Entourage - whither tending?

iainboyd - 02:37pm Jun 17, 2008 PST

Allowing for some typical Microsoftisms like 'worst use of colours in an interface design' Entourage is a pretty powerful and well integrated suite. Every time I've looked at switching to Mail/iCal/Address Book, it seems that Apple's offerings are relatively lightweight.

However, one are that has only got worse (in my experience) is syncing. Sync services just don't work properly (see any number of message boards), resulting in duplicates or nothing at all. Once I watched my entire Entourage address book disappear. If you want to sync all the way through to a Google calendar - forget it. As the local sync services don't work very well, you can't rely on .Mac to work properly either. (BTW why are calendars & calendar sharing so buried in the .Mac world?). Phone synchronisation is hit and miss depending on your phone model and 3rd party utilities.

Anyway the question is: In the brave new world of push synchronisation and Mobile Moi, has Entourage been left out in the cold? Despite all the noise about Exchange integration, it seem like no-one got the Microsoft MBU involved and there is only very faint mention of whether Entourage is supported and whether tightly or not at all.

Any expectations or insights? Or do you feel that migration to the Apple apps. is inevitable, in order to enjoy these new facilities?