I want to say goodbye to Outlook

David Weintraub (apparently) - 06:38am Aug 23, 2008 PST
via email

I hate Microsoft Outlook. It is one of the worst email programs I've
ever used. It is slow, buggy and seems to violate every email
principle imaginable. The problem is if you work in the business
world, you have to use it. And, Outlook isn't just email, but is also
the company's calendar too.

I'd love to find a replacement for Outlook. Even better something that
is also Mac and Linux friendly too. However, I have not yet found a
tool that can talk to Microsoft Exchange server (except, of course for
Entourage and Outlook).

Right now, I am trying out Thunderbird. It can use IMAP to talk to the
exchange server, but I had to find out the SMTP server we use, so I
could send emails too. Thunderbird is a lot faster and easier to use
than Outlook. I can easily search my emails in seconds where Outlook
might take a few minutes. The organization of Thunderbird is also
based more on a typical email client. Unlike Outlook, it doesn't
mangle headers or mess up attachments. Filtering is easy to use too.

Unfortunately, I can't get it to read my corporate address book. I've
tried getting LDAP setup, but haven't had any success yet. I also
tried exporting my Microsoft Outlook Global address book to
Thunderbird. I was able to do it, but it took quite a bit of work.
First, I had to bring up the entire Global addressbook, export it into
my Outlook Contact list, then export the Outlook client list to a CVS
file. Then, I had to edit this CVS file using Excel to fix a few of
the fields. I can't imagine going through that on a regular basis.

For Outlook's calendar, I am using Google's calendar sync utility that
syncs outlook calendars to Gmail. Running Google desktop with the
sidebar allows me to use Google's calendar widget which shows me my
appointments. Unfortunately, this doesn't send me any reminders about
upcoming meetings. Nor, does it support all of the features the
Outlook calendar has. For example, I can't see when I setup a meeting
whether everyone is free, and I don't have that important corporate
address book.

So, does anyone have any suggestions?

--
David Weintraub
qazwartgmail.com