I'm trying hard to love my Mac . . .

and I'm dealing with the operating system differences okay, including the fact that sometime right click opens a menu & sometimes not. But the software! Urrgg!

Example: I live by my calendar, task list & contacts. In my PC life I used Outlook & Blackberry - not great, but generally integrated nicely, everything was in one app & linking was easy. Now, I use the Mac & an iTouch. I really don't like the individual apps (iCalendar, etc), so been trying Entourage for the past few months (also not great, but livable). I use MobileMe for iTouch syncing. And somehow there's this "On My Mac" thing. No clue where that came from.

I only input to Entourage and the iTouch. But every sync puts three of some events on my calendar, totally deletes others, duplicates contacts (after stripping out the physical address information for each) and destroys the Task list.

There's got to be a better way - one that doesn't cost an arm & a leg. iDeas, Anyone? --SCP

PS - Thanks for letting me vent!

I have had to get use to the separate applications as well and have managed. I stayed with my BB and syncing to the mac has not been an issue since I went with "missing sync for BB" a great program (not free) I figured I use separate apps on the bb for cal, contacts etc.. so I might as well get use to *** on the mac...
I think there are programs out there to help worth you right clicks menus etc.. I have found out over the last two months that if you want your mac to do something that there is usually am app out for it just do some research..

Regarding your thread title..."I'm trying hard to love my Mac..."

Don't try too hard...you might end up breaking some laws if you take it too far!

Good luck,

- Nick

p.s. Sorry...an unusually humorous title.

What's wrong with iCal? It is by far the easiest way to manage and view calendar events on your Mac that need to be synced with an iPhone/iTouch. By trying to sync your iTouch with Entourage, you are adding an unnecessary level of complexity.

I'm a long time pc user- and switched to a mac almost a year ago now. Its taken me a long time and several "I give up" moments before I've kinda started to fully embrace the mac. I love all the things it does really well (browsing, battery life, everything just "works" ) but the things that I got used to on a PC that are different than the mac make me crazy. I've abandoned iPhoto all together because I'm a file/folder junkie and like to organize my own stuff- not let a program do it for me. I used entourage but it annoyed me so I gave the native mail program another shot (I am also a blackberry fan- not switching to an iPhone). Since I made the switch back and BB released the new desktop software for mac- everything seems to be working well together.

Whats the moral of the story- I've found that the less you think about the steps to do something the easier it really is. Good luck!

When I switched from Windows w/Ms Office w/outlook to the Mac I tried using MS Office 2008 w/ entourage for the MAC and Mobile Me, I was really disappointed with it. I also tried iPhoto and Aperture - and did like either of them either. I've ended up using iCal, Mail and Addressbook - I use IMAP with my mail provider - and sync iCal & Addressbook with Google. I can set up 2-3 Macs or PC's leveraging IMAP to sync email and Google to sync everything else.

I also sync my ipod Touch using IMAP and Google Calendar/Contacts too - and it works great.

I think if you dump Entourage for the standard apps - you might enjoy MobileMe - it was powerful and easy, but was disappointed by the Family package - I couldn't find a way to see all the family members calendars on one screen (with google calendar was easy).

For Photos I've been using Picasa for the Mac also from Google - allows me to manage my folders.

I've removed MS Office and stuck with OpenOffice (iWork also missed the mark for me because I want to save everything in MS Office format). The biggest thing I lost by removing MS Office was mail-merge labels. Open Office makes it really really difficult. I found Avery has a decent app for Labels - and since I always buy Avery Labels - it's worked out well.

Best of Luck! It's often best to forget your old ways, clear your mind and trust the Mac.

BTW - we 7 systems at home - of which 5 are now Mac's, plus we have Apple TV, the Macs run without a hitch - while the 2 remaining Windows systems are still often challenging.

I use gmail and Google calender. Both also have mobile versions that work nicely on my Blackberry and of course syncing is a snap because it requires exactly zero effort on my part. Also you don't need any app on your Mac except for Safari or another browser.

had my mac for a year now and resisted the parallel with windows on board as I wanted to acclimatize myself to mac ways. Still finding there is an easier way , which always existed natively on my mac ! Use all the native apps ie ical and mail etc and syncing isn't an issue. It's whatever floats yer boat I guess - me I love my mac and will never return to windows , that said I also have a project lappy running Ubuntu

vansmith said:

What's wrong with iCal? It is by far the easiest way to manage and view calendar events on your Mac that need to be synced with an iPhone/iTouch. By trying to sync your iTouch with Entourage, you are adding an unnecessary level of complexity.

Click to expand...

I agree - they are fool proof. I think there might be some transitional stage but as for the applications them self, they are great.

Use them with an open mind! Dont hate them before you even begin!

this thread is 4 days old and the OP hasn't said anything back. Waste of everyone's time. Probably just wanted to complain or is paid by MS.

Well, honestly no one has actually answered the OP's question. The OP asked if there were an all in one application, that could do it all without data corruption.