Sending QuickTime movies with Entourage

Hi Kevin --

We're not going to turn this into the Unofficial Entourage Weblog -- that's over here: http://www.entourage.mvps.org/

"As I've been an Exchange admin, I'm still confused."

I know exactly what you mean. Exchange is confusing.

"In order to turn on OWA you need to turn on IMAP."

I don't believe this is technically correct. IMAP is installed as part of Exchange 2003 but it does not need to be enabled for users in order to have OWA working. Many installations deliberately disable IMAP as a security measure (for example, the Exchange server I'm responsible for is configured this way).

"And Entourage doesn't speak MAPI (which Outlook 2001 for the Mac did) it uses WebDAV and OWA only for the calendar and address book stuff."

This is half-right. Entourage does not speak MAPI, however for Exchange accounts it uses WebDAV/OWA for everything except directory lookups. It's trivial to verify this, as Exchange servers with all ports blocked at the firewall except 80/443 still work fine for external Entourage and OWA clients (and, for that matter, Outlook RPC over HTTP clients, which also use port 80).

"Your Exchange server is running IMAP."

Doesn't mean it's available to users, and in many cases it ain't. IMAP is nice but administrators choose not to support it.

"Also there are reports that Entourage can massively overload an Exchange 2003 server - it seems to be equivalent to about 10 Windows Outlook users, due to a bug in either OWA or IIS (or Entourage)."

This is addressed in detail on macwindows.com, specifically at
http://www.macwindows.com/041107d.html

It's an architectural issue within Exchange, and it's pretty much resolvable by properly setting a registry key on the server that controls memory allocation.

"I also find most Microsoft stuff incredibly ugly, confusingly laid out and awkward to use."

No comment. :-)

"Again, I can't recommend GroupCal highly enough. Take a look at it if you haven't already."

I have looked at it in the past and plan to evaluate it again in connection with Exchange 2007 rollout.

As I've been an Exchange admin, I'm still confused. In order to turn on OWA you need to turn on IMAP. And Entourage doesn't speak MAPI (which Outlook 2001 for the Mac did) it uses WebDAV and OWA only for the calendar and address book stuff. Your Exchange server is running IMAP. Also there are reports that Entourage can massively overload an Exchange 2003 server - it seems to be equivalent to about 10 Windows Outlook users, due to a bug in either OWA or IIS (or Entourage).
I also find most Microsoft stuff incredibly ugly, confusingly laid out and awkward to use.

Again, I can't recommend GroupCal highly enough. Take a look at it if you haven't already.

#5 -- meant to reply to this last week, sorry.

Apple Mail actually only talks to Exchange servers where IMAP is turned on, and (whether or not it's logical/necessary) many enterprise Exchange servers don't have the IMAP stack running. :-( This is also why the iPhone doesn't count as a true Exchange client. Entourage uses WebDAV to talk to Exchange in native mode; as far as the Exchange server is concerned it's an Outlook Web Access client session.

Your criticisms are all valid, and I hope and expect Entourage 2008 to be a big improvement on both performance and reliability. For the moment, even with the challenges and performance issues, some of us are better off with Entourage than with the alternatives.

I'm honestly baffled as to why anyone would continue to use Entourage. Have you seen how much memory it gobbles up on an Intel Mac (like most other apps that run under Rosetta). And once you've had one run in with the Database Utility and its inability to repair your umpty-megabyte database with all your appointments, mail and contacts, why would you risk it again? And the spam filtering is, IMO, a joke.

Don't say "we use Exchange at work" - run, don't walk, to the Snerdware site and grab a copy of GroupCal, which lets you use iCal to update your calendar (or check other people's, or book rooms or whatever). Apple Mail and Address Book already speak to Exchange out of the box.

What am I missing?

#1, #2, thanks for the feedback.

#3: Jeff, it's not a dumb question; yes, you can certainly attach a QT to an Entourage message manually. However, in QT Pro there's a "Share" option that lets you encode (smaller) and email a movie in one step, as long as you're using Mail.app for your mail client. I wanted to change the mail client to Entourage for that feature -- couldn't do it -- wrote the script instead. It's basically a timesaver.

This may be a dumb question but what's to prevent one from just attaching a QT video to an Entourage email? What's the diff?

haha, while i have commented before on your need to use the 'more after the jump' feature, i still have to say youre the reason i keep reading this blog.

unlike some other TUAW writers who make minor changes to other peoples ipho--random workings...and then post about how they did it and people rave about having a new useless feature on a phone, you actually have practical things that dont require voiding everything about your expensive device.

so even though i user mail.app, good work on this

"They say that necessity is the mother of invention, but personally I'd nominate frustration instead. Lots of the time, the things you need to do, or think you need to do (get more exercise, pay your taxes) get pushed off or procrastinated into irrelevancy, but the things that frustrate you -- even if they're below the radar -- will drive you to the point of saying "I'm going to fix this @!#*& problem no matter what it takes!" Inventions motivated by frustration tend to be quick hacks that provide at least a momentary sense of achievement, if nothing more."

Get to the tip already.

"Use at your own risk. Any ill consequences to you, your computer, your videos, your sanity or your interactions with friends & family who are now bombarded with your video snippets are your own problem and in no way the responsibility of me, TUAW, Weblogs, Inc. or AOL. In case of a water landing, your seat cushion serves as a flotation device. Exits are under the lighted signs. Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for it makes them soggy and hard to light."

Is Weblogs, Inc. in the market for an editor?