Mac and Exchange server?

[mrben]

I really, really, want a MacBook Air, not least because I want to know what the fuss is about (I switched from Mac to PC around 1995).

But I'm an Outlook and Exchange Server addict and couldn't live with out my PC, MacBook and Blackberry all having the same calendar, contacts, email, tasks and notes.

Can anyone advise me on the best way to get the benefits of Outlook and Exchange on a Mac please?

thanks

Ben

 

[hwend]

Re: Mac and Exchange server?

Ben,

I have a MacBook Pro and we are running MS Exchange server in the office. As a straight email client, Apple Mail that comes with the Mac will work just fine with an Exchange server. You can get some idea how to configure Apple Mail with Exchange here http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mail/2.0/en/ml89.html and here http://web.uconn.edu/exchange/faq/clients/applemail/macmailconfig.htm.

If you need to access the Exchange server for anything other than email as indicated, I would recommend using MS Entourage instead of Mail.app. Entourage has support for the collaboration services in Exchange. I am using Entourage on my Mac (part of the MS Office package for the Mac) http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/entourage2008/default.mspx#/interacting_entourage/. It works well with our Exchange server. I am using a Palm PDA (and the MS Entourage Palm Conduit) and synch calendar, contacts, and notes between Entourage and Palm and it works fine for me. I think for Blackberry you might have to check out a different synch application like "The Missing Synch for Blackberry" from Mark/Space http://www.markspace.com/products.html.

Of course you always have the option to run Outlook under Parallels or VMWare Fusion on the Mac as well.

Horst

 

[mrben]

Great, thanks for the detail Horst. Does Entourage sync your tasks too?

Presumably running outlook would require dual-booting with Windows XP? And I assume that'll take some system resources. The Air isn't the fastest machine, but then I don't do much more than word docs, spreadsheets and email.

cheers

Ben

 

[rubaga]

Here is a complication......

At present as I understand from all the forums Entourage does not sync tasks. Why? I have no idea why it took MS so much time to develop a new software and not add such an important functionality.

I am using MacBook Air for personal and professional use. At work we are using full Windows environment and MS Exchange server. So my MB Air has VMWare Fusion with Windows and full MS Office installed. Although I feel such set up is a bit suboptimal it works for me.

 

[thr61]

I am using a MB Pro, a Blackberry Curve, Entourage and Exchange. Email, calendar and contacts synch wirelessly in a manner identical to Outlook. Tasks do NOT synch wirelessly -- you need a hard connection and to use the Missing Synch for Blackberry. Because of this, I have stopped using tasks on my blackberry and rely on my MB Pro and Things (a mac-based GTD application) to manage tasks.

In general, the Entourage and Exchange solution is virtually identical to the Outlook and Exchange experience. Plus, no spyware or viruses, of course....