4Smartphone offers free Entourage client with Exchange service

There might have been a press release on this, but if there was, I missed it. My current hosted Exchange provider, 4Smartphone, has always offered a free Outlook client license with their plans. I was modifying something in my account this morning and noticed that they now have a "Download Entourage" link in my account as well. Probably a smart move considering Mac's growing market share. Personally I had some issues with Entourage and Exchange, but I know that other folks have no problems whatsoever. Regardless, this is a nice perk to save you some money if you do get an account with 4Smartphone. Bear in mind that there's an upgrade coming to Mac Office; the 2008 version should hit within the next few months. The client license available from 4Smartphone is the 2004 version, which is the current release until next year. Also of note: I haven't used my Exchange account for several weeks and find that I'm now functioning quite well simply with Gmail's IMAP offering. It won't work for everyone, but with my workflow, I think I can manage with it.

Comments

[Steve Krug]

Kevin...

I started using a 4smartphone account to keep my two tablet PCs and my Treo 700w in synch months ago after reading one of your posts, and I've been *very* happy with the arrangement.

Now for various reasons (including the fact that the 700W has never worked very well, because of its limited memory), I'm thinking of switching to an iPhone (instead of waiting for a version with 3G and video recording). I've gone back and searched the jkOTR archives and the 4smartphone knowledgebase, but I still can't figure out how my Exchange email will work with the iPhone. Looks like it will synch OK (4smartphone supports SMTP Relay and IMAP), but does that mean it will still be "push" email, or will I have to ask for updates manually?

I think I read that the iPhone will update contacts from exchange, too, although that's probably the least important to me. What I really could use synch'd is tasks (which I guess is impossible) and calendar (which sounds like it would require me to stand on my head and wave in the general direction of Google).

Thanks for any pointers.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Steve, 4Smartphone does support IMAP so you just set up an account under the IMAP settings (not Exchange) on the iPhone. Mail and folders will sync fine. You won't have true push e-mail, but you can set the iPhone to check for e-mail; every 15 minutes is the lowest interval and it's what I've been using. My issue stems from no way to delete mail on the iPhone and have it deleted on the Exchange server. For that reason, I've been looking at Gmail.

Contacts & calendar items won't sync over the air natively; you can sync them through iTunes / Outlook however.

[Steve Krug]

Kevin...

Thanks--as always--for the great information! Your original post about 4Smartphone has made a huge difference in my work life.

Steve

[Michael]

1and1.com offers entourage. i use it and think it works quite well on my mac mini. but my main client is outlook on my windows laptop...

[Dave Zatz]

I wouldn't recommend 1&1 - if your data or traffic get too high they lock down your stuff and force you to upgrade to a package 10x as expensive OR leave. This happened to me and a fellow blogger I know. Uncool. I essentially had to hack my way into my own account to migrate my stuff to another provider. Friend did as well. Tech support sucks as well. Buyer beware.

[Mike Whalen]

Kevin,

Last I heard, you were having some troubles with Google's IMAP and were considering going back. What changed your mind?

Cheers,

M

[Jose R. Ortiz]

Most of the Exchange providers I've taken a look at offer Entourage as a download along with Outlook. I use ASP-One for our small business and my partner just bought an iMac. The set up can be tricky but after a few google searches we had him up and running, fully synced with the server. Actually all the credit goes to you guys, after reading so many of your posts on the benefits of an exchange server, we just had to try it out. Now, we don't know how we went out without it for so long. =)

[Ben Drwabaugh]

It's the least they could do considering that MS gives away Exchange client software with each Exchange Client Access License (CAL).