Thomas R. Hall had an interesting comment on an earlier post about my difficulties with keeping several devices and an iMac and two Windows systems in sync (calendars, addresses, tasks, etc.). He notes that he successfully keeps a system like this in sync by using Microsoft Exchange Server, which can be accessed within a Mac through Entourage.
Once I retired at the end of last year, I no longer had access to an Exchange Server interface. So, after reading Thomas’ comment, I decided to look into what it would take to set up Exchange Server for my own use. The answer is: it would take a few thousand dollars (primarily because of the cost of Windows Server 2003, which is required for running Exchange Server 2003). So, I certainly won’t be going that route. No way to justify it.
I have learned that there are numerous hosted exchange services, so I suppose that would be a possibility for me (provided they would also work with Entourage on the iMac). But, I decided some time back that trying to sync all of these devices, and keep them in sync, is (1) not something I really need to do and (2) not worth the effort and time.
I keep my calendar and tasks from within Outlook 2003 (on one Windows machine) synced to my T-Mobile Dash via ActiveSync. That’s pretty much all I need. Although I use my iMac 95% of the time, I really only need to look at my full task list once per week, and I do that during the 5% of the time I use the Windows partition on my Mac.
In time I may even just go to using Google Calendar and Remember The Milk (or just a paper-based task and project system) and completely forget about Outlook 2003. I am not there yet, but I can see myself aiming in that direction.
Anyway, I appreciate Thomas sharing with us how he keeps so many devices in sync. That’s what I love about this blog: it gets the great ideas and tools that you folks use placed to where others can benefit from them.
Update: Thomas adds in some good detail in the comments on this post, describing his use of the MainStreet hosted exchange service to get all of his devices in sync. I appreciate Thomas sharing this with all of us!
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thomas R. Hall 05.08.07 at 3:39 pm
I haven't ever had any issues yet, Bruce. (Knock on wood). I know that MailStreet has a 30-day trial (I believe 4SmartPhone did as well). I tried 4SmartPhone, but didn't like their tech support responses. MailStreet was better in answering questions. However, if I had it to do over again, I may have gone with The Message Center, just because they have better pricing and features for that price, and things like automated BlackBerry provisioning, which is nice. Been very happy with MailStreet so far, though.
I use both a BlackBerry Pearl and a T-Mobile MDA (primarily) to connect all the time to Exchange, and both have worked flawlessly.
Thomas R. Hall 05.08.07 at 4:54 pm
I use a hosted Exchange provider. I personally use MailStreet, but have heard good things about 4SmartPhone as well. In addition, there is The Message Center, which I’ve also heard good things about. People like James Kendrick (of jkontherun) use MailStreet as well, and many others use 4SmartPhone.
For me, it was worth the small monthly fee to have everything wirelessly (and, therefore, automatically) in sync. I don’t even sync on the computer often now because it’s all on Exchange. When I do, Outlook 2003 and Entourage work very well. MailStreet even has instructions on how to get it working correctly with Entourage.
bruce 05.08.07 at 4:58 pm
Neat, Thomas. Maybe I ought to give it a shot. Sure would be nice to have it all sync everywhere. Did you ever wind up with any duplicate or deleted entries or did everything go pretty smoothly?
Thomas R. Hall 05.08.07 at 5:39 pm
I haven’t ever had any issues yet, Bruce. (Knock on wood). I know that MailStreet has a 30-day trial (I believe 4SmartPhone did as well). I tried 4SmartPhone, but didn’t like their tech support responses. MailStreet was better in answering questions. However, if I had it to do over again, I may have gone with The Message Center, just because they have better pricing and features for that price, and things like automated BlackBerry provisioning, which is nice. Been very happy with MailStreet so far, though.
I use both a BlackBerry Pearl and a T-Mobile MDA (primarily) to connect all the time to Exchange, and both have worked flawlessly.
bruce 05.08.07 at 6:46 pm
Thanks for the info, Thomas. Really good to have you visiting the site. Hopefully my posts won’t disappoint you. Thanks again.
Bruce