Joseph Scott has posted instructions on how to use the information in an Active Directory in Windows Server 2003 as a back-end address book for Mail.app and Thunderbird, using its LDAP facility.

He provides step-by-step instructions and some suggested values for the various required fields.

He also offers a tip for anonymous access in case you are unhappy about entering your password to get access to the LDAP user info.

Normally I try to test things before posting them. I couldn’t test this. I have no access to a Windows Server 2004 setup and, God willing, never will.mail.app, apple mail, windows server 2003, active directory, address book, LDAP, tips, thunderbird

I was surprised today by the reception that greeted Textpander’s re-emergence as TextExpander, in particular by the response to the app’s new USD 29.95 price tag.

Posts on MacUser , TUAW and comments here on Hawk Wings all lamented the new cost and the passing of what some of them called “freeware”.

One even implied that Peter had “let down” the whole Mac community by selling Textpander on.

Two things about this were surprising. First, the idea that Textpander was ever “freeware” in the first place. A request for donations is prominently displayed on the web pages of all Peter’s apps. And rightly so.

Probably like three other developers I have spoken to, only 1-2% of the people who downloaded his stuff actually donated. 98% were happy to take the software and run.

Ironically, people who equate donation-ware with freeware may well be a key factor in Textpander’s sale. When SmileOnMyMac turned up, Peter may finally have seen the adequate return for his time and energy which the Mac user community by and large refused him.

Secondly, I am surprised that people find the new price too high.

I don’t think that the price is too steep for something that offers such productivity gains.

Say that it helps me work 5% faster when I am writing. I only have to earn USD 600 for it to have paid its way, and after that I am reaping the benefits in perpetuity.

Mail.app is beautiful straight “out of the box”. But the existence of fabulous plugins makes it even more beautiful, more powerful and more useful.

It’s worth remembering that developers make these plugins. They do not fall like manna from heaven out of the sky. Real people make them and maintain them with time stolen from their families and jobs and other projects and passions.

So, pay up. Pay up in acknowledgment of the work that goes into donation-ware. Pay up to make sure that someone will create the plugins of the future. Pay up just to remind yourself how lucky you are to have this software on your Mac at all.

Here endeth the sermon :)

UPDATE: Peter himself also has something to say on the subject.freeware, donation-ware, Textpander, textexpander, productivity, developers, labourers deserve their wages, mail.app, apple mail

Tyler Hall at Sitening provides a detailed account of his backup strategy.

He divides his data up into six categories depending on how frequently he backs it up and how he does it.

Email backups, he writes, are all taken care of by Mail.app. He downloads all this Gmail into Mail using Gmail’s POP access and all his IMAP emails are mirrored in Mail.app’s local cache.

Preference files, the ~/Library/Mail and ~/Library/Mail Downloads folders, which are essential parts of a sensible Mail.app backup plan, are taken care by another backup process.

SuperDuper (“Heroic system recovery for mere mortals”) is the backup app of choice.backups, mail.app, apple mail, gmail, tips

CNet News carries a gallery of screenshots of the latest Outlook beta with commentary.

The fourteen images cover everything from the main window (see below) to the Compose Window (featuring a message in plain text!) to various preference options.

In the main window the most notable new thing is the To-Do Bar on the right of the window:

The beta continues the Microsoft design philosophy of overwhelming the user with options and buttons. Compare the Contact card in Outlook 2007b2 to the interface in Address Book:

See the screenshot of the Compose window toolbar for a further example.

According to a separate report on CNet , Office 2007 is now scheduled for release in January 2007 (or maybe later ).outlook 2007, office 2007, screenshots, beta 2, Microsoft, interface design, email

The web has thrown up two interesting Thunderbird links today.

Neil Turner provides a tutorial on getting Growl to notify you of new messages in Thunderbird.

The tip requires you to install the Yamb (“Yet another Mail Biff”) extension and to do a few things in the Terminal, but the end result is nice (as you can see in Neil’s screenshot):

Katy Whitton describes how she uses Thunderbird to implement David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” system.

She outlines her carefully considered Thunderbird tweak, moving step-by-step through her message triage, mailbox setup, the required extensions and her template arrangements.

You might want to compare this with Entropic Principle’s post on Thunderbird and GTD and/or consider how well Mail.app does the same thing .thunderbird, mail.app, apple mail, GTD, productivity, growl, notification, yamb, tips

Peter Maurer’s text snippet manager, Textpander, is my third favourite productivity app after Quicksilver and Spell Catcher X .

I save enormous amounts of time by using it to store my various email signatures (and much more).

Peter sold the app to SmileOnMyMac a few weeks ago where it has now reappeared officially as TextExpander .

The new version (1.3) has gained some new features. You can now reference other snippets as variables via “%snippet:[abbreviation]%” and create snippets directly from selected text by means of the TextExpander Service. An initial Japanese localisation has also been added.

TextExpander is shareware (USD 29.95). SmileOnMyMac is offering free registration to everyone who gave money when the app was donation-ware. If you did, you should be getting an email containing the registration key for the new version.

UPDATE: See how TextExpander ranks among the five apps that most boost my productivity in a post on X Factor .textpander, textexpander, snippets, productivity, helpful apps

David Chartier (demon blogger at TUAW but so much more ) wonders about tags for Gmail.

Apparently, a reader of David’s blog posted that he is working on a tags system for Gmail and that Google is interested in his idea.

David explores three areas which a tagging feature for Gmail would need to address.

He notes in conclusion, “I realize that some applications have plug-ins that can already do this, such as the MailTags plugin for Apple’s Mail.app, and that’s great.”

Oh, yes, it is.

I must have had some kind of Gmail-ectomy. I try to use it alot so that I will catch the spark, but it’s not working. I can’t help asking myself, why go out for hamburger, when I can stay home and have steak?gmail, Tags, Google, email, productivity, mail.app, apple mail, mailtags