Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software
The Office upgrade ate two Address Books, or: why I don't touch Microsoft products
So y'know that Office update that came out a few days
ago? The one that Spotlight-ified Entourage and added syncing abilities with iCal and Address Book? Yea um, it ate not
only my Address Book but my fiancé's which I was subscribed to through .Mac.Syncing setup is brainless and painless - there's a new preference section in Entourage in which you can individually enable syncing with iCal, Address Book and/or Notes through .Mac. Simple enough. A little while after I checked those options, the .Mac syncing engine offered a dialog asking if I would like to merge items between Entourage and Apple's apps, or if I would like to overwrite Entourage. I chose to overwrite, since I didn't have info in Entourage's database and I was simply curious about the app.
Somehow, some way, even though I told the engine to overwrite Entourage, my Address Book magically increased to 499 contacts after the first sync operation. Maybe it picked up all those extra friends from MySpace or something during the sync, because last I checked I only had 326 contacts in Address Book. Upon investigation, some of my contacts had split into separate cards, with information either duplicated or obliterated. Even better: I am subscribed to my fiancé's Address Book (with editing rights) through .Mac, as we're helping to keep each other's contacts up to date in preparation for sending out invitations. The Entourage sync not only mangled a seemingly random collection of her contacts, but it blew away all of her groups.
Now before you fire off a snarling comment: yes, we have backups. I've turned into quite the backup nazi - but this post is more of a complaint and a warning about this new Entourage feature. Who knows if the mishap was the result of a .Mac syncing error or bug, but - call me biased if you gotta - I have a sneaking suspicion this had to do with an Office update that wasn't quite finished. I've never had an issue syncing anything else through .Mac, and that includes a lot of 3rd party stuff like Yojimbo, SOHO Notes and Transmit favorites.
So, boys and girls, the moral of the story is a classic: back your stuff up - and often (sub-moral: don't trust Microsoft, even if it is software from their Mac Business Unit).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nathan Qazi said 1:16PM on 3-19-2006
I'm surprised you didn't have any problems with the .Mac syncing service before this.
I must say that .Mac syncing has become a lot better ever since the upgrade to Tiger, but it still has its quirks (why does it continue to give me conflicts when they both continue to have the same information? I know this may seem trivial to you, but with over 400 contacts and 600 calendar entries, it can be tiresome---and that blasted "Use .Mac/Computer to resolve all conflicts DOES NOT WORK"
But that's just annoying. Annoying I can handle. What I can't handle is what you described in your post (thank you for the warning, by the way).
I've had that happened to me twice recently, once when I was using my Palm Treo 650 and the other when I had a Sony Ericcson phone.
The Missing Sync, the third-party solution for syncing with a Palm OS device, replaced all my Address Book contacts with the contacts on my brand new phone (brand new = nothing on it). So all my contacts were wiped out, and there was no way to reverse it from within the program (I had to pull out all those vCards from Backup).
The second time was with my Sony Ericcson phone, which swapped the first names and last names on all my contacts. I kid you not. James Brown became Brown James. Phone numbers were switched around in the mobile, home, work sections...all mailing addresses were wiped out. I had to pull out the vCards again.
The cleanest sync I have ever seen are two things: 1) Tiger .Mac sync with Address Book, and 2)The Treo 700w with Microsoft Outlook.
Those two items sync PERFECTLY. It's like a dream come true...
Watch out, guys. The lesson is to always back up your data, no matter what you use.
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David Chartier said 1:41PM on 3-19-2006
#1: At the beginning of your post you mention having issues with resolving conflicts; might you be talking about default Mail signatures when your machines are set to use random signatures? If so, there's a bug I've posted about here once or twice, and one known about in the Apple Support discussions, that basically makes it so you can't have Mail running on both machines while the sync engine is doing its thing. For some reason it mucks up the system, maybe the engine can't write to Mail's preference file while Mail is in use or something, I don't know.
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BJ Gilbert said 1:56PM on 3-19-2006
Amen to the second moral.
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mf said 2:07PM on 3-19-2006
You know, I noticed something weird on my Apple Address Book the other day. All of my "Groups" were completely screwed up. Thinking back, it happened immediately after installing the Microsoft update.
But I don't use Entourage and have never opened it.
Hmmm.
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Garrick said 2:41PM on 3-19-2006
Ditto to #4, mf. My groups are all screwed up too. Never opened Entourage. Don't use it.
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Steve in Denmark said 3:09PM on 3-19-2006
You're the one who did the post about looking over someone's shoulder and being annoyed that she had (quite sensibly) super-sized all her windows, aren't you?
It's clearly God's punishment for that post's stupidity.
And for using ANY Microsoft products. Don't do it kids!
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Joshua Ochs said 3:49PM on 3-19-2006
SyncServices is a VERY half-baked API from Apple. Anything that touches it has massive problems, usually for several versions. dotMac syncing, Entourage, or the Missing Sync (check their mailing list archives for horror stories going back a few months).
Sorry, this one is all Apple's fault. SyncServices is a good idea, and a horribly, horribly flawed implementation.
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Chris said 5:34PM on 3-19-2006
You know, now that you mention it...
I went to look up something in my Address Book Friday, and there were no entries. All 250+ people, gone.
Thursday I ran this updater.
2+2= Thanks Redmond. Open Office just got more attractive.
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Clay Hummer said 6:20PM on 3-19-2006
not sure what the fuss is about... I haven't had any problems with Entourage since the update, everything is syncing well, and it even syncs the alarms to my phone...
given all the problems with Mail.app of late, Entourage has become my primary calendar/email program!
Good update, in my opinion, and well overdue...
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Robert Knight said 6:37PM on 3-19-2006
Someone can maybe corroborate this with me.
I have made my user account on my Mac a non-admin account just for security reasons. The other day, I tried to run the Office 2004 demo tht came with my system and it won't run on a non-admin account. Maybe there is some kind of installation that needs to happen, but I thought I had already run it once before, so the "first-run" type of behavior should be complete.
Anyone else? I think I'm just going to be fine with NeoOffice. Forget Office 2004.
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Mark Issacs said 12:14AM on 3-20-2006
I use MS Office but have learned to NEVER EVER install Entourage. Upgrades not withstanding - IMHO M$oft will NEVER be as careful about their service packs and upgrades as they should be. If I wanted 2nd rate software I could buy Windows and be done with it. I choose a higher road and, me thinks, a better one. I use Mac's. I have use them since the days of the first Lisa's and Mac XL's and before that the Apple II's and IIe's. Apple and I have grown middle aged together.When there was a substantial premium to be paid for the Mac hardware and software I paid it. Today, it's largely a push in terms of the platform and costs.
The ONLY problem I've ever had with Mac and .Mac sync service is that it's so intuitive that I couldn't figure out how to start it at first. I kept looking for a complicated control panel or something and of course there isn't one. Typical Mac fashion. You turn on a couple of check boxes and give it your .mac address. The rest happens seamlessly and perfectly behind your level of participation.
Entourage may be a must for someone who's using a MS Exchange server at work... I doubt it, but it's possible. With that one potential exception, I cannot think of a single reason to install or use it. Why complicate something that is not by it's very nature complex? I prefer simple elegance and ease of use to complexity any day of the week.
BTM LINE is simply don't use M S products unless you're absolutely forced to do so. Your life will be easier and happier without MSoft in it. Trust me....
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Ray Gossen said 12:51AM on 3-20-2006
Just thought I'd add a positive note on the update. Ran the updater last week - no problems. I generally seem not to be bitten by any of the bugs that people report with various updates (from Apple and others), but then I don't have 150 extra utilities installed, and I'm not constantly fiddling with this and with that. Having said all this, I'm crossing my fingers and touching wood that I don't get bitten next time.
Finally, a comment to those "I'll never buy MS products and neither should you" people. Your purity is admirable, but some of us live in world where MS products may be necessary for work and such, and some people may just like MS stuff. This article was obviously an invitation to do some MS bashing, but it's old people, very old.
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Steve J said 3:48AM on 3-20-2006
Another positive/happy poster here. No problems whatsoever with the syncing to Address Book from E2004. Decided not to sync calendars - it pours the contents of all E2004 events into a single iCal calendar. Just continued to use Paul Berkowitz' magic scripts.
Nothing wrong with Entourage. Has some decided avantages over the iApps. Don't work in a MS environment - just prefer it.
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Micha10589 said 7:42AM on 3-20-2006
I had severe problems with the iSync and .Mac apps in 2004. Would never trust its synching abilities again and cancelled my .Mac account. For me the biggest flaw of all Apple technology.
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Howard Jeffrey said 9:51AM on 3-20-2006
I have been using Mac since the beginning of my computing life (1988). When forced to use any other OS I cringe. Windows makes me ill. Period.
However, I went down the Claris road (remember that?) and did my best to avoid the MS pit; but you know what? Office products and Mac have worked for me just fine all these years. Entourage is fine. Word, Excel, fine....
Come one really, are we supposed to use Nisius Writer:-) This particular update is not so useful for me. I find the notion of using seperate programs (ie: Address and ICAL) for PIM functionality to be tedious and just plain dumb. I went down the "NOW" road for a while when ACT! went away and, once again am back in the Microsoft fold (albiet relunctently). The point is this: to use, stupid, lousey software just to say that you won't patronize Microsoft is self defeating. These current Apple products are pretty good but not as good as their Microsoft equivilents -- and that is coming from someone who would rather die than use a Windows box....
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Mike Shaffer said 10:30AM on 3-20-2006
OK, so we're not supposed to trust Microsoft...got it. Recommendations? Is this an issue primarily with Entourage or are you willing to lump in all of Office? If so, please offer a usuable substitute. Personally, I use Mariner Calc and Write (and so do my high school aged kids). I opens up MS documents no problem and it performs nicely. Can't wait for a Universal to come out....are you listening guys? As for an Entourage substitute, for me it's Mail and iCal..but that's because I use Outlook on my XP box that work provides...so my Mac based mail/calendar needs are not the same.
So if we're going to thrash Microsoft, let's provide people options...that's all I'm saying.
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Finally Synced and Happy said 1:17PM on 3-20-2006
I actually had the best sync experience of my life with this. For about 4 years I have been waiting for Entourage and Address Book to sync correctly, and this time everything seems to be cool, albeit after a little bit of cleanup.
I DID see my contacts balloon up on all systems (3) that I sync through .Mac. I have one Entourage database on my laptop that I use primarily, and that one doubled my contacts on Address Book and that was pushed to my other 2 systems. Once I deleted all the duplicates and chose better versions of them in Address Book, those deletions propagated to Entourage, and then I RESET .Mac from my primary (laptop) system - now all is well on the other machines.
As a bonus, I just got a RAZR and syncing over bluetooth is fantastic with that - so I can add people ANYWHERE and eventually they'll get on my RAZR.
I am happier with my contact/calendar/syncing situation than I have been in about 5 years. Important events even show up on my phone now and I'm reminded of things I would otherwise have forgotten!
Sorry to hear you're having problems, but I'm happy as a clam, so I'll clam up right about now. :-)
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Jamie said 1:49PM on 3-20-2006
I get an error message every time I try to sync Entourage with my Address Book. Based on this info, I'm not going to waste any more time troubleshooting the issue, since there's a good chance that "successfully" syncing may wipe my info anyway.
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Ruth Piwonka said 11:09PM on 4-13-2006
That upgrade not only messed up Entourage and the address book, it also resulted in the duplication of the complete and/or partially complete Documents folder in several other folders (Movies, Pictures, and Home folders). It would be easy enough to delete them -- but it turns out that different programs I use now save files in different places. I am a new Mac user [I love it] and a new Word user [I don't love it -- but cannot avoid it because of compatibility issues for others I work with] and am desparately missing Word Perfect.
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