Will iApps be able to function as Entourage/M$ Outlook?

[GeneR]

Sorry for admitting my ignorance (since I don't have Jaguar yet), but I was wondering if I could get some feedback on this:

Apple has iApps which now allows users to use a calendar system and an address book and now even a browser, and email, but will they be able to work together in a way to replace the functionality Entourage/Outlook in the business world?

I have somewhat enjoyed using Palm Desktop on OSX but still find it lacking so much in the way of organizing my life. I'm sure Entourage is a step up, but does Apple/should Apple have a program that does everything that Entourage does but more? Is that what iApps are becoming?

I would really appreciate your comments on this. Thanks!

 

[mnkeybsness]

the iApps are so much better integrated now than entourage/outlook...

don't even waste your time with MS except for word and excel

 

[GeneR]

Maybe I'm missing something... (like a brain)

I went by the Apple Store in our area and posed these very same questions to the people working there and they did not concur. As free apps, iCal, Address Book, and the browser, really pack a punch. But still I got the impression that they are still not going to do the trick until later on this year. The rep at the Apple Store said to expect it working REALLY well by the time 10.3 comes out. Ouch.

In the meantime, I hope the good people at Apple are reading this and have it in their mindsets to add to the functionality of the Address Book (i.e. so we can add more fields, like bookmark links from the browser, and vice versa from the address book, link folders in the browser with specific names and people and groups in the address book, etc.)

Anyway, it was a little disappointed. I really want to look forward to the time when I don't have to buy any more M$ products to run a business.

 

[howard]

i'm sticking by entourage, i love its calendar and email

 

[FattyMembrane]

once safari is out of beta, i'm fairly certain that it will have better addressbook integration than it does now, and the iapps will really provide a streamlined version of the ms bloat. one feature that i would like to see is the ability to store bookmarks in the addressbook (no more converting between browsers and universal access from any addressbookdb aware app). apple is doing this slowly, they aren't going to remove ms from the system in one big hit.

 

[jholzner]

What does entourage offer that apples iapps do not. I have never used entourage but do use Mail, address book, isync as well as iCal. What does apple need to improve upon to completly make entourage unnecessary?

 

[howard]

well entourage doesn't nessacarily offer anything more than all those iapps but here is why i like it...

1. The interface i like more (just my taste)
2. Its ical, address book, mail all in one window (i hate mulitple windows (not to mention multiple programs(i love parenthesis in parenthesis(hehe))))
3. i also like the tasks function in entourage and the alarm that goes off when you either need to do a task or have something in your calendar coming up


unlike a lot of people here i don't care if i'm completely microsoft free, i don't find that a big deal, i use what i like, whether its made by god or the devil or joe smith, i'll use the one i think works best

 

[FattyMembrane]

Originally posted by howard
2. Its ical, address book, mail all in one window

i do hope that apple takes steps to unify it's smaller iapps. i don't like the bloatware/do-everything concept of something like netscape/mozilla but having ical/addressbook/isync/mail seems a bit much. since all of these apps access the addressbook database, it would make sense if the addressbook editing functionality was built into one of them (ical or mail). isync seems like something that should be included in the system or at least built into the finder, it just doesn't make sense to make an entirely seperate app when you're aiming for convergence (actually, i think that isync would work best as a system service). hopefully in a few years, zoe (or something like it) will have matured to the point of a full featured email solution, which will essentially cut out the need for a seperate mail app (just run it through the browser). so maybe by about 10.4 we would have ical (calendar, addressbook, print envelopes?), an addressbook-aware mail client running through the browser (a la zoe, not some bloat add-on), and isynch as a system service. nice and simple.

 

[cubist]

I dislike Outlook's to-do list and notes feature; they're both buggy and crippled. Palm Desktop is much better in both areas. Haven't seen Entourage.

You can replace Outlook's awful Notes feature with the Sticky Notes feature of Mac OS. It's very similar.

The to-do list of Outlook isn't any better than that of iCal, which is pretty awful too.

Outlook doesn't *really* integrate those features anyway.

So you can replace Outlook with Mail.app, Address Book, iCal and Sticky Notes with no loss in functionality.

 

[phgreer]

What's the best way to import the contact information in Outlook to Enterouge? I've been having trouble with the fields.

 

[howard]

a syncing feature would be nice...in my entourage address book or contacts thing i entered in everyone's birthdays and i'm wondering if there is a way to get them all to show up on the calendar...there might be and i just don't know it

 

[jholzner]

Originally posted by FattyMembrane

i do hope that apple takes steps to unify it's smaller iapps. i don't like the bloatware/do-everything concept of something like netscape/mozilla but having ical/addressbook/isync/mail seems a bit much. since all of these apps access the addressbook database, it would make sense if the addressbook editing functionality was built into one of them (ical or mail). isync seems like something that should be included in the system or at least built into the finder, it just doesn't make sense to make an entirely seperate app when you're aiming for convergence (actually, i think that isync would work best as a system service). hopefully in a few years, zoe (or something like it) will have matured to the point of a full featured email solution, which will essentially cut out the need for a seperate mail app (just run it through the browser). so maybe by about 10.4 we would have ical (calendar, addressbook, print envelopes?), an addressbook-aware mail client running through the browser (a la zoe, not some bloat add-on), and isynch as a system service. nice and simple.

You can add an iSync icon to the menue bar. That way you never even have to open iSync to sync things...only to pair devices I think. A question, though, how can the menu bar icon be used to sync things without even opening iSync?