I broke down on PowerPoint, don't make me use Outlook

June 30, 2007 8:35 PM

Do I really need to use Outlook if I buy an iPhone?

I was going to be strong, but it is just too beautiful. I want an iPhone. The iPhone manual says I need to synch my contacts and calendar to Outlook of all things! I currently have a Treo and would rather use the palm software - but I could also use the addressbook in thunderbird and mozila's calandar program or whatever. I just don't like using more MSFT software than I need to. I am technologically savvy and can noodle around with things if need be.

posted by shothotbot to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Doesn't the iPod software also say that you have to sync to the Microsoft Address book, i.e. Outlook/Outlook Express?

I'm using the mozpod extension for Thunderbird, which also allows me to sync my contacts to my iPod. Given that the iPhone is also using iTunes to sync, perhaps there is something similar for the iPhone?

gah, lots of "iThings" in that short paragraph...

I so want one, particularly after extensively testing one out in the mall today, but I think I'll wait for version 2.
posted by gemmy at 8:54 PM on June 30, 2007

It also supports yahoo's address book. Any way to import thunderbird that?

posted from my iphone
posted by nathan_teske at 9:28 PM on June 30, 2007

If you'll forgive a piggyback, let me vent a gripe: in order to backup the contacts from my windows mobile smartphone, apparently I need outlook. And not even outlook express will do. That's annoying and frankly monopolistic-- a very simple task which requires me to buy a very expensive piece of software.

(er, unless there's another way someone knows of)
posted by alexei at 9:57 PM on June 30, 2007

alexei, there are third party apps that can export and import your contacts. I haven't tried it myself, but TNTSoft's Contact Exporter is an example.
posted by JaredSeth at 6:57 AM on July 1, 2007

There are third-party apps that will do this for Symbian phones, but the iphone is closed to third-party apps. Just wait.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 9:35 AM on July 1, 2007

Export your palm contacts into a csv file. Pirate a copy of office 2000. Install outlook. Import contacts. Do the iphone sync. Uninstall office 2000. And write an angry letter to Apple complaining about having to do this.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:47 AM on July 1, 2007

You can skip the pirate and install outlook part from above and replace it with upload to yahoo address book.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:48 AM on July 1, 2007

In case anyone else is interested: I installed Lightning, Mozilla's calendar add in for thunderbird, and mozpod, which gemmy mentioned above. I then synched my iPod and was able to get calendar and address book items onto my iPod. So, I figure I will just export my calendar and address book at work to the Mozilla format and it will all work like a dream. (FLW)

The mozpod download did not work super smoothly as somehow from the website it downloaded version 0.1 which does not work with Thunderbird 2.0. So I downloaded this version, which looks like it should be the same as the one you get from the website, but wasn't for some reason. Also, I needed to synch a few times before it worked but then it was all good!

Thanks all!
posted by shothotbot at 1:19 PM on July 1, 2007

Late update if anyone is still there, I did the above specified trick but it mozPod does not work on the iPhone, as of today anyways. So I am pretty much stuck with outlook for the calendar, though I could use yahoo for the contacts. Grrr.
posted by shothotbot at 7:15 PM on July 2, 2007