Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
Outlook 2007 isn't so bad (EDIT, yes it is)
Carol Haynes:
Thanks - I'll give it a go. I was trying to use it but it wasn't very useful and now I use QuickBooks which allows me to keep track of customers. I can always create an extra Contacts folder for buisness contacts in Outlook if I want.
gogogadgetscott:
My work flushed possibly $100k+ when migrating from GroupWise to Outlook. The IT department totally botched the archive migration. I never cried so much about an email program. GroupWise is fantastic. People were always telling me about features that Outlook does that GroupWise does not. For every feature I was happy to explain how or where to find it in GroupWise. It is function over form.
GroupWise allowed the sender to view when recipients opened an email without the silly read receipt. It also allows a single rule to filter both the inbox and sentbox. Outlook requires two rules. Anyone that hates this as much as I do, I am happy to share my custom VBA used in place of the lame rule support in Outlook.
It could be the way IT setup exchange but the auto delete sucks. They delete any emails from the server that are 60 days from the time sent or received. However, Outlook auto archives based on the last modified date. So is very possible to lose emails. As a result, I have to set auto archive to every day so emails are not at risk of deletion. I do keep my archive pst files on a network drive (Microsoft does not support this), but it cannot be opened on two machines at once (GroupWise allowed the archives to be open on many machines at once). Have no access to it via webmail (GroupWise had the same issue).
So with all these archive emails how do I perform a search? One archive at a time. Outlook will not search across multiple pst files. Groupwise had one search for everything.
I will give one point to Outlook for the ability to open many pst files. GroupWise only allowed one archive to be opened at a time.
Do not even get me started on the Exchange vs Outlook address book. Why can they not be one in the same? And why is it such a pain to give email access to your personal Outlook address book? Control Panel > Mail > Address Books > Add > Outlook Address Book. Open outlook > right-click Contacts folder > select Properties > click tab Outlook Address Book > check Show this folder as an e-mail Address Book.
What about the default profile dialog box? IT has the computers locked down so it does not allow one to set the default profile. Because ever machine has multiple mail profiles left from the migration, every time you open Outlook you have to select the Exchange profile (thank you AutoHotkey).
You call this progress? LOL
superboyac:
scott, I agree with you on several points, but not in your preference. While most of the things you say are true, I still prefer Outlook because it's simply nicer to deal with from GUI standpoint. Having features and being able to do things is one thing, but there's something to be said for having a nice interface to do it in. I remember writing a couple of rules for Groupwise that were a PITA simply because of the way I had to do it. The way everything is laid out in Outlook is much nicer to deal with than Groupwise.
It's funny, I'm normally a function over form kind of person (see all my rants about other software here at DC) but I just hate Groupwise. I never liked Outlook either until I had to use Groupwise. Everything about it was so ridiculously minimalist. I guess I don't mind minimalism for little programs--actually, I prefer it, you don't want a big bloated program just to rename files, or burn a cd, etc.--but your email and PIM is something you use 24/7, so the interface and layout is more important.
So, I can really do without the lack of a good message status feature, or a weirdly implemented addressbook (yes, this puzzled me also...very strange). As far as archives and searching, I don't use them on a constant basis so I can deal with that fine. Seriously, I'm so freakin happy to have Outlook. I never want to see Groupwise ever again, it's a piece of crap.
If only I could use the Bat! at work...however, it doesn't have the calendar features and stuff. Oh well, I'm very happy with Outlook.
Carol Haynes:
I uninstalled BCM and guess what ... the uninstaller doesn't work properly. You have the option of removing BCM and SQL Express - since I have no other use for SQL on my system I opted to remove both.
Every time my system started after that I got a pop up saying that SQL services couldn't start and so in the end I had to reinstall BCM and Express and then uninstall just BCM.
Anyone know how to get rid of SQL Express without having to use SC to delete rogue services left behind - and goodness knows what else?
Thinking about it I have a couple of Sony programs that may use SQL databases so they might be the cause of the pop up - but surely the MS installer should be able to detect that stuff is still needed by other programs ... isn't that the whole point of the registry system?
superboyac:
I hate it, absolutely hate it, when you install a program and it installs one or more extra programs. I think the proper way to do that is a dialog box that says you need to install such program first. Because when you go to remove the program later, you weren't sure what got installed with what. The worst offender of this is a program called Band in a Box. It installs probably 15 separate installers when you install the main program. When the time comes to uninstall, you have no idea which of these were part of the original installation, they all have different names and for all practical purposes, are standalone applications.
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