Entourage vs, Outlook, with Exchange and Blackberry

S

Scott Roth

Hi,

I am contemplating the move to a Mac and have concerns about Entourage 2008
vs. Outlook.

I use Outlook in Office 2007 and my mail is hosted using a hosted exchange
service. I also use hosted BlackBerry Enterprise server, and everything
works perfectly.

if I were to switch to Entourage, what if any problems or limitations would
I encounter. I would prefer not to have to use Outlook running on Parallels,
and that kind of defeats the purpose.

Thanks!
 
W

William Smith

Scott said:
Hi,

I am contemplating the move to a Mac and have concerns about Entourage 2008
vs. Outlook.

I use Outlook in Office 2007 and my mail is hosted using a hosted exchange
service. I also use hosted BlackBerry Enterprise server, and everything
works perfectly.

if I were to switch to Entourage, what if any problems or limitations would
I encounter. I would prefer not to have to use Outlook running on Parallels,
and that kind of defeats the purpose.
Click to expand...

Hi Scott!

Entourage supports the same basic Exchange Server features as Outlook
such as calender, contacts, email, public folders, GAL lookups etc. Its
implementation of many advanced features is lacking such as no support
for .pst files, no ability to view calendars side-by-side, no tasks and
note syncing and no support for server-side rules. (Entourage 2008 will
support Out of Office.)

If you're using your hosted solution for the basics then Entourage will
be just fine. But if you send Tasks, use public folders extensively and
need support for server-side contacts lists that you share with others
then Outlook in either Parallels or CrossOver Mac is still a very
acceptable solution on Mac OS X.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
 
S

Scott Roth

Thanks.

Any issues with Blackberry Enterprise Server?

And I know a million people have asked, but it would be great if you ported
Outlook to Mac.

I am a huge Outlook fan.
 
W

William Smith

Scott said:
Thanks.

Any issues with Blackberry Enterprise Server?

And I know a million people have asked, but it would be great if you ported
Outlook to Mac.

I am a huge Outlook fan.
Click to expand...

Hi Scott!

You're welcome.

Assuming your Blackberry connection is wireless, I only know of one
issue with Entourage and ActiveSync. I'll post this link and let you
decide its importance <http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926521>.

By the way, none of us here works for Microsoft. Some of us are
"honored" contributors to the groups but all of us are end-users just
like you. Let Microsoft know your thoughts by using the Help --> Send
Feedback mechanism in any Office:mac application.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
 
S

Simon Goland

Just over a year ago, I moved from a PC to a Mac, and from Outlook to
Entourage 2004. Then I had a Treo, and now have a Blackberry. No problems
at all, and the configuration is running smoothly. Once you play with
Entourage a bit, you would not want to go back, as it has pretty much all
Outlook had, and more.

Have fun, and read the documentation of how to convert all your Outlook
data to a Mac. It was a 2-step process for me, but the info is online
somewhere (google it), and it works just fine.

Simon
 
B

Brighton

Just over a year ago, I moved from a PC to a Mac, and from Outlook to
Entourage 2004. Then I had a Treo, and now have a Blackberry. No problems
at all, and the configuration is running smoothly. Once you play with
Entourage a bit, you would not want to go back, as it has pretty much all
Outlook had, and more.

Have fun, and read the documentation of how to convert all your Outlook
data to a Mac. It was a 2-step process for me, but the info is online
somewhere (google it), and it works just fine.

Simon
Click to expand...

I guess my response did not get posted on Friday. I made the switch
well over a year ago to Entourage (blackberry and exchange server) and
yes I am able to receive my email but it DOES NOT synch as smoothly
with Entourage as it did with Outlook. Case in point -- when you send
and email from Entourage on your desktop it does NOT show up on your
Blackberry as sent (it does show up in your sent folder on your
desktop when you send one from your BB) When you delete emails on
your desktop they do NOT delete on the BB. And when you add a new
contact to your address book on either device it does NOT synch up.
If anyone has a magic solution that allows you to wirelessly do the
above mentioned I would appreciate your wisdom. Ispent time on the
phone with Microsoft last week and they said that when they say that
office Mac supports exchange servers it only means that you will be
able to get your email. When I pushed them and asked why Entourage
doesn't synch like Outlook the answer was "we only support it for you
to get your email nothing else" Well if they're making a product that
works 100% they way its supposed for outlook it seems to me that they
should be able to do it for another one their products, Entourage. If
the blame lies somewhere else, RIM or Apple, they should explain that
to us and let me go to those parties and ask them. About 6 months ago
I did talk to RIM and they said they were woking on a desktop manager
for mac but that the problem with synching lies in the code of
Entourage.

I can't be the only one out there that is frustrated by this. I
welcome anyone's thoughts.
Thanks,
Brad
 
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