Finally, Outlook on the Mac!

I know I'm not alone when I say I love the Mac OS — the ease of use, the lack of viruses, the intuitive software, not having to download additional code patches every five minutes. But for work-related tasks, I simply cannot live without Microsoft Outlook (more than just E-mail, it really helps me stay organized and productive). That presents a serious quandary, of course, since Microsoft Office for Mac does not include Outlook.

The MacBooks we used at one of my former employers were installed with the incomplete and — I might add — completely useless Outlook "Express." But now, after all these years, the Redmond, Wash., crew is finally offering Outlook (the real deal) for the Mac faithful, according to British tech news site The Register. What took them so long? Oh right, their stubborn pursuit to put a Windows computer on every desk of every office.

In addition to Express (boo!), Microsoft had offered another scaled-down, utterly inadequate E-mail/calendar program for Mac users called Entourage. The more robust Outlook for Mac will be included in the next Office for Mac update expected in late 2010, according to the article.

Not that love is in the air between Microsoft and Apple — two fierce competitors who in many ways need one another — but there does seem to be much more cooperation ("coopetition?") between the two. The upcoming Mac OS "Snow Leopard" update reportedly comes with better Microsoft Exchange support, while Microsoft's general manager of the Macintosh Business Unit, Eric Wilfred, told reporters that Outlook for Mac will be redesigned to work more seamlessly with the Mac OS (as quoted by The Register):

"A new database gives us increased reliability, better performance, and better integration with technologies like Time Machine for backup and Spotlight for search."

So now people like me can have our Apple and be productive little worker bees, too. I'd like to see an Apple commercial where the hip, young Mac guy and the nerdy Windows guy play a duet and sing in harmony. Yeah, right.

Image courtesy of Microsoft Corp.