Entourage for Apple Mac Laptops
I spent the better part of today exploring Entourage for Apple Mac laptops.
Currently, I use the trio Apple Mail, iCal, and Address Book for Mac. They all play very nice together. But what I am missing is a project management application and Entourage offers this.
Before I go on, let me say that I have tried OmniFocus for both my notebook and my iPod Touch. I have also given Bento a whirl on my computer. But what I really want is a native application that pulls it all together and also syncs with the iPhone or Touch. I know, what will I ask for next – an iMac that actually completes the project as well?
The bottom line is that Entourage looked promising. I recently purchased the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac suite but never looked beyond Word and Excel. But now I faced the problem of having all my data sitting in the native Apple applications and me not willing to commit to switching before putting Microsoft through the paces.
Luckily, I discovered the option called Sync Services in the preferences menu. Using Sync Services, I could set Entourage to sync with address book and mobileme, ical and mobile me, and the Entourage notes could be set to sync with mobileme. I can even set one program’s data to override the other’s. Or set the sync preferences to combine the data. Perfect – now I could make changes in one application and they would automatically be reflected in the other. Problem solved! Or so I thought.
Ah what a tangled web we weave. My contacts synced just fine but not the groupings that I had set up in Address Book.
And my calendar was a different story. You see, Apple’s iCal supports multiple calendars – so I have a calendar set up for each family member plus a few other odd calendars for daily menus, soccer schedules and the like. But Entourage only supports one calendar and has multiple categories. In Entourage, I would have a main calendar and each event would be assigned a category – in my case each category would bear the name of each family member. And, you guessed it – iCal does not support categories.
When I set up Sync Services to sync my calendars what it basically did was create a new calendar in iCal called, oddly enough, “Entourage”. Anything that I enter on this calendar will sync with Microsoft Office on my Apple Mac laptops.
Lovely. (dripping with sarcasm)
So where does this leave me? I probably will leave the project management behind and continue on with the native Mac applications. Or I may use some convoluted combination of Microsoft Office, iCal, and Address Book. The problem with any productivity system is that if it becomes too complicated – well, I just don’t use it regularly enough to be effective.
And what about syncing with Mobile devices. I will explore this issue in a future post. But I have had enough frustration and learning for one day!
Me.com and MobileMe.com
Apparently it’s both. I posed the question before – me.com or mobileme.com? and today Apple announced that there .mac service is now me.com. But in reality both websites get you to the same place. At least for now.
So Steve Jobs unveiled the 3G iPhone today as expected. My first impression is always “Wow” when it comes to the latest and the greatest Apple devices. And the new iPhone is perfect if you use Apple Mac laptops or iMacs at home or work. The ease of integration is such a big factor. The most useful features of the new iPhone are the push sync features of iCal, AddressBook, and Mail. What could be better? And the ability to sync all your media seamlessly makes it even more attractive. Of course, these features will also be available to “old” iPhone owners for free and to iPod Touch owners for a $9.99 fee.
On top of all the new features of the 3G iPod (including, obviously, the fast 3G data network) the best news was the price of the iPhone itself was being dropped to $199 for the 8 GB model and $299 for the 16GB model. It seems really fantastic.
But once the initial excitement wore off, a bit of reality set in. And I realized that as much as I love Apple, the iPhone may still not be the right device for me. Why? Well, here are my reasons:
- First, the state I live in has a “hands-free” rule. The one feature that I use most on my current phone is voice dial via my bluetooth headset. Nothing was said today at WWDC about voice dial for iPhone. I would sorely miss the ability to make a call without having to navigate the phone. Is it enough to keep me from switching to iPhone. Not by itself but there are other issues.
- Coverage. AT&T claims to have my area covered. But I know from others that dropped calls on the ATT Wireless network are not uncommon on local roads. Could be a potential source of frustration.
- Insurance. Currently my carrier is Verizon Wireless, which has the best coverage in this area. Verizon wireless offers optional insurance through Asurion on all of it’s phones including smartphones. While I do take care of the devices I own, accidents do happen – and insurance provides peace of mind. In contrast, ATT Wireless does not offer insurance on the iPhone.
- Cost. The price of the new iPhone is definitely more affordable than the old one. But once you add the activation fee, taxes and surcharges, additional text plans, and the voice and data plan itself the monthly charges start to add up. On top of that you will need to spend at least $99 for the me.com or mobileme.com service ($149 for a family plan). I know that any plan on any carrier that has a data plan will have charges that are comparable so this may not be such a big factor if you compare apples to apples. Also, if you use an iPod Touch as PDA, you may still incur the charge for mobileme.com because it seems that you can use this service to push changes through when you are connected via wi-fi. Also, if you are in a contract with another carrier, then you will need to weigh in early termination fees (etf’s) as well.
All in all, I can’t wait to see the new 3G iPhone. And once all the frenzy has died down and the reviews are in, then I will take another look. The biggest pro to me is that it just works with Apple Mac laptops. Any other smartphone has sync issues or requires third party software to play nice. The learning curve, time involved, and frustration factors may be just enough to make me to go the iPhone route.