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I get the impression that Outlook was originally created to be an address book (besides an email client), and then they decided to turn it into a PIM. However, no matter what they add to it, or how they dress it up, it's still a glorified address book.
A perfect example is this: I have 800 businesses in my Outlook. If I try the regular search it just looks for personal names. I have to use the Advanced Search. Another example is you can't customize fields like you can in Act! So adding a simple Account Number field is impossible! All businesses have Account Numbers! I can't even search on that field either!
This Business Contact Manager stuff gives me the impression that they're just trying to dress it up yet again. But as a pda user and a desktop user it seems that it's not an advancement at all.
It's a shame we're forced to use Outlook. Wouldn't it be something if upon performing the first sync a wizard takes you thru the setup process and asks you which PIM you want to use and which email client? You'd have the choice of Thunderbird, Lotus, Act!, and all the others. Ah, but I'm a dreamer.
Well, I gave up using Act! and have started using Outlook. I crossed over to the Dark Side. It's not all bad. It syncs great w/the Ax. But when they add improvements like the Business Contact Mgr, they have to add the capabilities into the pda as well.
Rant over!
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