Scott Shapiro's Blog

One of the very first applications one needs access to on a new computer is e-mail.  While everyone used to use installed software for e-mail, the trend is definitely going to SaaS (software as a service) e-mail such as gmail.

However, in the business world, desktop e-mail is owned by Microsoft Exchange.  Of all the software that Microsoft sells, the Outlook/Exchange combination is probably the most well-done (which isn’t saying much).

I had been using Outlook 2003 on the PC for a number of years in an Exchange environment, but that all broke once I switched to Mac.

I had assumed there was a version of Outlook for the Mac, but to my surprise a program called Entourage was suddenly the only option that worked with Exchange.  Apparently, Entourage was built on an entirely separate code base from Outlook.

Some features work well, some don’t, but below is a list of features that have been lost.

• Calendars
  • Can’t view shared calendars side by side.
    • The group that I work with is constantly sharing calendars and planning meetings, so it’s crucial to see when everybody’s free.  This is a pain with Entourage.

• Mail
  • Can’t view one-line in the when splitting pane vertically
    • This is so simple - why couldn’t they add this feature?
  • Signature is always applied to replies, not just new messages
    • Again, Outlook was smart enough to only put your signature on new messages.
  • Outlook PST files are incompatible as they need to be in the .mbox format for Mac.
    • This is the biggest problem.  I have to run Outlook 2007 in Parallels to read the 3GB of archive e-mail I’ve collected.  It works fine with X1 to search, but definitely a waste of resources to have to run WinXP all the time for this.  I also have to autoarchive my e-mail there.
  • Required to have a mail folder “My computer” which is the default folder for POP and rules
    • This doesn’t make any sense.  Why would I want a local folder?  Why can’t this just have the same workflow as Outlook?
• Notes & Tasks Not downloaded from exchange
  • Yes! That’s right, you can’t read or write notes or tasks from Exchange.  You can create tasks locally on Entourage, but those won’t show up in your PDA.  Luckily, I can still see my old notes and tasks in my Treo.

Overall Entourage has been pleasurable, mainly due to the Mac OS.

• Searching with spotlight is quick
• Keyboard shortcuts are friendly
• Flagging / following up works well

However, it still feels half baked at times.

Feel free to comment with tips / other complaints!

I’ve been a PC user all my life, ever since my dad gave me his 286 Tandy in the late 80’s.  I loved it.  Writing batch files, playing with quick basic, installing games, messing with autoexec.bat and config.sys to optimize the amount of memory available for Wing Commander (not until the 386) was countless hours of fun.

Even with the passion for my PC’s, I always noticed the subtle differences for Apples (beginning with the Apple II GS in 1st grade), i.e. the lack of an eject button on the disk drive, open apple and closed apple keys on the keyboard.  Of course the more obvious differences were in the single click mouse, abstraction of a command prompt among many others.

However, I took a long detour through the wonderful world of UNIX before getting anywhere near a Mac. Ever since I started tinkering around with Red Hat 5.0 Linux, I fell in love with UNIX.  It’s straightforward command line, scalability (well not so much back then but clearly better than Windows 95).  I don’t know how many hours I spent messing around with Linux, trying to get my 28.8 modem working so I could use AOL Instant Messenger (I don’t really know what the point of that was), and messing around with the alpha version of a little known virtualization product called VMWare.  I should have spent more time studying for AP tests.  Of course I later became a fan of FreeBSD and did away with Linux, but that’s besides the point.

The point is that UNIX is great for running a server (from Counter-Strike to Apache), but only gets you so far on the desktop due to its lack of commercial software for the average consumer.

For 4 years I ran Windows 2000 (later XP) on my desktop and FreeBSD 4.x on my server - both running on commoditized hardware assembled by myself.  I was able to get my UNIX fix while doing my day to day computing on Windows - at a very low cost due to bargain hardware.  I always thought about getting a Mac, but not only was the hardware cost prohibitive, but the range of available software was too narrow.

Things changed drastically with the release of OS X in 2001 as it was the first Mac OS based on the Mach kernel (a UNIX derivative).  It also had a vastly upgraded user interface.  However, Macs were still on the PowerPC architecture and Apple as a brand didn’t have nearly the penetration it does today (pre-iPod).

Fast forward to 2006, Macs and PC’s converge on Intel architecture, finally bridging the hardware compatibility gap and opening the gateway to widespread adoption of Macs.  Combined with the horrible-ness that is Windows Vista, and the surge in web apps (software as a service) Macs became even more attractive.

I finally made the switch in June, 2008 and in fact I’m writing this post from my Macbook Pro.  I haven’t looked back at all.  There are a number of advantages and disadvantages, but overall I’m a happy “switcher”.

I plan to write several posts on my experience switching, and look forward to hearing about the experience of others.

The internet isn’t perfect.  We still have a long way to go before every bit of knowledge is at your fingertips.  Yes, we’ve come a hell of a long way, and the world has drastically changed in the past 15 years.  But, I often find myself stuck when looking for specific pieces of information.

When Google doesn’t return search results that solve my question, I often dig elsewhere (and often experiment) to find the answer.  In doing so, I might as well share those findings with the world through this blog.

Subject matter might range from technology to health to education to business and beyond, but if nothing else my goal is to collect and present my insights and experiences.  I’m not trying to monetize any content or promote any service - this is purely a contribution.

Worst case scenario: I can maintain this knowledge for myself and reflect on it whenever.