Unsubscribing from a mailing list usually does not require an explanation or an apology. But in this case, I feel like posting a few words. I've been a steady, although infrequent, participant in the various incarnations of the Entourage and Claris Emailer lists. Through the messages that have passed through here, or in off-list exchanges, I've gotten to know quite a few very bright and generous people. I've learned a lot, had problems solved, and maybe contributed a few useful bits to the community.
Claris Emailer was the best email program on the Mac when it appeared. After its rebirth as Entourage, I stayed with it, because it met my needs. But over the past few years, I have been increasingly frustrated by bugs and usability issues that persisted through updates and major version changes. Most of these were at the annoyance level, just adding friction and irritation to my workflow. But then I began to see problems involving loss of data, such as draft messages that disappeared before I could send them. I tried a test install of Office 2011. Most of things which annoyed me in Entourage were carried over, some features were missing, and there were new bugs. For me, it's time to move on. I'm now using Apple's Mail, iCal, and Address Book. These apps are not without flaws, and they are missing some of the functions that I used in Entourage. But the UI designs are more to my liking: more consistent with Mac conventions, more polished, with less clutter, and better discoverability. And, of course, these apps are better integrated with other Apple technologies: Time Machine, MobileMe, sync services, and iPhone. I'm not ideologically opposed to Microsoft products. If a future version of Outlook for Mac matches my needs better than the Apple apps, I'll switch back. And I hope Microsoft does well, because competition is good, and because they are such an important component of the local economy where I live (metro Seattle). But for now, I'll say thanks again to everyone on this list, and sayonara... -- Julian Vrieslander [email protected] -- YouTalk mailing list List information: http://www.entourage.mvps.org/support_options/list.html List moderator: [email protected], [email protected] To unsubscribe: mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe
