Macintosh

[jdusna88]

I am having the same problem with outgoing mail using Entourage on my new MacBook Pro as explained here.

I have tried all the options proposed to include SMTP ports 465 and 587 with SSL enabled and my logon/password saved with no success

I'm using OSX 10.5.5 

I'm using Entourage 2008 for Mac version 12.1.0 (080409)  Latest Installed Update 12.1.0

Any ideas 

Message Edited by charvey on 12-08-2008 02:53 PM

[Baric]

Do you also have authentication turned on?  That's a critical piece that's required here on ports 465 and 587, but you don't mention it.  I'm unfamiliar with Entourage since I use the buildin Mac Mail, but there should be an option in your settings to turn on authentication for the outgoing SMTP connection.

It would also help in the future if you posted the exact error message you are receiving.

[Joel]

If Entourage (like Outlook) has a SPA or Secure Password authentication setting, don't use it as it's not supported on the Comcast mail servers. This is different than using one's user name and password to authenticate to the server.

[jdusna88]

I did not enable any "Secure Password" setting.  It was only available on the POP server side which is working anyways.

[Baric]

On the Account Settings tab when you edit your account in Entourage, just below the SMTP server name there should be a button called "Click here for advanced sending options".  Press it.  In the dialog that pops up:

1. Check "SMTP service requires secure connection (SSL)".
2. Check "Override default SMTP port" and type 587 in the port field.
3. Check "SMTP server requires authentication".
4. Select "Use same settings as receiving mail server".

That should do it.

[jdusna88]

Did those things previously.  Same error as my last post.  

Interestingly MS Outlook on my old Windows XP laptop still connects to my Comcast mail account with the original Port 25 setting and no requirement to have a SSL Connection.  That points to be either a Mac OS problem, an Entourage problem or my new MacBook being the problem or a combination thereof.  

Since your post suggests that other Mac systems have gotten this to work, I'm leaning toward it being more likely this is a problem specific to my MacBook.  I do have one additional piece of data.  Entourage along with the rest of MacOffice was installed by the 3rd party I bought the MacBook from (Best Buy).  Perhaps they did something when they installed it (or didn't do something as may be the case) that is causing this?

[jdusna88]

Authentication was on.  The error I'm getting says "5.1.1 Not our Customer"

Further down under "Explanation" it reads: Mail could not be sent.  Account name: "Comcast account"

Error: -17099

[Baric]

---

jdusna88 wrote:

Authentication was on.  The error I'm getting says "5.1.1 Not our Customer"

Further down under "Explanation" it reads: Mail could not be sent.  Account name: "Comcast account"

Error: -17099

---

I missed this posting before, sorry.  This error happens when you try to send to a non-existent Comcast.net email address, or you are trying to authenticate with an invalid ID.  As a test send a message to yourself at your Comcast.net email address.  Same problem?  If so, there is something wrong with your authentication setup.  If you have it setup as I describe above, then the problem is with the incoming POP userid, it must be a Comcast userid. 

If you are sending via smtp.comcast.net but the POP account is for some other non-Comcast ID, then instead of using the same settings as the receiving mail server, select "Log on using" and provide your Comcast email ID for Account ID and your Comcast password for Password.  I'd also check "Save password in my Mac OS keychain"

If I were you, given that someone else did the setup, I'd delete the account in Entourage, then setup another one from scratch with all the proper settings.  I would recommend sticking with port 587 with SSL on (authentication is required) for your SMTP setup, even if port 25 with out authentication or SSL still works.  Comcast is moving away from the use of port 25 for mail submission, as is everyone else on the Internet.

Message Edited by Baric on 12-05-2008 10:48 AM

[jdusna88]

I have tried sending e-mails to myself several times and that is why I know I have the problem.  It does appear that I'm sending to or perhaps from a non-existent account, however.  I'm not sure it's the latter as it is identical to the one I receive via the POP server.  I did blow out my account even though I was the one who created it originally (the 3rd party only installed the software, they didn't configure my mail account).

I'm stumped.  MacOffice autoupdate had another patch right after the 12.1.3 one and so now I'm up on 12.1.4 there but still not resolution.  I'm going to try to see if my AirPort Extreme settings are blocking the ports.  Thanks for the help anyways.  I wonder if I try to just use the preinstalled Mac Mail client if there will be any learning or perhaps fix going that route.  I just would rather not have two e-mail clients downloading the same e-mail to my one MacBook. 

[Baric]

I use Mac Mail, it's free, comes with the OS and works very well.  It's possible the problem with Entourage is a firewall issue, but if you're getting a reponse back from the server about "Not our customer" then it's definitely not the firewall, it has to be settings related.  I'm hampered since I don't have Entourage here and I'm certainly not going to go buy such a superflous piece of software when I already use Mac Mail ;-)

The only other suggestion I have is you go through all of your settings and post a screen shot of them here, it's possible something will pop out as being incorrect that we haven't thought of.

[jdusna88]

I think you may be wise to steer me to MacMail.  Frankly, I haven't given it a chance given my generally good experience using MS Outlook at work.  However, I made have only really made half the move to Mac if I'm not using the Mac apps, right?  I'm on the fence whether the next thing I buy is an iPhone or the Storm phone via my current Verizon wireless provider.  I suspect you have the iPhone and can tell me that it works great with MacMail and other productivity apps form Apple seamlessly... 

[Baric]

I do have an iPhone and yeah, I love it.  I also have a MobileMe account and my iPhone and Mac PowerBook seamlessly push changes to each other, so my contacts, email addresses, phone numbers, etc are all in sync.  Heck I even push my Address Book stuff to my Vista address book seamlessly.  The only thing that doesn't work as I would like it is MobileMe sync on Vista does not synce the Vista Calendar as well as contacts.

I used to have a Verizon cell phone, Motorola Razr, but of course had to switch to AT&T when I got the iPhone.  I notice no difference in reception or signal quality, but that will likely vary depending on your exact location.

[Joel]

The Storm doesn't do WiFi David Pogue wrote a blistering review of it at the NYTImes last week, it's worth the read if you're seriously considering one. This Verizon customer is giving them until March (when his contract expires) to get the iPhone, then it's off to ATT after 15+ years as a customer. But back to the problem at hand.

Can you log in to SmartZone/Webmail using the account credentials you're attempting to use in Entourage?

Message Edited by Joel on 12-06-2008 08:25 AM

[jdusna88]

Yes.  I use it routinely at work to get my e-mail where I don't have access to my MS Outlook setup at home.

[Joel]

In another post, someone had success using Port 587 and No SSL. Authentication is still required, enter your user name and password (or click Log in using the same info as incoming), either way should work.

[jdusna88]

Tried this earlier and again tonight.   No luck.

[jdusna88]

I activated MacMail tonight.  It works (receive and send)!  I can't figure out why Entourage doesn't.  I checked the settings for the umpteenth time.  There is no difference that I can find.  I do like the Entourage client better just because I'm quite use to MS Outlook and it has a more full feature set of options especially in editing messages than MacMail.

I might have to just put up with it until another resolution surfaces.  At least I can send e-mails out from my MacBook without going to the Comcast.net webclient or my old laptop.  Not being able to send e-mails has been a real drain on my productivity at home.  I'm about a week behind on e-mail now.  I hope Comcast and/or Mac software folks work more closely together on future software/mail server changes.  It's a shame to put their mutual customers through this...

[charvey]

This isn't something Comcast can "work on". Entourage supports pop/smtp mail correctly, so if it's not working then there's a configuration error somewhere in your setup.

I'd suggest you delete the profile and try re-creating it following the guidelines mentioned in the MacMail and Outlook posts. You can also find more information on various email client setup options here under the HSI forum.

[jdusna88]

My point is that changing *your* settings on the SmartMail server or whatever you call it was not thoroughly tested through your customer base and in particular your Mac customers.  If so, why is there so many posts that state frustration since you moved over to our new server???  Why do I have to learn such esoteric concepts of what SSL authentication is or how to ensure Port 587 is configured and such.  I just want my e-mail to work not a lesson in networking.  

I don't doubt this is a setup issue on my laptop.  If you have read my messages, I have blown out my comcast account on Entourage (twice now) without success, but the first time I tried to use MacMail it worked fine (with no setting changes).  I would prefer Entourage to work out of the box like the rest of my Mac does including MacMail.  Comcast and Microsoft should take a lesson on how Apple own the whole system and not just their software or service component.  They are running away with the market at least on the high-end.  Google and Skype will pick up the rest of it if the entrenched companies such as yours are not careful.   I'm not just a Mac evangelist, I assure you.  I've been a Wintel customer for 15+ years, and did not take the decision to go Mac lightly.  Apple is not perfect by any stretch, but my sense is they own their customer's satisfaction more than your company.

The post that it is something you "can't" work on is exasperating as a Comcast broadband client for nearly 5 years.  But don't worry, I'll find my solution elsewhere as I've been able to from your non-Comcast listeners on this site.  Maybe that will include a switch to some other broadband/wifi solution?!

[Baric]

You're confusing the use of SmartZone as a web based mail client with the actual mail servers you use from a local email client like Mac Mail or Entourage, or Outlook Express, or any of the dozens of other email clients that Comcast customers typically use.  Yes, the SmartZone rollout has been rocky and yes, that rollout seems to have effected the POP and SMTP infrastructure regarding authentication, but those problems seem to have been taken care of, and even when they were widespread, it was an intermittent issue, not a hard, never able to connect problem like you're seeing.

I think it's perfectly clear to most knowledgable users here that whatever problem you're having is purely a local configuration issue on your end.  Is it possible we're wrong?  Sure, but the chance of that seems very small from what I've seen. I'm not sure why you refuse to believe that, but there's not much we can do for you until you recognize that there is NO general connectivity issue, it's specific to you and your setup.  That should make it more than clear the problem is in your systems somewhere.  We've suggested you detail all your settings but you have not, so there's no way we can find out what's wrong for you.  We're more than willing to help, but you have to help us help you.

Our suggestion to try Mac Mail was not meant to say the Entourage doesn't work well, as I know it does for other users.  It's meant to show you that the Comcast mail servers are working normally and that you need to look harder at your own system for the problem, and to give you an alternative means of getting your mail until you sort out the underlying cause.  You should not construe that Mac Mail working but not Entourage is in any way Comcast's fault, there's NO evidence that supports that conclusion that I can see, other than your own disappointment. 

[Joel]

Thanks for your response Baric; I started, read what I wrote and thought twice before clicking Post. I did do a little research on Error 17099 as well, and though, as in true MS fashion, it's not a very specific error, in most cases it does relate to some sort of non-existant address, whether it be a recipient or a mis-configured preference. All I can suggest is to go back and double and triple check all configuration entries, even a stray space at the end of an entry can cause such errors. Port 587 is hardly some esoteric Comcast-only port setting. Rather, it's the RFC standard for authenticated submission. Port 25 does not require authentication, is easily abused by spammers, and is being deprecated by many email providers for this reason. SSL is not required inside the Comcast network like it is when using an email client from a Wifi hotspot, however, encryption data transmission with SSL when available ensures your privacy, hardly a bad thing. Also, email systems don't know and don't care whether you're using a Mac, Windows, Linux, or whatever. As long as your email client adheres to recognized email standards, it should work if configured properly.

[jdusna88]

Baric:  Youmisunderstood most of my post.  Likeyour first response to my original post, you were quicker to judge how I post and draw rather off base conclusions from what I did post rather than just attempt to address my problem.  Enough said...

Joel:  I am glad youresponse was more measured before you hit "post reply".  Apparently Baric and I have lesspatience for one another.  I'm a frustrated new userof a new system which though does not complete make my behavior excusable, it does makes it moreunderstandable at least. 

... and I knowand understand the importance of security measures (I work in InformationSystems as a Project Manager in healthcare), and so appreciate as well as echoyour emphasis on why these are important. My points about "esoteric" is to represent the typical user who wouldhave given up long before I did on solving these types of problems because oftheir not understanding such matters. Being familiar with software and how it is designed and tested, I haveto say that I think the root cause of this problem is not the standards issuebut more what is known as "human factors" not being taking enough intoconsideration.  I point to the factthat most of what I have been advised to do is because this information is not entered automaticallyby MS Entourage (it is by MacMail interestingly) and so my judgment is on themfor not considering this when releasing their software.  My judgment on Comcast is notconsidering more carefully the impact on changing these settings on the myriadof e-mail clients out there.  Bothcompanies could have done a better job. I find your measured response to mine consistent with what I have cometo expect from Apple.  Well done!

Well, that aside... rather than draw us all into an ongoing debatebetween the novice "contributor" vs  the "home networking expert" to thehumor of the others reading the post, I'll just focus more comprehensively ofthe facts of my situation in order of what has transpired:

1)  I just bought aMacPro via a local Best Buy

2)  With my MacPro Ibought MacOffice and the service they offered to load it for me citing thenumerous patches that they had locally would be easy to upload vs me doing athome.

3)  I attempted toconfigure MS Entourge to load my Comcast account.  I use the same account/password for both receipt and sendingmessages (one entry by default).  Idid not attempt to change the default settings on either the POP or SMTP side.  When I first attempted to connect toComcast, this is the error Message I received:

5.1.1 Not our Customer
 
Cannot send mail. The SMTP server does not recognize any of theauthentication methods supported by Entourage. Try changing the SMTPauthentication options in Account settings or contact your networkadministrator.
 
Account name: "Comcast"
Error: -17092

4)   I noted that despite the error, mysystem still allowed me to receive e-mails.  It just would not allow me to send any e-mail

5)  I then entered the settings suggestedby those posting here.  As thescreenshots shown were for MacMail and not Entourage, I provide here what myscreen looks like for the SMTP server in Entourage after making the prescribed changes:

 

I believe lessrelevant to my immediate problem with sending e-mail are my POP serverconfiguration, but in case of interest, here is the screen shot here again withthe default settings shown:

Just in casethese settings had something to do with my SMTP server configuration problem, Idid check the POP service requires a secure connection (SSL) as well as theOverride default POP port which automatically changed it to "995" as noted isrequired in other posts.

After makingthese changes, my error changed but still I am only able to receive e-mail butnot send any.  I immediately get thise-mail when attempting to send a message:

5.1.1 Not our Customer
 
Mail could not be sent.
 
Account name: "Comcast"
 
Error: -17099

6)  I've made changes several times eachtime ensuring I enter my account and password correctly.  I want to emphasize that the onlychance for me to be entering something incorrectly isonly if I check the box under the SMTP server configuration where I enter thelogon password a second time rather than using the choice to use the same logonas the receiving e-mail server. Joel, to your point, just in case I haveentered things incorrectly, I entered this several times. No joy each time.  I know I must be entering it correctly as it at least once asit is working fine with receipt of messages.  Receipt and send accounts are one in the same logon/password. 

7) I also havedeleted the account and reset it up twice (for a total of 3 attempts) fromscratch.  Each time, no joy.

So, I don'tthink I've done something wrong in the configuration unless I missed somethingyou can see.  I believe it is morelikely now that I have a corrupt version of MS Entourage or a missing patch orthe like.  These are the only thingthat can explain why MacMail works on the same Comcast e-mail account on thesame MacBook and not on MS Entourage with all other settings the same.  

I did note one oddity that I can not seem to resolve.  Letting Best Buy staff member load my MacOffice app had one undesirable outcome.  They created my user identity on the Mac with a mispelling of my name.  Although I can correct that in some places, I can not seem to change this in either the MacOffice registration nor under the "Home" Icon in my Finder application.  Perhaps that is the culprit here?  Why wouldn't that affect MacMail also, if so?

Sorry to thosewho have put with the brunt of my frustration but I'm over a week ofattempting to solve this problem and this is delaying my adoption of theMac as I would say 50%+ of my usage is e-mail.   I don't have a lot of patience left for beingquestioned that I haven't explained things adequately.  Hopefully this attempt is more concisefor those of you who need such exactness to address my need.  Please remember I am not an "expert",but just a frustrated first time user of this new MacBook.  Despite all of this, I still think Idid the right thing to buy the MacBook for all its benefits I have not citedhere knowing most of you share my view. I just am not likely to remember this experience as the reason forrecommending it to others.

[BethKatz]

I hesitate to jump in here because I also have that 'expert' designation. However, I have another suggestion about approaching your problem. Try it with a new account on your Mac. The user account was not set up appropriately by the company you bought the computer from. Since you have technical background, doing it yourself would have helped you become more familiar with your machine. Applying the updates from Apple is not difficult. I know many computer-unsaavy people who do it when updates are available.

It seems most likely there is some strange setting in your Entourage especially if Mail.app is working. Remember that Microsoft supports Office on the Mac reluctantly even though that's where it started. It's possible there's some place in Entourage that has a weird setting that you aren't seeing, and it could be related to that incorrect user name. 

Trying to change a username on a Unix system is not a trivial task. That's likely to cause problems. You're bound to miss some places. And they probably made that your system administrator account. We have a separate account for that.

I suggest you create a new user account on your Mac so that you can see that Entourage will work. It could have a simple name like test. Start Entourage and use the assistants to set it up appropriately with your Comcast account. I don't use Entourage and have only Microsoft Office 2004, but when I launched Entourage, it looked like setup was straightforward. Convince yourself that Entourage will work on this machine with Comcast. That may give you insight into what needs to be fixed.

Then you can decide if you want to create a new account on your Mac for your normal use or continue to try to find all the places to change the incorrect username.

I sure wish there was a way to split out this part of this thread so that it didn't distract other users.

[charvey]

I like Beth's suggestion, but a few other options to consider:

1) since it doesn't sound like your modem is blocked on port 25, just make Entourage use that port instead and turn off authentication. It sounds like your problem is in the string that's being sent to auth on sending.

2) Confirm you can pop mail with Entourage. If you can't then something is amiss with your pop credentials that sending is also using.

3) Ensure that in your pop user name you don't have @comcast.com or something strange. Try just your username (the bit before the @), and try the whole thing i.e. username@comcast.net

Since your old windows XP system works, your macMail works, this HAS to be a client setting in Entourage and has nothing to do with the Comcast servers.

[jdusna88]

charvey:  Did all you suggested already but was not successful.  Thanks for offering though. 

bethkatz:  Thanks to you too for your measured (albeit reluctant response).  I apologize to you and others who have found the reading this long exchange distracting.  Like you I wish I could break this out as a separate post, but nonetheless it does seem relevant to the subject line as I am having problems managing my Comcast e-mail in Leopard and I'm sure there a few "novice" Mac users like myself out there.   

To your point about being "technical" and the benefits of doing it myself, I agree with your wholeheartedly. How many "computer unsaavy" people would have went through the trouble to learn how to post a screen shot using a Mac and on this site (both for the 1st time I might add).  My point of sharing that I let the 3rd party do the loading of MacOffice for me was to fully disclose what *might* have caused the problem.  I do have some regret now letting them do this but I took the counsel I was getting about how much faster for their "technical staff" it was for them to do this.  Not knowing the Mac O.S. well, it seemed at the time the right decision.  I did pay the extra cost to maintain this machine with them; this is in some sense a measure of their skill set.  Alas I'm wondering if I got my money's worth, only time will tell.  Regardless I know now in retrospect to do this setup myself in the future.  Hopefully other people considering Mac's reading this post will do the same for my learning.

I will attempt your prescribed change to setup a new account.  I'll let you know what I find out.  I haven't tried this to date, because (1) I don't know how to do this yet on a Mac, and (2) Like you, I know there are a myriad of outcomes setting up an alternate account that would not be the same as having done my initial administrator account myself.  I'm wondering if a better option worth considering is if there is a way to starting from scratch with the O.S. again and reset up the administrator account.   I don't have much invested in the setup of this MacBook except MS Entourage obviously.  Would that be a better way to go?   Thanks again for your patient and well thought through response.

For Bethkatz all other readers/posters here:  I do believe that MS Entourage will work on Mac and so I'm convinced that I will have an "aha" moment at some point.  I really can't afford not to as I use MS Outlook on my old Windows XP laptop to a significant degree and I can't see giving up all that functionality and fall back to just using MacMail.  It's too bad that it appears that Microsoft did not put as much development effort on Entourage as it does Outlook as I can see already a number of features I will not get when converting over.  Hopefully use of Entourage over time will change my mind. 

[BethKatz]

Is the wrong user name just in Microsoft Office or is it on the Mac OS system level? You keep saying MacOffice but mentioned it's under your home icon. If it is just wrong in Microsoft Office, that shouldn't be much of a problem.

If you paid for maintenance service at the company where you bought this, I'd consider taking it back and asking them to start over by setting up a system admin account and then a separate user account with your name spelled correctly. Or at least start over with a user account with your name spelled correctly.

I think (but am not positive) that they could set up the Entourage settings and check that you can send mail out with Comcast's smtp server even though their store doesn't have a Comcast connection. I would have considered this an essential part of a paid setup.

It shouldn't be this hard to get set up correctly. Most of the time, it just works.

[jdusna88]

The wrong name is at both in the Mac OS level and in MacOffice. Sorry that is unclear before.  I'm still learning the Mac lingo.  I"m use to Windows XP Professional setup mostly.  I believe MacOffice absorbed the wrong name when it was loaded after initially configuring the Mac OS I presume.

I agree that I should hold the "maintenace service" center accountable for this, but I'm liking what you have to say about the journey of learning how to set this up shouldn't be this hard.  It makes me own more what was done wrong.  I will think twice about handing off software loading to a third party in the future that is for certain. 

That said, I'm partial to figuring it out a bit more on my end before giving in and returning it to them. I'm guessing that they would only conclude much of what I've done already and I'm not sure I have the time to explain things to them in person.  I will go that route as a last resort however.

[charvey]

This makes no sense.

When you configure your Entourage client to use port 25, what error do you get? Remember you can remove the "My server requires authentication" checkmark, you don't need that on port 25.

[BethKatz]

I'm guessing the OP is at work and will check when he's at home again with the 'problem child'.

Thank you for splitting the thread.

[jdusna88]

I have not had a chance with holiday activities to look at this closely again until this AM 

I did figure it out.  The test e-mail was sending an e-mail to myself incorrectly.  The e-mail account was apparently defaulted to the one that the person who initialized my Mac and loaded MacOffice had entered. It was also entered incorrect as had been done with my Mac identity.  It was only a very subtle missing letter that I didn't see all the times I was sending e-mails to myself it defaulting to this incorrect e-mail account.  I only discovered it trying to send an e-mail to another person just for another test.  Very frustrating to have let this go so long.

I have to admit I should have caught this earlier.  One reason it took me awhile to figure out was I have several e-mail accounts in my name (work, home, family, etc.), but apparently Mac creates a new profile as the logged in user in Entourage and that was the one it defaulted to when I would send e-mails to myself rather than the ones I had already converted over from MS Outlook.  It didn't occur to me that it was wrong, although the error message would have suggested such.

Regardless, thanks to all for your patience.  For final reference, all my POP and SMTP settings are set per the recommendations made on this and the other thread (i.e. SSL enabled for both and messages routed via Ports 995 and 587 respectively; I've enabled messages use same authentication as the receiving server).  I also tested to see if disabling the SSL setting and using Port 25 in the SMTP settings would work and it did, but I restored it back just in case that changes at Comcast later.

Cheers! 

[BethKatz]

Congratulations! It's so much nicer when computers work the way we expect them to.

[charvey]

Great news. Thanks for coming back to let us know, all too often we don't hear when something is fixed.

I would suggest sticking with the 587 outgoing port, it's much better future proofed than 25.

Congrats again and enjoy your new mac.

[Joel]

Next step, if the machine is relatively new and you haven't stored a lot of data on it yet (or you can easily back it up to a flash drive), is to get the OSX install disc and wipe the machine clean, do an Erase and Install - Custom Install, getting your user name right and not installing the extra trial software and foreign languages and unnecessary printer drivers. Then reinstall Office and re-set up your mail profile, which should be a breeze now ;-) This is what I would do anyway, and it's a subject for another thread.

[jdusna88]

Hello all.   I thought I would update you all on what has transpired since my last post:

First, I did as Joel suggested and reinstalled OSX from scratch.  Except for the time it took to do this and get all the patch updates, it was relatively painless, then I re-installed MacOffice and that went well albeit with a few more bumps than OSX since there seemed to be serveral iterations to getting Microsoft to get all the patches downloaded and installed given that several of the patches required a predicate patch to be installed first.  Then I was up and running again without my name being wrong anymore.

I finally got Entourage about where I wanted it at least as optimally as it can be configured without being MS Outlook itself.  Then several Mac enthusiasts encouraged me to re-look at VM-Ware and Parallels.  I originally steered away from those options because (1) I only had 2GB Ram and they recommended I upgrade to 4GB first and (2) It seemed a shame to buy a MAC and then just emulate windows on it without giving the Mac OS X - Leopard a chance.

I changed my mind and ended up going with Parallels version 4.0 because I was sold on how seamless it would work on my new Mac even with 2GB RAM.  I ended up buying the 4GB RAM too and that along with installing parallels was amazingly smooth.  I would strongly recommend it to anyone whose only hesitation is thinking it is too complex.  I run parallels in "Coherence" mode which permits me to see the normal Windows XP desktop to include Start button and Taskbar while still having access to Mac OS Menu options at the top of the screen and the OSX Dock at the bottom of the screen - the best of both Mac and Windows on one screen!  I am now running MS Outlook 2007 (not Entourage for all my rantings on this thread) and other Office 2007 apps for my "work-like" activities while using all the rest of the iLife suite for personal things (i.e. iPhoto, iMovie, iDVD).  I work between Safari and IE 7.0 interchangeably using the former if I start off using the internet, using the latter if MS Outlook launches it.  It makes for a pretty clean experience.

Hope this journal of my tranistion to a Mac-Book is helpful to others who would follow.  May you find Fair winds and following Seas!

[Joel]

Excellent! I was an early adopter of Parallels, and use version 3 on my MBP 2.0GHz with 2GB of RAM. I've got both an XP and an Ubuntu VM that I play around with, don't really have any serious need to use either. Glad to hear that the re-installs went well.

[charvey]

You might want to consider Crossover too. It's a little lighter than running a full OS inside another OS, aka parallels.

[Weil]

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charvey wrote:

This isn't something Comcast can "work on". Entourage supports pop/smtp mail correctly, so if it's not working then there's a configuration error somewhere in your setup.

 ...

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Let me strongly disagree.  Yesterday, I posted about my receipt of the "shutting off port 25 message" and the loss of ability to send email (on two different Macs, one powerbook and one MacBook Pro).  This morning, I could not even receive email.  So I turned on Entourage (from my copy of Mac MS Office 2008) and told it to import all settings from Mac Mail.  It did so and then successfully downloaded old and new messages from my Comcast account.  Only an error on the Comcast side should allow one program to function half-way and prevent the other from working at all.  PS-It won't work on a secondary account I have at AOL either.  Maybe you disabled all outgoing email ports on my modem.   sam

[jdusna88]

[Charvey:  You might want to consider Crossover too. It's a little lighter than running a full OS inside another OS, aka parallels.]

Thanks for the counsel.  I had not heard of Crossover until now.  Generally I'm pretty pleased with performance (as I had heard there would be a hit on this) despite running one OS "inside another".  In other words, given my arduous journey to this point, I don't plan to fix something that isn't "broke" yet.  If later this becomes a problem, I'll look at Crossover then.  I suspect that would only happen if I played graphically intensive games or did some significant amount of media/video editing using the iLife suite of applications in which case I would then just simply turn off my Parallels emulation of windows temporarily.

What I really appreciate is that I don't have to deal with either MacMail or Entourage issues with Port 25 presently as I've managed this on the Outlook Client side without event.   Conversely I could fall back to using Entourage if a similar downtime event occurs with Outlook later.

[charvey]

The only reason I wouldn't want to use Outlook inside parallels on a HOME machine is that Outlook will store all it's calendar and contact information within its PST file, whereas using MacMail you will use the contacts and calendar on the mac.

Might not seem like a big deal but I much prefer the loosely coupled approach of seperate apps that all integrate together than one behemoth that does everything.

Note I do use Outlook in Parallels for work stuff since that's all tied to an Exchange server and not a pop3 client which is fundamentally different.

Anyway, food for thought and completely personal choice. I'm just glad you got something that works for you.

[jdusna88]

Yes, and if I had a significant investment in managing my contacts and/or my calendar in the mac envirnoment I would agree with you, but since I'm coming over from the Windows/Office world most all my experience and data is in Outlook .pst format.  I initially tried to convert my .pst to Entourage format buying some $10 utility to make the conversion because Microsoft doesn't provide such a utility.   The idea was then I would turn on the ability for Entourage to share info between MacMail and iCal.  I got pretty mixed results and ended up spendign a lot of time cleaning up the conversion and still lost several records in the transfer.  That along with all the other problems cited above added a good friends counsel to look at VMWare and/or Parallels drove me back to this hybrid environment.

In the end Microsoft has a loose spirt of "coopetition" going with the Apple/Mac platfrom.  Though they don't really want the Mac to win over too many Windows customers, they do want to at least be the 1st choice of productivity application for those who do.  They will never invest in the MacOffice to the degree they do the Windows Office behemoth, however, and understandably so.  Their recent focus on Microsoft Office Sharepoint Services is such an example.  It's a crazy world when Microsoft becomes more like Google while Google develops their own Office like suite.  In the end it's ultimately great for us end users as we get more functionality for less investment.  Isn't competition great!

[BethKatz]

I'm surprised that you can avoid the port 25 issue by using Outlook. Was Outlook already using another port for outgoing mail?

I hadn't heard about CrossOver (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/). Interesting.

We're running the previous version of Parallels but that's to run OpenStep (NeXT OS that was a precursor to Mac OS X) so that I can run some custom software. The current version of Parallels doesn't quite work for that use. Close, but not yet. I hear it's great for running Windows though.

[jdusna88]

No, I haven't need to change the port settings that were defaulted to 110 (pop) and 25 (smtp).  No clue why it's not a probem.  I am not selecting the encryption option, however, maybe that's it.

[Weil]

I followed the instructions at:

http://help.comcast.net/content/faq/How-to-configure-Entourage-X-Mac-to-use-port-587-for-sending-email

which are probably the same as posted by Baric and voila, it works only for Comcast.  Now if I could get my Mac Mail to return to working through Comcast as well as AOL, I would be happier.

 sam

[Joel]

AOL Service Assistant

AOL Service Assistant enables you to set up the following Apple applications to work with the AOL service:

• Mail - The AOL Service Assistant makes it easy to configure Mac OS X Mail to send and receive AOL mail. If you've used the existing AOL for Mac OS X product, you can also import your incoming and outgoing messages from your Personal Filing Cabinet into Mail.
• iChat - You can now easily set up iChat to work with your Screen Name.
• Address Book - Using the AOL Service Assistant, you can now easily import your AOL Address Book contacts into your Mac OS X Address Book without bringing in duplicate entries.
• Safari - AOL Service Assistant enables you to import your Favorite Places into a folder in the Safari Bookmarks Bar.