I think the difference between this explanation and the first one was my
understanding of context. It seems I would have to subscribe to a push
server capable ISP, but to be worth the switch and possible added cost,
I would need a reason for ensuring my calendar, etc. were up to date in
all places -- such as multiple people making changes, or at least being
able to see my changes.
In my situation -- a reporter for a small daily newspaper that's not
running the latest computer stuff (my company email is my access to a
company-provided POP account) I'm thinking I don't have a need for that
stuff. As I understand your explanation, most of the reason I'm not up
to knowledge-snuff on Exchange is because the only one who reads my
email is me. I keep track of my appointments and such on my Treo during
the day, and hotsync more as a backup than as a necessity for keeping
multiple computers/people in sync.
Thanks for your explanation. If what I just wrote seems valid, then
I understood and appreciate your patience.
Don Ferguson wrote:
> Hi again! I thought I pretty much answered your question in my original
> email, but I'll maybe go a bit deeper and that might help.
>
> I have a laptop that I have with me nearly always. I have used it
> productively not only to do "normal" computer stuff, but also to fill
> the time when waiting (for practically anything) by doing things offline
> (and often online, since wifi connections are everywhere), in large part
> processing the email that I receive in such volume.
>
> Now, with Exchange not only can I access all my Outlook data (email,
> calendar, contacts, tasks, notes) from any web-connected computer (using
> Outlook Web Access, a mechanism of Exchange Server that presents an
> Outlook-like interface in a browser window), but I can also, using
> Versamail, access my email, contacts and calendar on the Treo. Real
> time push, which the latest version of Versamail supports, makes sure
> that those data elements on the Treo are within a minute or two of being
> current, and often more current than what shows up on Outlook. Push,
> from my experience, uses less battery than pull, which you describe, and
> it happens invisibly in the background, all the time.
>
> Practically, what that means for me is that I know my Treo and Outlook
> calendars are in sync all the time, not just when I Hotsync. Further, I
> know that I can check for emails by pulling out my Treo which is much
> faster than accessing my laptop. I still do not compose really large
> emails on the Treo, the keyboard being a limiting factor, but it's very
> nice to be able to do a quick scan of emails, see if any demand an
> immediate response, all without either going to or opening up my laptop.
>
>
> At this point in time I would be focusing on OL2007, not 2003. Most
> hosted Exchange providers give you a license for Outlook as part of the
> package. 1and1, for example, gave me a license for OL2003 (which I
> already had, and hence didn't need), and they will be giving me a
> license for OL2007 in the next couple of weeks.
>
> If I were primarily a desktop computer user, Exchange would be even more
> important since it would allow me to take my email with me in a way a
> desktop computer can't - both on the Treo and using OWA. If I had an
> assistant or employees, Exchange would allow me to give them controlled
> access to my calendar, email or whatever, and changes they made would
> show up on my Treo in real time. If I had an enterprise with more than
> one physical location, Exchange would allow people in those multiple
> locations to share calendars, contacts, tasks, etc.
>
> It's really very powerful, and with the advent of hosted Exchange it is
> available to more than just employees of big corporations. Outlook was
> originally designed to be a client for Exchange, and only later morphed
> into an Internet email PIM, so it works very closely with Exchange. For
> example, when I set rules in Outlook for automatically moving emails
> into specific folders, those rules are communicated to Exchange, and the
> move happens there. Same with junk mail filtering -- it happens on the
> Exchange server. The benefit of that is that I don't ever see the junk
> on my Treo, since I only see the Inbox.
>
> It would be nice if Palm were to add multiple email folder support
> (right now only Inbox) and also tasks and notes to what gets sync'd
> (right now only calendar and contacts). They have demonstrated a
> commitment to improving this experience, however in two key ways: by
> adding calendar support for Versamail on the 700p (on the 650 it was
> only Contacts) and by acquiring Chatteremail (and its developer), a very
> capable email tool that supports multiple Exchange folders has other
> benefits.
>
> Does that help more?
>
> Cheers,
> Don
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of J
> Messeder
> Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2007 8:50 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: Re: [Treo] Outlook/Exchange
>
> I'm so tempted to try OL2003 again. I worked a project back in the
> mid-80s with OpenWindows/Solaris/Unix and became enamored of two things:
>
> x-mouse (Microsoft responded with the appropriate PowerToy) and dragging
>
> emails to the calendar to set appointments.
> I don't use the latter enough to miss it, though. I'm usually on the
>
> phone with someone with whom I'm making an appointment.
> But this Exchange thing has me intrigued. I don't understand push at
>
> all, though I regularly see people who use it being deeply in love. I
> have a POP account with comcast, and my company has one with another
> provider. We recently installed software that has internal email, but
> it's a pretty simple messaging service the only purpose for which, so
> far, has been the younger folks sending ha-has to each other.
> I have my work email set up on my Treo680, 15 minute intervals
> during regular working hours, leave mail on the server so I can download
>
> it later to my work machine.
> I have my personal (Comcast) mail also available on the 680, but I
> use it only when I'm on a trip and it's more convenient than breaking
> out the laptop. Again, leave mail on server for later download and
> archiving.
> I also rarely send a fax -- so far I can get to a machine that has
> fax on it, transfer my document thereto, and I'm done.
>
> So what, from the point of view of someone who seems to be in the
> "deeply in love" category, does Exchange do, and why should I care? Is
> it something that could make my Treo more productive (I hate that word,
> but when it's the only one you've got ...)?
> I think I mentioned previously I'm not a Microsoft fan, but there is
>
> something to be said for compatibility, so I use Office 2003 - except
> for IE and OL.
> But I am eager to hear the merits of the case, and I'd bet there are
>
> some other folks on the list who just haven't asked the question.
>
> Don Ferguson wrote:
>
>> Well, here's my story:
>>
>> After leaving IBM (and Lotus Notes) I started using Outlook because it
>> made sense to me to have my address book in the same place my email
>>
> is.
>
>> I can add information to the address book from email, and can email
>> anyone in my address book. Having one's address book separate from
>> one's email never really made sense to me.
>>
>> That's where I started.
>>
>> Other advantages I picked up along the way:
>>
>> Switching from one Palm device to the next (I very nearly buy 'em all)
>> is made much easier with Outlook since the data stays in Outlook even
>>
> as
>
>> I uninstall and reinstall the Palm software. No worries about my .dat
>> files getting lost in the process: it's all in Outlook.
>>
>> I can drag an email to the task icon in OL2003 and create a task from
>>
> an
>
>> email. Same for a calendar entry.
>>
>> There is all sorts of fiddling one can do with views of tasks to make
>> them fit one's preferences.
>>
>> The only thing I really haven't liked about Outlook is the Memos
>> function. It's modeled on yellow sticky notes and it sucks big time.
>> No scroll bars; no undo function, etc. etc. It's really inferior. It
>> could easily be improved. Perhaps it has been in OL2007?
>>
>> Enter the Treo 700p with Versamail that is capable of syncing with
>> Exchange not only email, but contacts and calendar. Someone
>>
> recommended
>
>> I give it a try and I would never go back. OK, never say never, but
>> you'd have to twist my arm pretty hard to get me to go back. It's
>>
> just
>
>> so darned handy to have those data elements sync over the air
>> automatically. No Hotsync required. And having push email turns out
>>
> to
>
>> be handier than I'd've thought.
>>
>> That's probably a pretty sketchy summary, but it gives some of the
>> highlights of why I use Outlook, and am looking forward to using
>>
> OL2007
>
>> when my hosted Exchange company gives it to me for free, sometime in
>>
> the
>
>> next couple of weeks.
>>
>> BTW, I'm using 1and1's hosted Exchange service, and aside from some
>> language difficulties with technical support I'm pretty happy with the
>> price performance ($7/month/mailox).
>>
>> Finally, and I know this is heresy in the Palm world (and with
>>
> apologies
>
>> to CESD, whom I admire), but I've never really become enamored of
>> Datebkn. I think it's kinda like golf, which I also don't
>>
> particularly
>
>> care for: everybody but me seems to just rave about Datebkn (like
>>
> golf)
>
>> and get a great deal of benefit from it. But not me. It strikes me
>>
> as
>
>> too hard to use and during the two brief times (most recently:
>> yesterday) I've tried it on my 700p it's crashed quite a bit --
>> databases becoming corrupt and so on. I want to like it, like I want
>>
> to
>
>> like golf, but I just don't -- so I can't help you there!
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Don
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
>>
> J
>
>> Messeder
>> Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 6:40 AM
>> To: [email protected]
>> Subject: Re: [Treo] Outlook/Exchange
>>
>> I changed the title because I have another question. If this isn't the
>>
>
>
>> same as starting a new thread, is there an effective way other than
>> going to the Yahoo Group site?
>>
>> Now the question: I'm one of those who merely rebels at Microsoft
>>
> owning
>
>> my computer. On the other hand, I use MS Office 2003. On the other
>>
> other
>
>> hand, I also use Thunderbird and Firefox. I use IE7 at work and I hate
>>
>
>
>> it, maybe because I'm not used to it, but there it is.
>> But I've had more empirical reasons for not using Outlook, having
>>
> to
>
>> do with the way it handled contacts, didn't allow for scheduled
>>
> outgoing
>
>> emails (I know T-bird doesn't either, but when I was trying Outlook I
>> was running Eudora).
>> So -- and this is a serious question: why would I, a guy who
>>
> handles
>
>> three POP accounts on the Treo, want to switch from the Palm Desktop
>>
> to
>
>> Outlook/Exchange combo? What might be some of the advantages.
>> Short of loading the latest MS software from disk, I'm thinking
>>
> this
>
>> is a good way to find out. (Please tell me some of the DB6
>>
> functionality
>
>> not available in Palm Desktop is available in Outlook -- that could be
>>
> a
>
>> big seller.)
>>
>>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
>
>
--
/The erasure of a human subspecies is largely painless -- to us -- if we
know little enough about it. A dead Chinaman is of little import to us
whose awareness of things Chinese is bounded by an occasional dish of
chow mein. We grieve only for what we know./
A Sand County Almanac, /Aldo Leopold, July 1949/
