Macintosh question

GregPQ · Post by **GregPQ** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 5:46 pm

My wife is a contract educational writer and uses 2 Macs at home, both running System 9. She desperately needs a new one, but the move to System X will be a big one. She uses Internet Explorer for the Mac and Outlook Express for the Mac. She wants to import her old messages into any new computer's email application, and Outlook Express does not support System X.

So my question is, what do most System X owners use for a web browser and for email? And has anyone had experience importing Outlook Express Inbox into a new email program?

Also, is this a bad time to buy an iBook running on a Motorola/IBM chip, since Apple is launching Intel-based Macs now?

Thanks for any input,

Greg

LXE · Post by **LXE** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 6:55 pm

GregPQ wrote:So my question is, what do most System X owners use for a web browser and for email?

Most OS X users browse with Safari (included in OS X) or the Mozilla-based Firefox (a free download at www.mozilla.org). Some also use the Mozilla-based Camino browser (a free download at www.caminobrowser.org), a less feature-rich, but more Mac-like browser than Firefox. Although an OS X version of Internet Explorer is available, it has not been updated since 2001 and Microsoft will soon pull the plug on it entirely. That's no loss, though: Both Safari and the two Mozilla-based browsers run circles around IE.

For email, the two best choices are Mail (included in OS X) and Microsoft Entourage (the successor to Outlook Express for Mac). Entourage is available either as a standalone application or as part of Office 2004 for Mac - which can be had at educational discount for about $150.

GregPQ wrote:And has anyone had experience importing Outlook Express Inbox into a new email program?

I have not had experience doing that, but I imagine it would be easier to do going Outlook Express to Entourage (Microsoft to Microsoft) than Outlook Express to Mail. I imagine this might be covered in the support section of Microsoft's Mactopia website (at www.mactopia.com).

Remember too that OS X can run your wife's System 9 software in Classic mode.

GregPQ wrote:Also, is this a bad time to buy an iBook running on a Motorola/IBM chip, since Apple is launching Intel-based Macs now?

If anything, this is a good time to buy a PowerPC-based Mac. All current software is built either for PowerPC or, in the case of the very latest Mac software, to run on both PowerPC and Intel architectures. A PowerPC Mac will run everything natively, whereas the new Intel Macs can run only the newest software natively. Intel Macs must run PowerPC-only software (99+% of Mac software currently out there) under emulation (in what is called Rosetta). By the time all new Mac software is Intel-only (probably at least 3-5 years off), you'll be in the market for a new Mac anyway. So buy a PowerPC-based Mac with confidence.

A bit of unsolicited advice: If you buy an iBook, be sure to increase the RAM from the standard 512 MB to at least 1 GB. Your wife will be much happier running Tiger (OS 10.4) if she doesn't have to close some applications to open others.

LXE · Post by **LXE** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:02 pm

A quick addendum: If your wife's current Macs have FireWire ports, new Macs make it very easy to move the old files over. It requires only a FireWire cable and software (the name of which presently escapes me) already residing on the new Mac. Last summer, I made the move from an Indigo iMac G3 to a new Mac Mini, with all my data intact, in about 15 minutes. I had to do no more than click once to bring everything on my old hard drive over.

javyn · Post by **javyn** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 7:26 pm

Importing bookmarks and email addresses/settings/messages should not be a problem these days. Keep in mind I have no Mac experience, but that would be extremely remiss not keeping up with such important functions as import and export.

I'm a PC user, but the last time that importing settings to a new browser or email client was actually an issue for me was back in 1997 or 98.

notthesharpest · Post by **notthesharpest** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:48 pm

You can't just save the Outloook Express inbox and then open it later. It's in a proprietary format. See if Outlook Express has an export function. That would be the easiest solution as far as saving the old email goes.

Unless your wife needs sophisticated calendar, appointments, and invitations integrated with her email (which is the main strength of Entourage) then the Mail program that comes with OS X is all she will need. Entourage is expensive, and I suspect not everyone needs what it offers. It's very well done though.
Apple's Mail program is as good as Outlook Express was, in my opinion.

I think IE for Mac stored its bookmarks as Favorites.html
I think it was kept in the Explorer folder inside the Preferences folder. Make sure to save that file just in case other import functions don't work.

If the new computer will have "Classic", and if you plan to start by transferring everything from the old computer to the new one, then Mail and Safari should import the mail and the bookmarks automatically.

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:29 am

As far as email..worse come to worse, after setting up the new system she can go back to her old computer and email herself all of her emails that she has saved on her current computer then open them on her new computer. Of course that would be a last resort.

J

ScottS · Post by **ScottS** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:53 am

Just keep in mind that mailing the saved messages to yourself would make you the sender-- that is, the REAL sender info would be lost from the sender field.

Scott

Johnnie · Post by **Johnnie** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 11:30 am

ScottS wrote:Just keep in mind that mailing the saved messages to yourself would make you the sender-- that is, the REAL sender info would be lost from the sender field.

Scott

If you forward the email you would still have the original senders email info within the email,right?

J

ScottS · Post by **ScottS** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 11:53 am

For all the mail programs I know, yes, the original senders name would appear in the mail.

It would be pretty difficult to search for this, though.
A- You couldn't sort by the original sender
B- You would need to search all the text
C- If you hit the name in a search, you wouldn't necessarily know if the hit were because the searched name were the sender or receiver (I save both sent and received messages).
It really isn't a great way to go. I'd make it a real last resort-- in my case, it would fall behind buying a full version of outlook, or finding some inport/export or conversion utility and paying for it. Sometimes these things are available for PDA users who don't use outlook.

Scott

LXE · Post by **LXE** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 3:30 pm

drmoss_ca wrote:Mail can import directly from Outlook Express. The easiest thing is to get the new mac, set it up, hook the old mac up to it with a FW cable and start up the old mac in target disk mode (press T during startup), so that it appears as a disk on the desktop of the new mac, then copy your OS9 System Folder, Applications (MacOS9) and any documents you want to the new mac. This is now the only way to install OS9 on a new mac that cannot boot into OS9. Open Mail, select Import Mailboxes from the File menu, choose Outlook Express and navigate to the application. Provided you copied the OE mailboxes in the Folder the application expects them to be in (was it the Documents folder at root level? It was a while ago for me,) then OS9 will start up in the classic environment, OE will open, and the mailboxes and accounts can be imported. This is assuming you buy a new one with a G5 processor. If you go for the Intel model there will be no classic environment, and you'll have to mail old messages to yourself and collect them on the new mac.

The good doctor's is the most specific and practical advice given so far. I would amend his exposition only by saying that his advice assumes that you buy a new Mac with a G5 (iMac G5, PowerMac G5) or G4 (Mac Mini, iBook, PowerBook) processor. Also, it depends upon the older Mac(s) having a FireWire port.

It would help to know what models the old, soon-to-be-abandoned Macs are.

clownjuggles · Post by **clownjuggles** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:20 pm

Mail is the program I use everyday. It is by far the best I found and I have both mail and entourage on my machine. Entourage just keeps crashing so I uninstalled it earlier today actually.

designwise1 · Post by **designwise1** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 5:28 pm

I agree with Peter. I used Outlook Express and Entourage for several years but Apple's Mail program is all I use now. Integration with iCal, Safari and Address Book is perfect. Who could need anything else?

I once exported my mail folders as text files. You might try that if there's something really important. Or just print them out. I save very few emails now so there's nothing to transfer except addresses and bookmarks.

Good luck. You'll love everything about OSX and G5. I resisted leaving 9.2.2 for a long time but I can't remember why. Fear of change, probably.

-Gerald

notthesharpest · Post by **notthesharpest** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 6:36 pm

designwise1 wrote:I agree with Peter. I used Outlook Express and Entourage for several years but Apple's Mail program is all I use now. Integration with iCal, Safari and Address Book is perfect. Who could need anything else?

Some people find iCal is not sophisticated enough for their appointments & calendar. Address Book is pretty bare. Both are good enough for me, but it's easy to imagine somebody for whom those programs are lacking in features.

GregPQ · Post by **GregPQ** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:49 pm

Thanks for all this help! Specifically, my wife has an iMac (original version) and an iBook. I believe they both have FireWire...

Sounds like Apple's Mail is the way to go.

Really appreciate all the advice!

Greg

SMF

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