Disappointed

[Art Shotwell]

I've been using Entourage 2008 for a few days now.

I like the look of it, though it's not a radical change from E04. I like the
speed...it certainly is much faster, at least on my Intel Mac.

But, in some respects it feels like a step backward. No sounds, less than
passable sync ability with my Palm and no new front-end features. Of course,
I may be missing something here. The sound issue sounds (oops) like it's a
bug that the powerful MacBU missed, though I don't know how. And, it sounds
like the lack of a conduit was a strategic decision. So, I assume we'll get
sounds back one of these days. I don't expect the sync thing to improve.

When I was on a Windows PC, I used Lotus Organizer as my address book, to do
list, calendar and notes organizer. Customizable toolbars, customizible
contuit settings, wide choice of print settings, integrated links between
address book and calendar and to do items. I used it for at least ten years.
Then I moved to a Mac and Entourage 2004 and lost some of those features.
Then moved to Entourage 2008 and moved even further back.

I don't want to badmouth the MacBU ... I don't know them ... So I won't.
But, my experience with Microsoft seems consistent. I have failed to see the
innovation that Bill Gates used to talk about. It seems like I see more bugs
than in other software. I know there are smart and clever engineers at
Microsoft ... I know because I've met some. But, somehow the end products
just lack something and I don't think it's the engineers' fault. Something
in the corporate organization seems to leave things out of their end
products.

I hope this doesn't hit everybody wrong. I just am disappointed when I use
Microsoft products. And, there are very few alternatives.

 

[Diane Ross]

But, in some respects it feels like a step backward. No sounds, less than
passable sync ability with my Palm and no new front-end features.

Entourage 2008 now exclusively uses Sync Services rather than a conduit. If
Sync Services were working as expected this shouldn't be a problem. In the
real world it stinks. MacBU knows this and is working on a solution.

Yes, I hear "yea, wait some more". I expect this squeaky wheel will get top
priority...at least, I hope so.

Of course,
I may be missing something here. The sound issue sounds (oops) like it's a
bug that the powerful MacBU missed, though I don't know how. And, it sounds
like the lack of a conduit was a strategic decision. So, I assume we'll get
sounds back one of these days. I don't expect the sync thing to improve

Both of sound and syncing are tied to Leopard. See Update on the Leopard
iCal Sync Bug for info:

<http://blog.spanningsync.com/2008/01/update-on-the-l.html>

See these blog articles on problems and help with Entourage 2008:

The Entourage Help Blog: Search Results for Entourage 2008
<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/dsmross/managed-mt/mt-search
..cgi?tag=Entourage%202008&blog_id=14>

See the comments for some workaround with sound. You can also create your
own sounds using a rule.

See this page for using custom sounds with Entourage. You can even create
your own sounds or use computer voices to announce your mail. For example,
you could have the AppleScript say ³Mail from Dad².

Rule to Play Sound

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/rules/sounds.html>

 

[John C. Welch]

It's simply not acceptable for Microsoft to tell customers "We're using
Apple's software for synchronization from now on - if Apple's software
doesn't work, you'll need to take it up with Apple." when the conduit
worked just fine in 2004! Doing so is giving customers the shaft. I hope
Microsoft will understand this important point.

It didn't "work fine" unless by "fine" you mean "it got most of the stuff
right". I had no end to problems with the palm conduit in '04, far worse
than Sync Services, which, while beset by its own set of problems, is easier
in my experience to deal with than the Palm conduit. I gave up "syncing" and
just overwrote the Palm when I had any changes, it was the only way to get a
reliable outcome.