[aristobrat]

I do #2. Also use Boot Camp to use my 7130e as an EVDO modem.

[jeffmcclan]

Originally Posted by aristobrat

I do #2. Also use Boot Camp to use my 7130e as an EVDO modem.

Unfortunately, booting in Boot Camp XP will not enable me to synch Entourage on my MacBook Pro. I am an IT Admin who purchased a new Mini for the living room and a MacBook Pro as a personal notebook. Overall, OS X and iLife is very well executed. However, two items have been annoying and would give me pause in recommending Apple conversion to others (if these items apply):

1) XP Outlook to OS X Entourage/Address Book - Contacts were difficult to import and still are not correct. Transferred addresses, notes, and memos using $30 script package purchase. Given Apple's ease of use on other items, this might be the BIGGEST problem for anyone wanting to convert to OS X.

2) BB 7100t synch to Apple Intel - neither USB or BT seems to work with current PocketMac solution. Thus, no way to Synch my 7100t inputs and my MacBook Pro inputs.


I really like my MacBookPro and am dual booting OS X and XP (for programming as work). My wife's MacBookPro runs Parallels for virtualizing in a window. However, I am still suprised that no editors have covered the difficulties in transtioning from Windows Outlook (majority of users). My wife and my MB Pros synch via .Mac (excellent integration; however it is suprising that our Blackberry's have no interface to the notebooks at this time (unless we convert from BWC to company's BES - then wireless synch works).

[peznut]

Originally Posted by jeffmcclan

1) XP Outlook to OS X Entourage/Address Book - Contacts were difficult to import and still are not correct. Transferred addresses, notes, and memos using $30 script package purchase. Given Apple's ease of use on other items, this might be the BIGGEST problem for anyone wanting to convert to OS X.

2) BB 7100t synch to Apple Intel - neither USB or BT seems to work with current PocketMac solution. Thus, no way to Synch my 7100t inputs and my MacBook Pro inputs.

RE #1: My guess is that the problem with trying to import Outlook to the Mac version of Entourage, and then trying to sync both Entourage and Address Book, lies in the difference in how the latter two apps tag info fields for contact entries. (Honestly, I didn't think it was possible to export Outlook to Mac Entourage at all...) I briefly tried to use both apps (E & AB), finding each offered certain strengths that the other lacked, but gave up because I found that switching between the programs screwed up my contacts on my Mac. This was further compounded by PM's rudimentary handling of Address Book's contact fields - it can only handle the "home" or "work" entry for a contact, and still mistags stuff after export to my BB anyway. Thus, I've always viewed PM as a 75% solution; it eliminates the need to manually re-enter three quarters of my contacts, but I still need to clean them up on my BB once exported... Unfortunately, there is yet no clean solution for the Mac (which is why I've been asking for experiences using BootCamp on an Intel Mac in this thread...)

RE #2: PocketMac continually lags in issuing functionality updates (one of my continual gripes) but, to it's credit, the latest version (3.13) is supposed to work on Intel Macs, so please make sure you're using that version. Bluetooth syncing is not supported at all, so that won't work, but the USB connection should work. However, I do recall PM claiming that Apple "changed" how USB ports are handled somehow when Tiger was released, which created a long delay before PM functioned again under Tiger; I suppose that could be happening here, too, given that the Intel Macs use a new architecture. Have you poked around PM's site to see if they offer any comments about that?

Thanks for your post!

[Debias]

i use a mac for work and personal use. However i also have two pc's at home. I find that i use the pc far more with installation and installs for my BB. I have not tried Virtual PC yet. I may try it with the new MacTel power books that are out. Since they can run windows native and not emmulate.

[teamcrn]

well @ my house we have a mac mini intel and a sony vaio.. we have an l shaped desk with the pc to the right and mac straight ahead.. the mac has a 23 inch HD and vaio has 19 in flat screen.. i hate pc's i only touch it to install blackberry apps and OS.. my girl use to love her sony vaio now since we have the mac min and mac book lap top she doesnt use it much.. i woould suggest mac to evryone but untill blackberry gets a real solution i suggest keeping a pc handy... i never did the boot camp thing.. thought it was usless i dont want to run windows @ all... not stable

[Seattle18]

That's the beauty of Boot Camp - only using it for the rare occasion when you need your BB on it. It's a hell of a lot beter than having to keep an entire PC around. I have Boot Camp on my BlackBook and have used it three times for the BB in over a month. All I have installed on the PC side is AVG (free virus scanner) and Desktop Manager, so it takes ittle space. I only alloted 10GB of HD space to the PC side, and I still have 5GB free, leaving 60GB of space on my Mac side. This solution is perfect for me - the very rare PC user. I wouldn't have it any other way...

[peznut]

Originally Posted by Seattle18

That's the beauty of Boot Camp - only using it for the rare occasion when you need your BB on it. It's a hell of a lot beter than having to keep an entire PC around. I have Boot Camp on my BlackBook and have used it three times for the BB in over a month. All I have installed on the PC side is AVG (free virus scanner) and Desktop Manager, so it takes ittle space. I only alloted 10GB of HD space to the PC side, and I still have 5GB free, leaving 60GB of space on my Mac side. This solution is perfect for me - the very rare PC user. I wouldn't have it any other way...

Seattle18: So, booting into Windoze and using BB's Desktop software on your Intel Mac works smoothly, giving you all the functionality we Mac users can't presently get from third-party apps? App loading, backups, BB OS upgrades, etc.? I'm seriously considering the blackbook and this would be a major reason to drop the dough on it... Your partioning scheme is exactly the same one I'd use, too.

[schulzmc10]

I'm using Boot Camp and BB's desktop software with no issues. All functionality is there.

[peznut]

Just posted this same question in another thread, but since we're on the same subject here, I'd appreciate hearing from Boot Camp users how they deal with the fact that they lose integration with Apple's iApps when they use RIM's Desktop software natively in Windows.

Don't know why it took so long for me to realize it, but obviously, even if I used Boot Camp and XP to run RIM's software, I'd still need PM in order to sync Calendar, Address Book, etc., unless I want to screw around manually entering/updating things, right?

All of a sudden, Boot Camp doesn't seem like the panacea I was looking for...

[aristobrat]

I use PocketMac to sync my contacts w/ iLife stuff in OS X. The only thing I use Boot Camp for is to use my BB as a modem or to use Desktop Manager to update the BB.

[peznut]

Originally Posted by aristobrat

I use PocketMac to sync my contacts w/ iLife stuff in OS X. The only thing I use Boot Camp for is to use my BB as a modem or to use Desktop Manager to update the BB.

So, if I'm following your usage of PM & BC above properly, you are "compromising" by using two different pieces of software, but it still meets your needs even if you have to screw around, right, aristo?

I hate to even "go there," but now I wonder if it's possible to export Address Book to a Windows-compatible format (easily, and not as dozens of separate VCards), bring that into Outlook for Win, and then sync the BB via BootCamp...? Exporting iCal to a Win-format and doing the same would be my other primary question... Tasks and Stickies aren't as big a deal to me.

Anyway, my faith in Microsoft's Mac-friendly cross-compatibility is not high, but if anyone knows if this is a possible workaround, please post... This might re-instill my desire to buy that new Mac Intel BlackBook.

[aristobrat]

I'm confused (a usual state for me, but ....)

If the end result from exporting from iCal/Address book, copying the file over to your BootCamp partition, rebooting into Windows, importing everything into Outlook and then sync'ing to to your BB is the exact same as using the free PocketMac software to sync directly from iCal/Address book to your BB, what's the point?

[peznut]

Sorry I wasn't clear and that I assumed others can read my mind

There would be little point IF PocketMac worked as it should. But it doesn't, which is why I've long sought a more-reliable alternative to keeping my Mac/BB in sync. PM gets me 75% there; but then there's a lot of screwing around to correct the sync glitches and/or other little irritating problems. Plus, there are some things I just can't fix so I live with them.

The process of exporting my iApps data to a Windows format, rebooting into BootCamp and syncing with RIM's software is admittedly a pain, but would probably waste less of my life than PM does now - if this process would prove reliable.

Anyway, that's what I'm wondering, so I'd appreciate any comments about reliability. Thanks!

[proussak]

Originally Posted by peznut

Sorry I wasn't clear and that I assumed others can read my mind

There would be little point IF PocketMac worked as it should. But it doesn't, which is why I've long sought a more-reliable alternative to keeping my Mac/BB in sync. PM gets me 75% there; but then there's a lot of screwing around to correct the sync glitches and/or other little irritating problems. Plus, there are some things I just can't fix so I live with them.

The process of exporting my iApps data to a Windows format, rebooting into BootCamp and syncing with RIM's software is admittedly a pain, but would probably waste less of my life than PM does now - if this process would prove reliable.

Anyway, that's what I'm wondering, so I'd appreciate any comments about reliability. Thanks!

In terms of exporting from Mac to PC, try the scripts at ScriptBuilders: Export-Import Entourage 1.3.9.

I find PM works OK for calendar and tasks but screws up Contacts. So since I have my Outlook and Entourage addressbooks just about synced now, I just take the limited number of new Contacts from Entourage once a week, email the vCards to myself and then open and save them in Outlook (although this does often screw up details of addresses for some reason - maybe I should try the scripts instead). I then use Desktop Manager to sync with my BB. This doesn't allow me to get new Contact entries from the BB into Entourage, so I just enter them in Entourage first instead. I suppose that once in a while, since I occasionally edit entries on the BB, I should use one of the scripts, or Outlook2Mac, to make sure Entourage is current too.

Is this the solution I thought I would be using when I bought my BB with a promise of free PM for syncing? Hell no, (and if anyone has a better solution, please let me know). But it just about works and will do untill PMv4.0 comes out (which PM tells me will be in about a month - yeah right) and with any luck that will work properly at syncing Contacts.