A Not-So-Happy Switcher

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that article was pretty entertaining.
 
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I agree though that if mac wishes to convert more pc users, they should build in support for transfering outlook files...or at least offer a free download.
 
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He wanted to get a refund just because he couldn't transfer his emails across?

Okaaay.

I thought you could just save outlook files as an mbox file?
 
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here's what i don't understand...

1) why do people use outlook. its a horrible piece of software in my opinion

2) why can't people just have an imap connection to an account so that every time they move computers, they can just put in the details and re download the emails

3) why do people insist of keeping emails they received 10 years ago?

Sorry for the rant. i work at IT support and all i get is old people calling us about not being able to export/import outlook emails.! :)
 
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A lot of old school Business Outlook users treasure their archived .pst files and I can understand how losing them due to a platform change would be a deal breaker.

Now I haven't played around with Microsoft Entourage enough to see if you can import .pst files or not (I would be very surprised if you couldn't) but the article did seem to be missing something. He was comparing full Outlook (Something that does not come with Windows) to Apple Mail which is better compared to Windows Mail (Outlook Express for XP).

For someone who claims "... has tested and installed hundreds of computers across both platforms..." he seems to be making a mistake normally associated with computer novices. He's confusing Out of the box Operating system tools with purchased add on software.

Even if Apple Mail could import .pst files, I personally wouldn't want to. Built in e-mail programs are good for basic e-mail tasks. For organizing and maintaining business e-mail, I always recommend a 3rd party program over the free built in one regardless of which OS you are using.

-MikeM
 
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Old school? Old school would be your email in mbox format or straight up text, both of which mail.app or Thunderbird would be able to cope with. Back when I went to school uphill both ways in the snow in my bare feet we had to get our bikini-girls-with-big-hair .gif files from an FTP server and did everything from the command line prompt. This while Bill Gates was first figuring out some proprietary form of email he could dream up to make this guy have fits about how to transfer his messages from only ten years ago to a new platform.

Kids today. We'd all be better off if we just kept our email text-based, like the gods intended. Outlook? It was never good. Jeez, it's like we were using Lotus Notes or something equally idiotic.

Tongue firmly in cheek.
 
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well i guess i will have the same problem...ugh itss gunna be a long day when my MacBook finally arrives...ugh...any simple solutions besides downloads?
 
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well i hated outlook; its overly complicated and confusing. Why anyone uses it is beyond me. I considering a program of people who really like pain in their asses or people who have no idea how to use a computer and their ISP set them set of instructions to input something they had no idea what was and tell them how to open and maybe, just maybe delete them too ... it was pretty much a program of no hope; which is why i think Microsoft replaced it with windows live mail. I actually liked windows live mail but seriously, getting anything other than @live.com to work with the thing require many a google search to get the servers addresses right.

With Mail it was pretty much type in my email and password ... and gmail is there.

Plus its all integrated with ichat-ical-address book ... I LOVE IT.
 
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I dont see the big problem with outlook...my macbook SHOULD arrive today so i dont really care but...whats so bad about it...maybe its just because im not an avid email-er I don't know...I mean you type your message it sends it...i mean seriously what else do we need...you can even reply to emails :eek: ...lol seriously
 
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Attacking outlook is a little low guys... when you're working in a corporate environment, dealing with 200 - 300 emails daily (all of which you have to read) multiple calender invites, and need to associate files, sideshows, emails, other MS applications to meetings, journals and even basic notes; Outlook is pretty much the daddy out there. Whatever anyone says, Apple Mail, iCal and Address Book together really don't have the same functionality (although Entourage comes close)

Oh, and you've never used a REALLY bad mail client until you've tried Lotus Notes.

As for converting Outlook to Mail, Apple could have made it easy and they chose not to, because as usual they don't think anyone using a professional app on the PC would want to switch (they might be right). Microsoft are just as bad, because they don't help Entourage users either, but perhaps they have a motive for not making it easy.

The best way is to install Thunderbird on your PC, which converts Outlook effortlessly. Then save the MBOX file that Thunderbird creates and import it on your Mac. Veeeery easy...
 
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I dont see the big problem with outlook...my macbook SHOULD arrive today so i dont really care but...whats so bad about it...maybe its just because im not an avid email-er I don't know...I mean you type your message it sends it...i mean seriously what else do we need...you can even reply to emails :eek: ...lol seriously

thats the problem with outlook. As the guy above said, its probably the best solution for a raging business man who needs to read 100's of mail, book appointments and manage tasks etc.

But for your casual home user, i think its an abomination of email software :D i rarely send emails, but receive plenty, and programs like apple mail, thunderbird make it so simple that heavyweight programs like outlook look un neccesary. And thats what annoys me, the older generation of users who think they should be using outlook when smaller and lighter programs could do things easier.

Mine is setup: Google - Mail / Contacts / Calendar. Apple mail has an IMAP to google, address book imports from contacts, iCal imports from calendar. I can change contacts in address book and send them back to google. And using iSync i can sync my calendar and contacts with my nokia, and set up an imap on the phone to get emails.

And that is all free, and is probably equivalent to what Mobile Me / exchange server offers.
 
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The solution to the Outlook problem is not that hard

Setup a Gmail account if you don't already have one

Enable IMAP access for the Gmail account then add the Gmail account to Outlook

Drag your Outlook email folders to the Gmail IMAP account

Set up the Gmail account in Apple Mail or thunderbird

Download all those messages

Not that hard to do

(Or use Thunderbird on the PC, as Zoolook pointed out)
 
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thats the problem with outlook. As the guy above said, its probably the best solution for a raging business man who needs to read 100's of mail, book appointments and manage tasks etc.

But for your casual home user /snip

A casual home user shouldn't be spending $400 on an email client... and then complaining that a freebie doesn't have the same functionality.

Having said that, I do get a little tired of hearing some users on this forum bad-mouth applications for have a lot of features that they themselves deem 'pointless' (people have said this about Entourage). No one should be judging what other people use, or preempting other people's needs.

I was showing someone Entourage last night actually, because I am applying for permanent residence status here in the US, and I have a project on Entourage that tracks all my files, emails and appointments on a single page and I was able to track down a missing form within about 30 seconds just because I have a system that works well for me. If I had a penny everytime I saw someone mocking Entourage's "Project" functionality... well, I'd have about 15 cents, but you get the picture.

What IS a problem is when people expect moving to a Mac to be a seamless transition... something Apple propagates to an extent. Apple Mail is not Outlook, it's not 'better' either, it's just different. I have no idea why people who move to the Mac think the Mac will be the same. It took me almost a year to get used to Logic after having used Cubase for 14 years... sometimes you have to suck it up! :D
 
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Having said that, I do get a little tired of hearing some users on this forum bad-mouth applications for have a lot of features that they themselves deem 'pointless' (people have said this about Entourage). No one should be judging what other people use, or preempting other people's needs.

fair point i guess. I just dislike outlook. Theres only so many .pst files you can fix in a work day before it drives you mental.
 
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Outlook is important to people with a business.
My bro is a self-employed architect and he is always on the computer drawing up houses and BAM he gets and email and sends it right back very conviniently.

It's almost like them calling you. It's a second line of communication that is more convinient if you ask me.

so, is there a program like outlook on the mac?
 
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Attacking outlook is a little low guys... when you're working in a corporate environment, dealing with 200 - 300 emails daily (all of which you have to read) multiple calender invites, and need to associate files, sideshows, emails, other MS applications to meetings, journals and even basic notes; Outlook is pretty much the daddy out there. Whatever anyone says, Apple Mail, iCal and Address Book together really don't have the same functionality (although Entourage comes close)

Working in a Large Business Environment, I agree here. Plus, being the corporate standard, it's Outlook or Nothing, really.

Oh, and you've never used a REALLY bad mail client until you've tried Lotus Notes.

I admininster Notes as part of my job. It's bad on the front end... and even worse on the backend.

As for converting Outlook to Mail, Apple could have made it easy and they chose not to, because as usual they don't think anyone using a professional app on the PC would want to switch (they might be right). Microsoft are just as bad, because they don't help Entourage users either, but perhaps they have a motive for not making it easy.

The best way is to install Thunderbird on your PC, which converts Outlook effortlessly. Then save the MBOX file that Thunderbird creates and import it on your Mac. Veeeery easy...

If Microsoft wanted to do Outlook for Mac, instead of Entourage (I have MS Office:Mac 2008, and don't have Entourage installed) they could have. But then there would be no reason for PCs that need Outlook....
 
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The solution to the Outlook problem is not that hard

Except it is that hard. A large number of business have to deal with Federal regulations about recordkeeping. Moving it all to gMail means that the company needs to have your Gmail password in case of legal issues, et cetera.

Outlook's server-side recordkeeping and archiving is important for that kind of issue. Microsoft has designed a product that may be a stone cold ***** to play with, but helps companies fulfill possible legal requirements in a timely manner, and that alone can be worth the thousands of dollars in server and client software.

Unfortunately, we do not live in a world where a company can just ignore Federal laws like Sarbanes-Oxley, or the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
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Except it is that hard. A large number of business have to deal with Federal regulations about recordkeeping. Moving it all to gMail means that the company needs to have your Gmail password in case of legal issues, et cetera.

Outlook's server-side recordkeeping and archiving is important for that kind of issue. Microsoft has designed a product that may be a stone cold ***** to play with, but helps companies fulfill possible legal requirements in a timely manner, and that alone can be worth the thousands of dollars in server and client software.

Unfortunately, we do not live in a world where a company can just ignore Federal laws like Sarbanes-Oxley, or the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

But the original post was about moving personal email from a PC to Mac, not keeping company data on a Gmail account - which I would never recommend.

I also work in a corporate environment, and have got Entourage to work quite happily with the exchange server, with mail, global address books and Calendars working seamlessly. Getting the mac to talk to the server was much more productive than having to use the awful Windows 2000 NC that they had on my desk.
 
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If Microsoft wanted to do Outlook for Mac, instead of Entourage (I have MS Office:Mac 2008, and don't have Entourage installed) they could have. But then there would be no reason for PCs that need Outlook....

Well I am not sure about the last sentence ;)

I think it's quite difficult from a developer point of view to accomodate Exchange in a standalone application. Everyone is aware that Snow Leopard's biggest "new" feature is seamless exchange integration - why this is not possible as a 'bolt on' in OS X or on a standalone application is a mystery to me. However, it seems that Exchange is not an easy beast?
 

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