I was excited to get my hands on a copy of Outlook 2011. I was not a BETA tester, so when the full release came out and my Exchange email provider released a downloadable version (which they did on the day of it’s release, kudos to Sherweb!), I was elated. That is until I installed it and played with it for about 15 minutes, only to discover that yes, it had more of a Mac feel, but it was lacking some of the features I was really looking forward to. Read: Entourage with a facelift.
No Side by Side Shared Calendars
Granted, I have not had the opportunity to play with Outlook 2010 for Windows, but I would imagine that the neato feature of having shared calendars (or even overlapping calendars) with distinct coloring is still there. It is however, glaringly absent from Outlook 2011 for Mac. (I am willing to be corrected on this, so if anyone has figured this out, please, let me know!) What’s the point of having shared calendars if everyone’s calendar is colored the same and the only distinguishing aspect is one is lighter blue than the other. I believe this is a huge oversight. Despite what their own website says is a functional piece of the software (see image)
No CalDav Support
Now before you throw stones, I did not keep up with BETA development for Outlook 2011 and this was probably known early on, but I just assumed since Microsoft was singing the praises of how great this product would be for Mac users, that CalDav would actually be a part of this release. I realize that MS says it will be integrated in future updates, I can’t help but think, we’ll keep hearing that it’s coming and then find out, “It will be in Outlook 2013…we promise…” Oh and buy the way, you can’t even sync like you used to from Entourage (address book only in Outlook 2011), so it’s not only Entourage with a facelift, they also did some liposuction while they were in there.
All that said, it may float some people’s boat to be in a Outlook world once again, but I am sticking with the free versions that come with Snow Leopard (despite the lack of Public Folder functionality).
0 Responses to “Why I think Outlook for Mac 2011 is sorely lacking.”