The outlook on Outlook
So, Outlook is coming to the Mac. I’m sure this has nothing to do with Apple integrating exchange services into Snow Leopard’s mail and calendar client.
Mac users have been begging for something better than Entourage for years so I’m glad to see Outlook finally making an appearance. It is a shame, however, that Microsoft only felt the need to answer our cries when it saw that it was going to lose the status of “only product in category” for those of us who need exchange. 90% of my work is conducted via email, so I think about email applications in a way that others think about cars or shoes. Any improvement in an email client’s functionality is likely an improvement in my ability to perform my duties.
Several months ago I was forced out of Mail and into Entourage. I miss Mail. I miss the data detectors — especially the calendar detectors, I miss add-ons like Mail Act-On and I miss the general experience of using Mail and Calendar. I can say without hesitation that I will be dumping Entourage within seconds of installing Snow Leopard, however I will give Outlook a try at some point. Credit to Microsoft for writing Outlook in cocoa. I’m hoping that they build something that replicates the PC version feature-for-feature rather than simply tossing out a rebranded Entourage.
The only thing this announcement was missing was some screenshots. I’m very curious about what the UI will look like!