Outlook for Mac 2011 vs. Outlook for Windows 2010: Don't Try This at Home! - Shelly Palmer

By definition I39m a Mac Fanboy Just here in my home office there39s a MacPro Tower with everything on it three MacBook Pros and two MacBooks two Mac Minis a dozen iPods nanos shuffles several iPhones a couple of iPads it looks like Steve Jobs threw up in here I am a Mac lover and what39s worse I love Mac39s even when they don39t work the way they are supposed toHowever I am also a DOSWindows baby and there are certain things you just can39t do on a Mac This has always been true For Windows XP through Windows 7 my solution has been the Parallels desktop It is virtual machine that allows you to run Windows or Linux programs on Intelbased Macs with excellent resultsAs far as operating systems go it39s not bad being quotBiquot I have been very happy living in a predominantly Mac world and using Parallels to access and run the only two Windowsonly programs I use daily QuickBooks Premium Accountant Edition and VisioWhy don39t I have both Windows and Mac computers around the office Because there was truly no need everything was right with the world until January 2011 That39s when several very reliable sources told me that my SoHo would benefit from the features of Outlook over the AppleMailDaylite 3 Productivity Suite system we were using I did some cursory research but was told to make this switch by people who quotreally knowquot Outlook and were sure that it was the exact solution I neededAs I said I39m quotBiOSquot so I was happy to setup my own office in Outlook I39ve used it on Windows computers for years and although it is far from a perfect solution it truly does the jobAs most of you know Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 made its debut this year and the big change was the addition of Outlook which replaced the practically featureless Entourage I was psyched No need for Windows in the Shelly Palmer world now Outlook is available for Mac Fanboys After installing the program I spent days setting up a Microsoft Exchange Server then I designed workflow that would fit my needs I wasn39t paying too much attention to what was missing but I should haveAfter a couple of weeks of testing Exchange and getting all of my categories and CRM stuff together I added two additional people to the system It was at that moment I realized that Outlook for Mac 2011 and Outlook for Windows 2010 have almost nothing to do with one anotherA few examples Mac version does not have an email merge cannot assign categories to contacts in the global address book has no reliable search function and is practically useless when it comes to rules Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 does not feature One Note nor is it compatible with any of the Microsoft CRM products nor does it interface with social networks nor does it storekeep a history of your interactions with clients and on and on and on amp8230What a monumental waste of timeThe fix was pretty simple but pretty expensive To make everything work like 92 percent of the offices in the world I now have Parallels 6 Desktop running on all the Macs in my home office I39ve installed purchased copies of Windows 7 on each machine I39ve installed a licensed copy if Microsoft Office 2010 for windows on each machine What will I do with the Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 installs Well for one thing they will take up a lot of disk space On the other hand it does make opening a file a little more tricky and painful All bad amp8230 no matter how you think about itIs the version of Outlook that is included with Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 a step up from AppleMail Not really Is it better than Gmail No Is it worth the time to set up Exchange for it Absolutely notWhich begs for the question Why is this true Why should Microsoft software for Mac products be so much weaker than Microsoft software products for Windows computers The obvious answer is unsatisfactory in the extreme If you are going to sell a crippled product to Mac owners why bother at allThe good news is that Parallels has a mode called quotCoherencequot which allow you to open a Windows program as if it were a floating window on your Mac It39s very slick and a very nice solution So expensive as it may be our all Mac office is now running Microsoft Office 2010 for Windows everywhere and we are happy functional and compatible with the rest of the business worldThe bad news is that aside from having to purchase several copies of Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 and eat them most of the reviews I39ve seen of the product say it39s wonderful Take if from me Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 is in no way wonderful nor does its version of Outlook offer any benefits at all If you upgrade to Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 do not expect it to work like its Windows counterpart And like I said don39t try this at homeShelly Palmer is the host of MediaBytes with Shelly Palmer a daily show featuring news you can use about technology media ampamp entertainment He is the author of Television Disrupted The Transition from Network to Networked TV 2008 New York House Press and the upcoming Get Digital Reinventing Yourself and Your Career for the 21st Century Economy 2009 Lake House Press Shelly is also President of the National Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences NY the organization that bestows the coveted Emmy Awards For information about Get Digital Classes visit httpwwwshellypalmercomseminars Watch Digital Life with Shelly Palmer Tuesdays at 10p ET on WNBC39s NY Nonstop httpwwwshellypalmercomdigitallifeRead all Shelly39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Shelly Palmer ReportCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerMediaBizBloggers is an openthought leadership blog platform for media marketing and advertising professionals companies and organizations To contribute contact Jackmediadvisorygroupcom The opinions expressed in MediaBizBloggerscom are not those of Media Advisory Group its employees or other MediaBizBloggerscom contributors Media Advisory Group accepts no responsibility for the views of MediaBizBloggers authors

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Outlook for Mac 2011 vs. Outlook for Windows 2010: Don't Try This at Home! - Shelly Palmer

Author

Publish date

Channel

Shelly Palmer

Empowering Women in Media: Insights from Industry Leaders (Video) - By E.B. Moss

More Videos:

Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

Outlook for Mac 2011 vs. Outlook for Windows 2010: Don't Try This at Home! - Shelly Palmer

Enjoying This Commentary? There's More to Love

Shelly Palmer

Empowering Women in Media: Insights from Industry Leaders (Video) - By E.B. Moss

The payment was successful

Cookies