Reasons Entourage is better than Mail/iCal/Address Book

[Pitch]

I regularly help people switch from PCs to Macs. I've been an Mac'er
since '91, and have used Entourage since its inception.

I usually have people purchase Office and get going with Entourage,
because it's what I use and know (and can therefore help them) but also
because of some perceived sense that it's better than Mail.

Truth be told, I've never cracked open Mail, so my perceptions could
actually be really wrong! And I'm being asked more and more by newbies
if they should use Mail or something else. I'm wondering if anyone on
this Entourage group can list the reasons Entourage is better than the
Mail/iCal/Address book configuration. This may be a bit premature,
since Entourage '08 is about to come out. But if anyone has played
deeply with Mail, can they tell me what the advantages are to
Entourage?

Thanks much.

 

[Donald Stidwell]

I regularly help people switch from PCs to Macs. I've been an Mac'er
since '91, and have used Entourage since its inception.

I usually have people purchase Office and get going with Entourage,
because it's what I use and know (and can therefore help them) but also
because of some perceived sense that it's better than Mail.

Truth be told, I've never cracked open Mail, so my perceptions could
actually be really wrong! And I'm being asked more and more by newbies
if they should use Mail or something else. I'm wondering if anyone on
this Entourage group can list the reasons Entourage is better than the
Mail/iCal/Address book configuration. This may be a bit premature,
since Entourage '08 is about to come out. But if anyone has played
deeply with Mail, can they tell me what the advantages are to
Entourage?

Thanks much.

For me the overwhelming reason I continue to use Entourage (even though
it's not a Universal app, which bugs me) is because it is a single
integrated application rather than two separate ones, and because it has
notes which I absolutely require.

Because I'm on several mailing lists, I also appreciate Entourage's
mailing list rules which Apple Mail does not have. Also, in my
experience, Entourage's Spam filtering is better than Mail's and I find
rules in Entourage to be more flexible than Mail's.

Don

 

[deathdruid]

I'm wondering if anyone on
this Entourage group can list the reasons Entourage is better than the
Mail/iCal/Address book configuration.

I wrote up why I chose Entourage for email rather than Apple Mail or
Thunderbird.

http://www.genebrew.com/blog/2007/01/06/microsoft-entourage-my-new-e-mail-application/

In a nutshell, I like Entourage because import and export is easy, it
integrates with Spotlight, and I can use Applescript with it.

-Rahul

 

[Steve Basile]

In all frankness, first reason to use Mail is cost of Office at $329 - $349.
That's very steep for someone who purchases a Mac, k&m, and LCD for under
$1K. Not as pricey for folks who lay out $2k - $3K for a MacBook or Mac Pro
tower.

I use Entourage for same reasons as already listed here- integrated app and
email rules. Also, if you need Word, Excel, or Powerpoint it'll already be
in the box.

Spotlight used to be a reason NOT to use Entourage. After Tiger came out I
desperately wanted the ability to search my 100K message archive with
Spotlight efficiency. Entourage email searching is anything but efficient.
Microsoft has since added Spotlight support and saved this user the hassle
of moving to OS X Mail and Address Book. OS X Mail not only supports
Spotlight but it has a fast and efficient search box right in the main
message browser.

With Office as expensive as it is I'd never recommend it without first
finding reason to. OS X Mail and Address Book are more than capable for at
least 75% of the people I work with.

That's a long answer to your question but covers it for me.

Steve Basile


Pitch wrote on 1/16/07 5:14 PM:

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

People should use whatever they prefer. "Better" is irrelevant. You can
search the group for previous comments about this--they are probably
still true. The point about cost is well-taken, but many people feel
like they need Office for one reason or another anyhow.

By the way, Mail is not so difficult that you can't also help switchers
set it up without having used it, I don't think.

Entourage does more--for instance, newsgroups and Project Center--but
that only makes it "better" if you need those things. Integration with
Word/Office is only "better" if you are going to take advantage of those
things. I'm heavily invested in Office AutoCorrect--I can't even
consider switching from Entourage until I've taken the time to set up a
system-wide utility for autocorrecting shortcuts. I've set up a Project
Center system that I'm very happy with and unwilling to give up.

I have some other email accounts in Mail, but I haven't spent much time
in it or done much with them. For my real life, I much prefer the
single-app approach over running Mail, Address Book, and iCal. If I did
try to put my real life into Mail, I would soon run out of room for
folders in the left column, which forces a wide clean spacing.

I must say, I thought Entourage had a weak newsreader--and it does--but
I've tried several other newsreader programs since and am still not
entirely happy.

 

[Holman, David]

as others have said, Entourage has a little more "power" built-in. but just
like Word, this is not necessarily a good thing.

I use Entourage at work because of our corp calendaring system. meeting
appointments and public calendars work pretty well, and the public address
book is a nice feature.

in my home studio I own Entourage (as part of Office), but I use Mail /
Address Book / Google Cal for my workflow. my primary reason is because Mail
is exceedingly more elegant. Address Book works virtually transparently,
other than jumping over to set-up the details in a new contact. and Google
Calendar gives me easy access to my schedule anywhere (home or away, my
computer or some archaic PC), and is sync-able with Entourage and iCal. I'm
sort of an entry-level power user who squeezes the most out of my machines,
and this workflow does everything I need -- and it's free.

_ DA Holman _