So unlike others I’m not a big Microsoft complainer. I think that most people don’t like them because they’re too good. Like Michael Jordan haters this is pure envy or disbelief, as though such high success guarantees some evil flaw. Not that Microsoft hasn’t always been the nice guy or any such nonsense, it’s merely that in today’s world, no one can maintain the perfect image.
For instance, the Gates foundation has donated $11 billion since its inception in 2000 . So that’s not Microsoft right? Ok. For every dollar an employee donates to anything at all, Microsoft donates a dollar. If an employee wants to donate time instead, Microsoft pays them. Now I don’t know too many details, but I think they have a much worse name than they should.
That being said, Outlook is horrible. I thought of this while daydreaming over in the blogosphere, which I tend to do with some frequency. I thought this example of calendar failure illustrated without describing in specifics all of my issues with Outlook. The options are hard to find, ant-intuitive and all packaged into seemingly randomly sorted lists, tabs, panes, new windows checkboxes that are inclusive or radio boxes that are not. And as easy as it is to set up meetings in the usual case, if something goes wrong, you are done for. I find that in most programs, I can intuit my way through all the essential functions. With Outlook, I can (usually) send mail and occasionally receive. God forbid I want to, say, set up my school account to sync with my home computer using IMAP without deleting all my emails off the school servers. I certainly shouldn’t try to set up any reasonable mail filters, especially if I need the ‘advanced options’, which are about 6 miles long. And, let’s say hypothetically, I get junk mail, then I’m done for, since Outlook, try as it might, just doesn’t compare.
And don’t get me started on the web interface. No really, don’t do it.
Now I do understand that syncing with the rest of the office, and as little as I understand exchange servers, I think other people do and they mostly work. But many of us don’t work in offices, and don’t need all that. Some would rather sync across the web, with multiple computers or be able to use standards like iCal or some such thing. Some even might want to be able move around contacts without all the crazy importing, getting the wrong fields lined up and so on.
Maybe it’s that college students wont’ pay enough to justify it. Maybe the marginal increase wouldn’t be worth such a radical change. Or maybe Office 2007 will handle this and more. Who knows. But for now, I think its worth ranting about. Or maybe helping them with.
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