My New Year's Resolution Has Been A Failure

My new year’s resolution this year was to get completely off of Microsoft products and it’s been an abysmal failure. I have not been able to get off of Entourage which is the worst software product I have ever used because I am locked into a Microsoft Exchange platform at work for sharing contacts, calendars, and email. And we are locked into it because it works so flawlessly with our Blackberries. It’s a killer combo. It’s funny that its RIM’s technology that’s keeping me on Microsoft technology.

So I am caveing in, which many of you predicted, and going back to Windows and Office. I am getting a new MacBook Pro and pre-installing Parallels and Windows and Office on it.

I’ll use Windows/Office for work stuff and OSX for everything else.

But I am hopeful that soon we’ll leave Exchange for Google’s platform, gmail and gcal primarily. All Google needs to do is build a client for Windows and OSX and Blackberry and iPhone. And I’ll be gone from Microsoft for good.

And it couldn’t happen too soon.

Comments (24) | Posted July 16, 2007 in Venture Capital and Technology

Comments

I installed Parallels they day it came out on my macbook and I've only used it once. For a webex conference call/presentations.

But MSFT Entourage is so lame that I've thought about setting up bootcamp so I boot windows mode for work and MacOS mode for everything else. I can't seem to do it.

I'm counting on the upcoming Office 2008 for the Mac as super-uber Entourage fix.

If that doesn't ship soon or fix Entourage for good, I don't know what I'll do.

Posted by: bijan | Jul 16, 2007 6:50:33 AM

Why don't you try Outlook Web Access before switching. The client performs very much like the outlook client. You will need to be running ie though...

Posted by: cpmas | Jul 16, 2007 7:24:17 AM

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." --Michael Corleone (Al Pacino), The Godfather III, 1990

Parallels+WinXP+Office+MacBookPro Kills...allows you to make it both business and personal.

Posted by: Michael Parekh | Jul 16, 2007 7:47:19 AM

Even I have the same resolve and i might just be able to scrape through. We use google apps for email and other stuff so no problem there but i am still hunting for a good replacement of excel.

Posted by: Anurag | Jul 16, 2007 7:49:08 AM

My best Mac is the monster that I have in my office - running Vista. I punted completely on Parallels and Bootcamp and just installed Vista on it. It is an incredible Vista box.

Posted by: Brad Feld | Jul 16, 2007 8:00:12 AM

Google Apps definitely needs some work before its ready for the enterprise in my opinion. IMAP would go a long way, as would Blackberry support, etc.

Posted by: Neil | Jul 16, 2007 9:33:36 AM

You may find that you love using Outlook in Coherence mode with Parallels. It is quite seamless.

Posted by: Stuart | Jul 16, 2007 10:07:04 AM

VNC might be a good option for you. Check out this article on Lifehacker that shows a Mac VNC'ing into a Windows box. Running parallels might be better though, since you won't have to deal with network latency for UI updates.

http://lifehacker.com/software/feature/special-how-to-control-your-home-computer-from-anywhere-125607.php

VNC worked well for me when I was on a Windows box and had to program and compile on a Solaris box for school.

Posted by: Andrew | Jul 16, 2007 10:08:11 AM

I hear your pain with Entourage. It's been the last piece of software where I've acknowledged it's many shortcomings but have yet to replace. Have you thought about Mail on the mac, Fred? Of course the support for blackberry is doubtful, but iphone syncing is solid, and it even works with your yahoo address book. I know you don't want to use the phone and the contact mgmt is less than optimal until they implement the search/find functionality. But as far as email integration goes it might be worth a try, as the "syncing" is apple's new killer-app.

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305741

Posted by: Megan | Jul 16, 2007 11:23:39 AM

Have you tried Outlook for the Mac? It does exist... not that I've used it.

Perhaps things will get better with Office 2008...

Posted by: Dave! | Jul 16, 2007 11:27:04 AM

Have you tried Apple Mail + Apple Address Book + iCal (with snerdware's interface to exchange calendars)? Seems like your approach is just to swap one silo for another...why?

Unfortunately I haven't found a plausible replacement for Word, Excel, or even PPT. But I only use the Mac versions, I haven't bothered to try Windows office via Parallels.

Posted by: DV Henkel-Wallace | Jul 16, 2007 11:28:05 AM

I switched from Entourage to Zimbra, which I think works with Blackberry and supports the mixed environment that you're talking about. I searched around for hosting providers, and OnDeckTech (http://www.ondecktech.com/zimbra/index.html) was the best one I could find. They've been very solid, and most importantly have great tech support.

Posted by: Chris Neumann | Jul 16, 2007 12:08:29 PM

Recently setup Thunderbird. After a number of add-ons and some fiddling, it is working pretty well. Give it a whirl.

Suggested add-ons: Webmail, Provider for Google Calendar, Minimize to Tray

It is the closest I have come to "busting the cycle..."

Posted by: Jonas | Jul 16, 2007 12:11:53 PM

I bought a MacBook with Parallels back in April. My Sony Laptop died two days before a presentation and I needed an XP machine (couldn't buy one anywhere in time for my presentation).

Coherence mode in Parallels is REALLY poorly explained, but it works like a champ. I run a full suite of MS Office XP without a hitch. In Coherence mode you don't need to go full screen with XP, you just run the apps in a window. You can even drag and drop from a Mac desktop straight in to Outlook.

Firebird etc are all very well, but if you have a need for Exchange etc, they're not going to cut it. I have had zero problems with OSX/Parallels XP, even with picky apps like Photoshop...

Posted by: fewquid | Jul 16, 2007 12:35:13 PM

I would second the suggesiton to try using Snerdware's AddressX and Groupcal products a try with the standard Mail, Address Book, and iCal combo. Works just fine for me.

Posted by: Jim McCoy | Jul 16, 2007 1:04:48 PM

I made the switch cold turkey about 1 month ago. My new MacBook Pro is absolutely wonderful. For Word/Excel/PowerPoint, I replaced them with NeoOffice (www.NeoOffice.org), which is based on OpenOffice.org. That's worked out VERY well for me so far, except that their spreadsheet app does not have a graphing feature. For the rare times that I do need to access a Windows PC, I use the free Remote Desktop Client (http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=remotedesktopclient) to remote in. Works like a champ.

Posted by: Raf Fiol | Jul 16, 2007 3:46:47 PM

I'll quit smoking when you quit Microsoft....

Posted by: jackson | Jul 16, 2007 3:59:46 PM

Have you looked at switching from Exchange to Scalix? They have a very good web implementation, would support Outlook for non MS switchers, and _appear_ to work with BES.

For me, Excel is the deal breaker. I am just too reliant on the advanced functionality of building a complex model in Excel. I'm not too hung up on it since I love my Thinkpad (X32 - 3.5 lbs of goodness. Soon to upgrade to the X61).

Posted by: Paul | Jul 16, 2007 11:56:41 PM

Commentary on the root issue aside, if you need to go Windows on the Mac VMWare's Fusion has shaped up to be a vastly superior product. Really, it's just so much better. Running without a "root" window - Parallels calls it Coherence, VMWare calls it Fusion - is faster and more consistent and Fusion uses considerably less CPU when the app is idle. Both of those are enough to sell Fusion over Parallels.

But you also get the large library of pre-built VMWare virtual machines at your disposal. This may not seem like a big deal, but say you're evaluating a deal with some hot software NewCo, have read the reviews, met the team, seen the demo, but want to experience their software outside of their scripted sandbox. If they're playing nicely in the networked economy, chances are reasonably good they'll have a pre-configured VMWare instance available for download - probably running atop some flavor of Linux - that you could throw onto your MacBook, spend a few minutes exploring, then simply delete without having lost hours/days of integration and configuration time. Or, most likely, without this capability you simply would not have been able to eval their software at all.

Fusion's still a beta, but it's every bit as stable as Parallels is today.

Posted by: Eric Litman | Jul 17, 2007 9:07:09 AM

My office uses Exchange as well. Outlook was driving me crazy, until I found out that Mozilla Thunderbird works fine with Exchange Servers for email. I didn't have any success with setting up the inter-office directory, but you might be able to. Working with appointments is getting better... while with the calendar plug-ins you can add appointments other people make, when it comes to creating and RSVP'ing the product still needs work. Give it a spin!
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/03/30/howto-thunderbird-and-ms-exchange-server/

Enjoy!

Posted by: Zvi Band | Jul 17, 2007 9:14:36 AM

Coherence mode will solve your problem.

"The new version of Parallels Desktop is anchored by Coherence, a groundbreaking new feature that runs Windows applications on the Mac like they are native applications. When users switch to Coherence mode, the Windows desktop disappears, leaving Windows applications, such as Outlook and Internet Explorer, running directly on the Mac desktop and from the Mac application dock. It is completely customizable, providing numerous options for loading and running applications and viewing the Windows task bar and Start menu."

Posted by: Merrick | Jul 17, 2007 1:55:29 PM

Disclosure: I work for VMware.

In this tech savvy crowd, I'm surprised no mentioned VMware Fusion as an alternative. I installed the beta (the RC candidate is out now) on my MacPro and run multiple copies of Windows 2000 and XP. With Unity I publish Office 2007 apps to the Mac desktop. It was a snap to set up and even have it auto launch when my wife logs in so she can use office w/o seeing Fusion. Totally seamless.

BTW, as a techie with some background in online marketing (ex-NetGravity and Doubleclick), I've really enjoyed reading this blog for the last 2+ years. Since this is my first post in that time (yes, i'm a lurker), I just wanted to say thanks for the awesome reads.

Posted by: Jason Martin | Jul 17, 2007 2:40:07 PM

I'd second Jasons comment - I much prefer Fusion to Parallels (and I don't work for VMWare!)

I would be curious though to see why Fred (who's opinion I respect) is making such an anti MS statement here.

I use both Vista, WinXP, OSX and Windows Server as part of my job and so don't have to nominate a favorite and it always interests me when rational/intelligent folks make such a strong emotive statement around something like an OS or a technology vendor

Posted by: OffBeatMammal | Jul 17, 2007 5:46:47 PM

Hi Brad..
A Genie just granted me my wish! I bought my Black MacBook 2 days ago and today I was greeted with the news of Numbers being included in IWorks08. I finally found a replacement of excel and will now be completely off Microsoft Products.

I am not sure if it works well but you may try configuring your LDAP with Address Book and Groupcal (http://www.snerdware.com/groupcal) for sharing your calendar in an exchange environment.

Caveat - I am Just a rookie on the subject.

Posted by: Anurag Pandey | Aug 9, 2007 3:51:38 AM

A VC

Musings of a VC in NYC