Comments on: MacWorld’s review of Entourage 2008: A missed opportunity

By: Bert Plat

Bert Plat — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:24:14 +0000

Well, I was willing to give Entourage a try, until I learned that syncing to my Palm would be crippled. So, thanks, but, no thanks.

By: Charles Willson

Charles Willson — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:41:20 +0000

In my prior post I mentioned we un-installed Office 08 after such a disappointing trial of the new Entourage. We used the Microsoft supplied un-installer. I guess nobody at Microsoft ever did this because it leaves debris everywhere. The dead icons still remained in the doc & 2 days later I am still getting Barnie purple Entourage calendar alerts popping-up despite removal of the program. Obviously program components remain despite following their removal procedure. This to me is typical of Microsoft products. A lot of fanfare about a few things they have improved and then a slow voyage of discovery of the endless i’s they never dotted and t’s they never crossed.

By: carlivar

carlivar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:29:49 +0000

Simple solution for Exchange crapiness:

zimbra.com

By: Jim Main

Jim Main — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 03:38:35 +0000

The issue of a single database for Entourage mail is not an issue that only cropped up with Time Machine. It has been an ongoing issue for many of us in Office X and Office 2004, that are power mail users.

Back in the Entourage X the filesize limitation was way to small, but even since the database is prone to periodic corruption. Recovery, if possible, takes a long process as the entire database needs rebuilding. Also backups other than Time Machine are prone to failure (as is any large active database file), unless you make a copy and back that up (see standard Filemaker backup procedures). A single database file works up to a point, and it’s adequate for light mail users. But for a business that lives in email, and uses POP accounts, I would highly discourage the use of Entourage.

By: JTW

JTW — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:01:17 +0000

I do think it’s a bit much to expect Tom Negrino or any reviewer to write about the whole “ecosystem” around Mail add-ons; after all, there are lots of Entourage scripts to extend functionality, too. That kind of comparison might make for a very interesting followup article, though, about how both Mail and Entourage can be extended.

I have had my issues with Mail (and its add-ons), but I’m afraid I’ve had them with my limited use of Entourage as well. I’m a 1.5-person business (I have a part-time assistant) and I don’t have any great fealty to either the Apple apps or to Entourage. I’ve used both. I just wish that I could find a review (and this is selfish of me, I’m sure) that indicates which solution really has the most bang for the buck if I don’t need Exchange but still have mid-sized mail needs, project needs, etc, which is the best choice. Probably both are a decent choice and one must simply pick one, roll up sleeves, and make it work best for one’s particular needs. I’m still a bit confused as to why Entourage trumps Mail/Address Book/iCal in this regard. It seems the only overwhelming advantage is integration with Office apps. Am I missing something?

I do think it’s quite nice and helpful to see folks like Mr. Ruff from the Mac BU and Mr. Negrino responding here.

By: Andy Ruff

Andy Ruff — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:42:47 +0000

We’re looking into it… I’ll update when we know more.

By: Charles Willson

Charles Willson — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:33:17 +0000

I installed Office 08 and un-installed it today. I will reinstall Word, Excel & PPT.

I so desperately wanted Entourage to be great. I love the idea of integrated mail, calendar & address book.

Here is what made me do a quick about turn

No drag and drop of attachments to an email.. click on the paperclick icon only

Slow overall response and start-up. Very slow to mark email read

Poor visual alert/preview for new emails with no customization of where it appears. Hey badging works, whey did they not take a proven Mac approach

Very pretty labels for the calendar colors that are stripped out on every .Mac sync because iCal does not support labels just multiple calendars

Very limited display views of contacts. I always liked the Outlook card view.

Very coarse control over changing interface fonts. The LHS sidebar folders font size is on the same preference as the message font. I want my folder names small.

The FUGLY Barnie purple My day.

I could go on but as of this morning I am back to mail.app with whole new appreciation for how “simply” functional it is.

By: PHG

PHG — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:27:33 +0000

Dear Mr. Ruff, thank you for the information. I have not yet encountered a user of V. X who has successfully imported an identity into Entourage 2008. I did mean to imply that this was “by design” since 2008 includes v. X as an importation option. Rather, I would consider this a significant glitch. I was also unaware that there are differing kinds of X databases. If you’d care to elaborate, that might be of interest to people following this thread.

By: Andy Ruff

Andy Ruff — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 23:04:35 +0000

PHG, 2008 can import v. X. There appears to be an issue in the import process where certain kinds of X databases don’t import properly. We’re investigating. It’s not a hands-down “doesn’t work with X” by design of the software.

By: PHG

PHG — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:54:56 +0000

Perhaps it was unrealistic to expect Time Machine compatibility with this release, but Leopard users expecting Time Machine to serve as their sole means of backup should be alerted that Entourage requires additional means for backup prior to making a decision whether to purchase it.

Frankly, I don’t mind the idea of using another type of backup once I move to Leopard since I use several means currently under Tiger, however Entourage 2008′s failure to import Identities from Entourage v. X would have prevented me from purchasing it had I known that in advance. Will users of v. X have to wait until Office 2009 or Office 2012 for that to be solved?