On 02/02/2010, at 11:18 AM, Crisp, Peter wrote:
> I wondered how long it would take for someone to suggest this “solution” – > thanks John for raising this one. Having come from a Windows background, I > find it hard to move to a program (Mail) that doesn’t have Contacts and > Calendar functions integrated into the one app. Mail is just one part of > daily activity and within Entourage (like MS Outlook) it is a nice integrated > look and feel, not to mention logical, to have Mail/Calendar/Contacts > integrated into one app. > > Can Mail/iCal/Contacts be managed in the same way? > > I am not 100% settled on Entourage and prepared to consider > Mail/iCal/Contacts but it seems retrograde to use 3 apps for what one app can > manage albeit with this bug. Maybe Microsoft will arrange a fix for this or > maybe I’ll use the noted work-around (a la Time Machine Scheduler) for the > temporary “solution” to my problem. > It really makes no difference to the user experience whether Mail, Calendar and Contacts are all in the one entity or three separate applications. The Mail experience certainly proves this with its use the Data Detector. Mail interacts with Address Book directly, and Data Detectors allow you to add dates and events directly to your iCal calendars, and even interact with Google Maps. It all happens seamlessly. What does matter is that Address Book and iCal data are system-wide, and therefore available to other software if the author chooses (Bento being one obvious example). This is difficult if not impossible with closed systems like Entourage. You'll have to duplicate your contacts in Address Book anyway to get access to this system-wide functionality. Microsoft software still retains it's own little ecosystem within Mac OS X (even down to the clipboard), and does not really sit well with modern Mac software. -- Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer Perth, Western Australia Phone (618) 9332 6482 Mob 0403 064 948 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:wamug-unsubscr...@wamug.org.au>
