Re: Microsoft burning party
- From: Craig Deutsch <craig.deutsch@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 19 Jun 2005 08:27:54 -0700
Oh, boy! I love it when MVPs and others start getting passive aggressive
with newsgroup posters. However, I think Mr. Ainsworth's comment is
misdirected, and I couldn't resist replying with a Sunday morning muse...
Like it or not folks, Entourage -- while a good software application --
ain't fantastic by any stretch -- but it could be...and should be. It does
many things very well, a few things mediocre, and a bunch of things that a
program this robust and expensive *should* do, it doesn't do at all.
I'm perhaps one of the lucky ones because I don't have to deal with an
Exchange Server, I don't have import/export issues, and I'm not trying to
run Entourage in a mixed platform environment.
But I've said it before, and I'll say it again: It continues to astound me
how the largest software company in the world, one which claims dedication
to the Mac platform, can engineer a product like Entourage and leave so many
commonly dealt-with issues on the table, **particularly in it's fourth major
upgrade to the product.** Simply amazing: Exchange Server support, the
handling of HTML-formatted emails, signature placement in replies, certain
media handling, menu customization, etc...just look at the list of posts
here and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that while there's
admittedly a lot of user ignorance (including some of my own), there are
just as many real issues that Microsoft has not, or perhaps will not,
address.
One of the MVPs on this site has maintained that those familiar with
Outlook/Windows shouldn't compare the two products. Just because a feature
is present in Outlook doesn't mean it should be in Entourage. Hmm...I'll
concede that's correct, but only for about 5 for every 100 features...just a
rough guess.
Largely, I don't complain here. Conversely, I try to post help to those for
whom my experience with the product can benefit. And, in agreement with Mr.
Ainsworth's comment, I too have no (major) problems with Entourage.
However, I've posted rhetorical commentary in the past about why the
product's shortcomings and missing features could be so difficult to
fix/implement. There are those on this board (who remain unnamed) that have
blasted me for accusatory statements or inflammatory remarks that address
the "fact that I don't know what goes into programming or software
development!..," implying the question about how I could thus throw stones.
Easy. Because Microsoft is huge. It has endless resources. And it has a
marketing and development budget that trump the GDP of some small countries.
While it claims dedication to creating unique Mac-based products, to my
knowledge, Entourage, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Virtual PC are the only
current MS products that run on Macs (aside from mouse and keyboard
drivers). With the exception of Virtual PC (which Microsoft bought from
another company), I wouldn't call ANY of those products unique to the Mac
platform. In short, it has few excuses that are valid in my book.
Why does Entourage have so many problems relative to its big sister in the
Windows world? In my view, it's simple...skeptical perhaps, but nonetheless
incredibly simple: It's *supposed* to be that way. It's a *business
decision*. It's a matter of choosing which problems to solve, which
features to implement, and just how good to make a product bearing in mind
that its sister, Outlook, shouldn't be trumped, for such might imply
something not-so-pretty for both Outlook and, God forbid, Windows. Besides,
the Mac market is only about 3% of share, and what percentage of those
people will use Entourage over Apple Mail anyway?
OK, I could accept that. But then don't go touting all these fancy
features, only some of which work seamlessly *end-to-end*. Or if you do,
make sure they work -- and work correctly -- in a product's fourth major
iteration in seven years. Seven years!! And I'm not talking "technically"
correct, but correct as the guy on the street would commonly interpret it
from a ease and usability perspective -- because that's what counts. Or,
perhaps as my step-dad used to thunder, "Go...dam..t...you either do it
right, or you don't do it at all!"
To those that try in earnest to resolve problems, get frustrated and post
their perhaps adolescent humor on these boards: Hear! Hear! A little humor
is good, even if it's cheeky. To those that continue to post help,
instructions, AppleScripts, etc., to the user community: Thank you both
users and MVPs alike. And to Microsoft's own phone technical support that
really is quite good, thank you, too; you do a great job.
In closing, however, it's my opinion that Mr. Ainsworth's comment IMO needs
just a slight revision to have a more directed and perhaps wider impact:
"Maybe it's a case of Microsoft's clue deficit disorder."
On 6/19/05 06:54, in article 190620050654279521%rag@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
"Randall Ainsworth" <rag@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> In article <1119157760.309574.159900@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> rvbcave <rvbcave@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> With all of the problems many of us have encountered with entourage,
>> perhaps it is time to sponser a microsoft products burning party! We
>> could burn microsoft products and roast marshmellos... wait we might
>> catch a virus from the fumes.
>
> Interesting...I have no problems with Entourage. Maybe it's a case of
> clue deficit disorder.
.
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