Office 2004 quirks between 2 macs

[johny5]

Brief story first
I am a new MAC user of about a week now and have been an avid pc engineer and user for over 18years. Those bloomin subliminal "Mac vs PC" ads on the MAC website! i was so hooked that I actually ordered a fully loaded Macbook (2gb largest hdd etc) off the net and then to my frustration realised that it was coming from the far east and was going to take a couple of weeks I threw my dollie out the pram.

Days before the Macbook was due to arrive I stormed in to an Apple store and duly bought an Imac 24" fully wireless (as you do!).
Anyway now that I have 2 macs (and numpteen pc's!) I am wondering if I should return the 24" as it currently stands me at £1,380 (when I have a pc sat next to it with a monster gfx card). The pc I used daily for connecting to my remote work office and am a heavy MS office 2007 user, also using cisco VPN client and Avaya IP softphone. Ok your probably wondering what all this has to do with Office 2004! well I am just trying to make this interesting reading . The original plan was to go fully Mac but am unable to find Avaya software for the Mac even though I have office 2004 and cisco.

Now on to office 2004.
A couple of quirks I have come up against and would appreciate any help on are....
I have 2 Macs and connect into an exchange server, if I use one Mac to reply and forward messages and then log on using the other Mac then I cant see that the messages have been forwarded or replied to (it doesnt show the small blue and green arrows).
I was going to use the 24" Mac at home and then when I am in the office, take the Macbook but currently as it stands I wont be able to do this?
I guess that because the exchange server is M$ that Entourage doesnt fully integrate into it? I have seen the posts about the tasks dont sync which I could maybe live with until 2008 comes out but the simple send/forward links would kill me! This is even the case when I forward or reply using the Mac and then check out Office on the pc, it doesnt say that I have replied or forwarded messages?

Anyway, sorry for the rant, my first post and I thought I would make it a big one I would appreciate any comments on anything above (including the dilema of keeping my 24") especially with the advent of Leopard, AND to add insult to injury the postman has just delivered my 2gb (2x1gb) memory upgrade for the 24"! after reading other posts on here I understood the 24"s ran great with 2gb ram I wont open this until I see replies back to this just in case

 

[MisterMe]

...

Now on to office 2004.
A couple of quirks I have come up against and would appreciate any help on are....
I have 2 Macs and connect into an exchange server, if I use one Mac to reply and forward messages and then log on using the other Mac then I cant see that the messages have been forwarded or replied to (it doesnt show the small blue and green arrows).
I was going to use the 24" Mac at home and then when I am in the office, take the Macbook but currently as it stands I wont be able to do this?
I guess that because the exchange server is M$ that Entourage doesnt fully integrate into it? ... This is even the case when I forward or reply using the Mac and then check out Office on the pc, it doesnt say that I have replied or forwarded messages?

...

Your problem is not with Office 2004 in general, but with Entourage 2004 specifically? Well, the first thing that you need to understand is that every installation of Exchange Server is different. The second thing that you need to understand is that Entourage 2004 is a POS. It is one of the reasons that I hate Microsoft, including MacBU.

Having said that, I think that a simple workaround for you would be to select the Tools > Send & Receive All menu item after you move to the other computer.

 

[johny5]

Your problem is not with Office 2004 in general, but with Entourage 2004 specifically?
Having said that, I think that a simple workaround for you would be to select the Tools > Send & Receive All menu item after you move to the other computer.

ack sorry, yes I meant Entourage.
No sorry I tried that already, the tools > send & recieve All, it didnt work.

So entourage between 2 macs dont seem to share the sent and recieve icons on the messages, so you dont know if you have replied etc. Like I thought, I guess its the problem server side, I hope they fix this in 2008

 

[johny5]

Well i solved the 2 macs with entourage problem, I have decided to take the 24" mac back and just have the slow transition from pc to mac dealt with by my macbook for now.
A number of factors like the odd game i do play, I will play on my pc and any mac specific activities can be comfortably handled with my macbook with 2gb ram plugged into a 19" tft with a mighty mouse and I will purchase a wireless keyboard.
Luckily enough I didnt open the 2gb ram upgrade planned for the 24" mac (very cheap btw from crucial, cost about £85 delivered) so I have returned that for a full refund.
The other main reason was Leopard, I wasnt going to pay for that and would have liked it so hopefully they will still do the current 24" mac when Leopard comes out and then I should be able to purchase then.