It dawned on me that after using Entourage for almost 4 months, that I don't really like it. There are things, but I'm struck by bigger things. For example, Apple releases updates and bug fixes more regularly that MS has. At least, I've never been notified of a fix for Entourage. Maybe they think it works perfectly, and maybe monkeys will fly out of my butt.
The fact is, I use a Mac for simplicity, ease of use, quality software, etc. Many would say I should be struck down for even installing MS software at all. But the office suite is a standard that everyone uses, you really can't get around using it yourself. But Entourage is different, it is just an email application. Unless you are in a business where you must connect to an exchange server and share calendars, address book, and such, then there really is no need for it. I do like that it seems to have a smaller memory footprint than Mail alone, let alone if iCal and Address Book are running as well. But memory isn't everything. I hate the little reminder box and the fact that I can't change the snooze time. While printing envelopes in Word requires the use of Entourage, I've found that Address Book does a fine job on it's own, even allowing you to place an image as part of the return address, all effortless and automatic for all selected recipients.
Mail allows for emails to be grouped by thread or by date. The thing I miss is the date header that Entourage has, it makes it so much easier to see what date things were received on. However, I normally prefer that messages are grouped by thread, although an auto expand would be nice instead of having to navigate to that tiny little arrow. Plus, if I've received a new message in a thread, I don't want to click the thread, then click the message, how about just opening the most recent message in the thread on the first click while expanding the thread, that would be awesome.
I've also determined that I want the dashboard back. I've been using yahoo widgets, but they always change position on me when I switch to dual monitor view. That is getting old quick. Plus, not one single widget seems to interact with software at all, and PearLyrics is my favorite dashboard widget which adds lyrics to any iTunes song playing, if the lyrics can be found. But the yahoo widgets are limited and seem to be designed around PCs more. Although there are many more widgets to choose from and the memory footprint is also small. But again, it just doesn't feel Apple.
The one Mac only app that truly annoys me is Adium, in that it still can't transfer or receive files. What I want is a chat client that can handle multiple chat logins on different services and still handle all the functionality of those services like yahoo games. My wife and I used to have lots of fun with that when she was traveling for work. But since most chat clients are originally written for PC, that's asking too much. If I had more mac friends, I'd use iChat. Unfortunately, you have to have friends and iChat can only handle a few services and definitely not the ones I use the most. Plus, Adium does have a fun interface with all the options to change how it looks, you can pretty much make it your own.
Anyway, as of today I'm going back to Mail/Address Book/iCal and dumping Entourage entirely. Not only is it too MS-like, but the address book part and sync services totally messed up my Apple Address book. Now I have to spend a few hours correcting duplicate phone numbers, email address, and adding my photos of people back. Very lame.
For anyone looking to switch to Entourage, I advise that you wait until it can really offer you something. The hardest part about the switch is getting your address book moved over, but you also have to import mail which isn't smooth as butter and rules have to be created manually. In short, MS didn't work very hard to make sure the switch was easy and by reformatting as much as they did, they didn't make it easy to switch back either.
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