Entourage, like Outlook, is a Microsoft product for email… and it can connect to a Microsoft Exchange server directly using Microsoft’s proprietary API, too.

However, Entourage can not do everything Outlook can. It’s just a close approximation.

That said, you could choose to use Apple Mail if you want. It can pull emails from different accounts on different servers. And it also has a rule system.

Entourage is not free. Apple Mail is free (comes bundled as part of Mac OS X).

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My suggestion: try Apple Mail for now. If you end up needing advanced Exchange-based functionality (usually in a corporate environment), then look at shelling out the money for Entourage.

By the way, on the Mac, email, calendar, address book, and notes are all separate apps. They’re somewhat integrated, but not as cohesively as Outlook offers.

Microsoft Outlook sets my teeth on edge. So does Microsoft Entourage. In that, they’re equivalent.

If you want to try an open-source application, with similar features and no cost – try Thunderbird with the Lightning plug-in for calendars. I use it on my Mac, it works great and i love it. You can sync this with a variety of calendars, etc. including Google Calendars and Outlook. (it won’t sync with a Palm device, however.)

To boot, there are some really good walkthroughs on setting up Thunderbird and Lightning, as well as doing all the necessary syncing and so on.

While we’re throwing around alternatives… there’s also Gmail itself. You can setup gmail to fetch email from other POP3 accounts.

Keep it all in one nice tidy place.

A caveat: twice, I allowed Microsoft Entourage to eat my entire database of contacts & e-mails (in the days before I was smart enough to back up).

I’ve used Apple Mail for several years now and am very happy with it.

@PupnTaco ditto that dave. I love the smart folders. Im an addict of those. And I added a program called MailTags for stuff I want to keep track of for specific reasons but don’t want to go folder crazy for.

IMHO I prefer Mail to Entourage because Mail can sync with iCal. I like Entourage’s folders and filing better, but overall Mail is a better email tool.

If you have Leopard, Mail also offers data detectors, so when someone sends you an email with a time and date, or address, or contact with address info, email, phone, etc., you can add them to Address Book and/or iCal right from the message.

From the Apple description:

“Say you get an email invitation to dinner. What if Mail recognized the address of the restaurant and let you map directions on the web? Or let you click once to add the date to your iCal calendar? With Leopard, it does. Mail even recognizes relative dates (“let’s meet next Tuesday”) and keywords (“dinner tomorrow”), so you can act on information rather than enter it.”

IMO, Entourage is ugly, slow and confusing (to new users).

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