Skip to main content

Decent alternatives to Outlook

I've been trying to find a replacement for Microsoft Outlook. Despite all its bulk and penchants for getting infected with viruses (from way back I should say), I do miss using Outlook. I just don't feel like paying for it nor do I need all of its diverse features. 

So, I am looking for alternatives to Outlook. I tried Microsoft Mail and it was actually quite decent. I also tried Thunderbird and while I am not a huge fan of its mickey-mouse icons, I don't mind it either. If only Thunderbird had the polish that Firefox has. 

I heard from people that Entourage sucked. Its not like I have a mac, but while doing research on this subject I ran across that. 

So far, I have the mail part covered. I find it weird that despite using IMAP, my client only gets mail every so often (by default one of them was set to retrieve mail every 30 minutes!), but I was able to configure it to grab mail every minute. The parts I am having trouble with though are the calendar and the directory lookup (where you look up emails of people using some kind of search mechanism). 

I didn't realise how import the calendar was until I missed a few appointments. Normally, with Outlook, the reminder thing pops up and annoys the heck out of you, so you deal with it. Not so with webmail. You just get a popup and tend to forget it exists. Not to mention that the window doesn't repeatedly annoy you to deal with it. Sometimes, it is good to have something nag you.

I am trying to talk to a Kerio Connect mail server in case anyone is wondering. Since I couldn't figure out a way to get Windows Mail to sync calendars, I decided to stick with Thunderbird. Turns out that if I use the Lightning plug-in with Thunderbird that it can at least sync the calendar in a read-only format. I find it clunky, but at least I can see my calendar entries on the desktop now. I still find the whole Thunderbird thing odd though. It was reminding me of things from Wednesday to Friday. I am not sure why I need to be reminded of something that far out in the future especially if the reminder in the calendar is set to 15 minutes. And I am not sure what will happen if I dismiss them (my guess is, they will get dismissed). I am not sure where the issue lies, whether it is Kerio or whether it is Lightning/Thunderbird or some configuration somewhere in between but Kerio Connect doesn't seem to have a solution that works for me. Sigh.

Oh well. On the bright side, at least I get access to my calendar through Thunderbird. I just have to log into the web interface to create new calendar entries. I was also able to get Thunderbird talk to the LDAP server to do lookups, but I think that misses out on group email addresses. And I had to make lots of guesses to get it to work. Still, I suppose that is progress. The thing that annoys me is that Outlook just works with this out of the box. There is a Kerio Connect connector for Outlook and voila, everything just works. I'm not even going to bother trying to connect my BlackBerry to anything :).

If only the good folks who volunteer their time on Mozilla's Firefox would give Thunderbird some love... that might actually give Outlook a run for its money. I guess it is open source and anyone can contribute (hmmm I wonder if I could...). Until recently, I had written off desktop clients for e-mail. I greatly appreciate my Gmail account. But, I think there needs to be something more than an email in one of the many dozen tabs I have (some of which are hidden by the Panorama feature, one of my favourite Firefox 4 features).

So, has anyone else has success, luck etc with replacing Outlook? I am tempted to try using Evolution for Windows, but I suspect I will not get any further than I did with Thunderbird.
Labels:

Comments

Johnnie Francis Xavier MacIntyre said…
I was able to fix my calendar issue somewhat so that it works correctly now via Thunderbird. In Kerio webmail, there is a little icon that gives you a personalised URL to your calendar. While it is in beta, the CalDEV thing works for read and writing calendars. More importantly, it works. And I can dismiss notifications. I still have issues with LDAP, but that might be due to me not knowing the correct servers etc (it looks it up, just gives me the wrong email address).
12:14 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New computer

I am getting a new computer after 5 years. Oddly, I seem to be reversing trends in terms of pricing. My new computer will actually cost me more than my previous one. What am I going to do with the new one? Same sort as stuff as with the current one. I am going to install Linux on it and use it as my desktop. I will likely convert my current machine to a server to host files and who knows what else. So, what does it have? It has an Intel Dual Core processors clocked at 2.8Ghz, a really cool ASUS motherboard, an NCQ enabled Seagate hard drive, 2GB of DDR2 RAM running at 533Mhz, an LG 16x DVD burner, a 6600 LE MSI Video card (with DVI and TVO), one of those fancy floppy disks with multiple memory card readers and the kicker, a funky kick-ass case that looks like a critter from some game. It is called the NZXT Nemesis Elite and I have stolen a pic from a site and put it here: The eye of this case can be modified to change colours (wow!). I should get it next Saturday. My biggest surprise s...
3 comments
Read more

Being Happy

I wonder why there is so much unhappiness in the world sometimes. I'm currently reading R. K. Narayan's Waiting for the Mahatma. The world the protagonist in the book lives in is a rather harsh one. And he seems to be quite unhappy. What makes one unhappy? Some days, I ask myself what the heck I am doing here. Maybe its because I have worked for the same person for 4 years and the same company for over 6. This was supposed to be a short-term job that would bring bigger and better things. I don't know what it has brought. I mean, I am doing better things. I am doing bigger things. But I don't know if it makes me happy any more. I don't wake up with the anticipation of hurrying to work to learn something new and make the world a better place. I don't know why. I suppose I have the ability to do that to a certain extent. Is it the lack of ambition?  Reading back to some of the earliest posts on this blog, I gave myself the task of being happy. Like it is somethi...
3 comments
Read more

Bhishma speaks!

For some of you, this might be a bit off. I trust that you will follow your instincts and learn something new today. I heard Bhishma speak today. There he lay, on a bed of arrows, asking for deliverance and some water. He was supposed to fight for the Kauravas, but we all knew, his heart lay on the side of the Pandavas. Only, in the modern day world, Bhishma happens to have a very famous New England surname, almost American regalness. Sure, he does not have a lion rampant or one that is passant or salient for that matter on his standard, but Bhishma was there in all his glory, renouncing everything, waiting for Hastinapur to go back into the hands of the righteous before he dies. He even made the pledge to not die until Hastinapur changes hands back to the Pandavas. Somewhere along the way, the children of Hastinapur get confusing. They mould swiftly from the Elephant and the Ass to Hillary and the one that is Arjuna. Not Ranatunga mind you, but the real deal. Arjuna who is the third ...
2 comments
Read more