Saturday, April 07, 2007



Read an editorial by Jim Lynch at ExtremeTech (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2110983,00.asp) where he mentioned in passing that he prefers Gmail (http://gmail.google.com/) over Microsoft Outlook (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/default.aspx). By no means was this the core of his article, but it did remind me how often I see comments like this, which leads me to my topic question: How can anyone compare Outlook to Gmail?

For straight email, Gmail probably is your best choice. I've used it and there's no questioning it's good at what it does. But it doesn't do half of what Outlook does. Outlook is designed for productivity and organization. Gmail is strictly communication. I have to wonder how some of these guys manage their tasks and appointments.

That said, I hardly think Outlook would be necessary for home use; I got by without it for a long while. But at work, I don't know how efficient I could be without reminders, dropping emails into tasks, tracking documents in journal, etc., etc. Not saying Outlook is the be all, end all for this functionality, but it surprises me how often these things go unmentioned in these comparisons.



CateGoogles: general_tech
Mood = skeptical

Labels:

How can anyone compare Outlook to Gmail?


2 Comments:

  1. I agree. Google Calendar I feel has a long way to go. I just wish Outlook had a better interface though.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/09/2007 01:35:00 PM
     

  2. For what it does, I think Google Calendar is fine the way it is. I'm using it for the Blue Ridge Vegan Society website I'm setting up.

    But I can't drag and drop Gmail items into Google Calendar the way I can drop mail into the calendar in Outlook. Gmail and Calendar are separate services, each with its own purpose. The pairing is simply not a productivity app the way Outlook is.

    By Blogger Sumocat, at 4/10/2007 12:00:00 PM
     

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