. Outlook does not appear to function
seamlessly on a Mac and may not even be able to provide full tech support.
Am I right so far? Are the issues the same for a single user versus a
company providing support multiple users? Should an avid Outlook user even
try to migrate to a Mac if they are aren't to open to change?

Any and all feedback is appreciated.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi,

From what I can glean from the experts out there Entourage is no Outlook and
won't be anytime soon. 2008 Entourage provides some improvements but still
does not make it function as Outlook.

Well it all depends on what you need. The two apps are different indeed,
but it all depends on what you need to do with the software.

Outlook does not appear to function
seamlessly on a Mac and may not even be able to provide full tech support.

Outlook is not even a Mac application. It's a Windows application and
therefore cannot run as such on your Mac.

Am I right so far? Are the issues the same for a single user versus a
company providing support multiple users? Should an avid Outlook user even
try to migrate to a Mac if they are aren't to open to change?

I'm not following you here... Why woudl the issue be different for many
users than it woudl be for one??

In any case, Entoruage supports POP, IMAP and Exchange (you can even
have more than one Exchange account).
Exchange support is shomewhat limited compared to Outlook, but a new
version is under development for Exchange 2007 support that shoudl
bridge the gap on most aspects.

Corentin

 

[MyPhyve via MacKB.com]

Thanks for you reply.

Regarding the multi-user question, I'm probably showing my ignorance, but I
wasn't sure if some of the issues I've read about with Outlook had more to do
with having multiple Outlook users in an office who may be using both Windows
and Mac operating systems.

Am I correct in assuming that you would encourage him to work with Entourage?
And I guess I never asked the question of whether or not there is another
productivity application out there that should also be considered.

Again, your feedback is very much appreciated.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Am I correct in assuming that you would encourage him to work with Entourage?

Well it all depends on what the needs are, but it forms a fairly good
package.
For an Exchange account, it's by far the best solution around.

And I guess I never asked the question of whether or not there is another
productivity application out there that should also be considered.

Few apps offer an e-mail client, calendar and project manager all in one
application. You can find these features separately in various apps, but
I believe that having them all together is what makes it unique.

Otherwise for a POP or IMAP account, you could even use Mail (I use it
with Mail Act-On and MailTags which are terrific add-ons for Mail) and
iCal. It really is a matter of taste.

Corentin

 

[Ed Kimball]

Thanks for you reply.

Regarding the multi-user question, I'm probably showing my ignorance, but I
wasn't sure if some of the issues I've read about with Outlook had more to do
with having multiple Outlook users in an office who may be using both Windows
and Mac operating systems.

Am I correct in assuming that you would encourage him to work with Entourage?
And I guess I never asked the question of whether or not there is another
productivity application out there that should also be considered.

Again, your feedback is very much appreciated.

Another option, if you are using Intel-based Macs is to get VMWare Fusion or
Parallels Desktop and a copy of Windows and Outlook to run on your Mac. If
you really need the features of Outlook that Entourage does not include,
this solution would probably be cheaper than buying a Windows-based PC just
to run Outlook.