A new anti-phishing feature automatically blocks a long list of potentially malevolent file attachments, such as scripts and executable programs, and alerts you to suspicious links in e-mail that may lead to a fraudulent Web site. One minor but welcome change: when you select and delete mail from the Junk e-mail folder, Entourage deletes it forever, rather than just moving it to the Deleted Items folder as in the 2004 version, where you would have to delete it again.
Time will tell if, as in the past, Entourage 2008 falls behind and users need to again resort to extra spam-fighting help like C-Command’s excellent SpamSieve ( ). Microsoft has promised more frequent filter updates to keep up with the spamming arms race.
The junk mail filter, which in Entourage 2004 became hopelessly out of date and useless, has been updated when it was set to the High option, I found that it actually worked well, catching almost all junk mail. Spotlight integration also makes searching through your e-mail much faster than it is in Entourage 2004. You can save searches to the Folder List or the Favorites Bar. As in any Spotlight search, you can add multiple criteria to your search, and restrict its scope-to particular mail folders, in Entourage’s case. For example, there’s a Search field in the main toolbar that performs a Spotlight search on your mail, replacing the previous Advanced Search dialog. Some features have new locations or work differently. This makes it a snap to jump to the Inbox, one of your saved mail searches, or the new To Do List. Right underneath the main toolbar you’ll find the new Favorites Bar, which allows you to add shortcuts to items in the Folder List, so you can get to them with a single click. The new mini-month under the Folder List allows you to quickly jump to a date in your calendar. Entourage’s new reliance on Spotlight for searching speeds up searches dramatically, but the program still retains its wide array of search criteria. You can now add and subtract items from the toolbar, at long last bringing toolbar customization to Entourage, a feature the other applications in the Office suite have had for a decade. Gone is the odd, non-standard toolbar in its place is a familiar-looking Apple-style toolbar, which can be set to show icons, small icons, icons and text, or just text buttons. (For me, the Universal conversion also solved Entourage 2004’s annoying tendency to bog down on Intel Macs.) Part of that transition included a revised user interface, which makes the program easier to use. Entourage 2008 was rewritten as a Universal Binary, running equally well on Macs based on Intel and PowerPC chips. But Entourage 2008 offers few exciting new features, leaving the program vulnerable to Apple’s next onslaught.Įntourage finally looks like a native Mac application. Entourage maintains its advantage because it has built a strong feature set over the years, especially in e-mail. For the rest of us-overall-Entourage is still superior to Apple’s offerings. So how does Entourage 2008 stand up to Apple’s triumvirate? Pretty well, especially for users working in a corporate environment who use an Exchange server for their e-mail and calendar needs.
OS X’s Mail, Address Book, and iCal have all come to offer credible alternatives to Entourage’s core features. In the four years since the last major version of Microsoft Office, Entourage has probably come under more attack from Apple’s applications than any other member of the Office suite.
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