Jim Robertson
Wed, 18 Mar 2009 10:09:58 -0700
I'm a long term MS Entourage user. I've railed against the single "database" file structure forever (but I've heard that it probably will go away in the next release).
I don't use calendar notifications because the Office Database Daemon screws up my desktop<->laptop synchronization routine, which works only if the files don't change on the computer not in active use at the moment (every event alarm changes the "database" file). Recently I've started using an iPhone 3G. I synchronize my contacts and calendars on it with Entourage. Usually that works, but occasionally all the events on the iPhone get duplicated in Entourage (I suspect the daylight savings time change may have triggered the latest instance of that). I also use some applications that depend on Apple's Address Book; e.g., Dymo Label. So, on my Mac Pro, I use Sync Services to keep Address Book and iCal in Sync with Entourage's Book and Calendar. That also gives me event notifications, which come from iCal. Apple's programs don't support "categories" the way Entourage does. In order to differentiate personal from work appointments by color, for example, in iCal I'd need to use multiple calendars, but Sync Services dumps all Entourage events into one "Entourage" calendar so I can't do that. Having to prune my calendar by hand after the recent duplication of hundreds of items caused by an iPhone sync made me revisit the question of just dumping Entourage completely yet again. However, there still seem to be limitations in iCal that make me hold off. For example: 1. In iCal, an event that spans several days but ends at a specific time on the last days isn't displayed as a banner spanning its entire duration; its calendar display is confined to the day it starts. 2. In iCal, timed event don't show their start time on the "Month" view; just a bullet before their title. People with needs such as mine have discussed using BusySync and Google Calendar as the intermediary for keeping calendars in Sync. If I gave up on Entourage, I think I could sync multiple calendars simultaneously to solve at least SOME of my display issues in the month view. I've read recently that synchronization using the iPhone and Entourage should be much better now because of the iPhone's support for Exchange Server. I'm about to put a Windows Server 2008 Small Business Edition Server in my office, and since I'll be the administrator of that I can carve out the ability to do my personal Personal Info Manager synchronization on that platform if it's the ideal solution. So, does anyone have opinions? Thanks so much, Jim Robertson -- -- To unsubscribe: <mailto:entourage-talk-...@lists.letterrip.com> archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> old-archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>