After moving away from Mail.app, I gave Mailplane a try, but it felt too much like my web browser, and if I’m going to have a separate application for mail, I don’t want it to feel like my browser….or else I’d use my browser.

Then it was back to Mail.app with the new Leopard release. At first I really liked the ease of use and new features brought about. I thought that I had found what I was looking for. Then I realized that a few of my emails that I had sent out never got sent. That was more than frustrating, and I’m not sure if that was an error with the app, or with my mail server, but that was a deal killer.

Thunderbird was up next, and I actually didn’t have any problems with Thunderbird. Emailing wasn’t bad and it got the job done. I didn’t love Thunderbird, it was just ok, but it got done what I needed to get done and I figured I would stick with that since I felt that I was at the end of the rope with mail apps for a Mac.

Then comes the newly released Entourage 08 for Mac. Of course I was very skeptical about this product, not only because Entourage from the 04 Office suite is dreadful to use, but it’s a Microsoft product. But that is no more. For the first time I can say that I found a mail app that I love to use. The new interface is drastically different than the older version, and everything looks and feels very polished.

It is also very convenient that I can sync up my contacts and iCal with Entourage, which keeps all of my apps/devices current with my events and contacts. Since I’m expecting 2008 to be extremely busy for myself and Tridea, email will play quite a large part in communications, and I need an app that I love and feel comfortable using. That is where Entourage fills that void, and it pains me to say that I found a Microsoft product that I love using. But I would highly recommend this app for Mac users looking for a new mail app. Macworld also gave a good review on the app, which I would recommend reading if interested.

It’s good that IE7 has more CSS support, however, I fear that Microsoft will release this version, and then leave it at that, without continuing to update it. CSS is only advancing, and I can only hope that Microsoft wants its browser to keep up with the times and not let it turn into another IE6 fiasco. I just hope that Microsoft isn’t putting on a front, and that they actually care about the advancement of web standards.

Another concern that I have, is what happens with IE6 now? Back in April when I first tried out one of the early beta versions of IE7, I was no longer able to use the previous version. And because of the fact that I have to develop for the new version, how will I be able to make sure my sites work in IE6 and before. I think it’s out of the question to stop developing for them so early because of the heavy usage of them still, but there has to be a solution to this issue. It’s about time to see if my sites all work in IE7, and if not, it might be a long weekend.

Right now this release is just got download, and not yet inside of the XP update, so I am hoping that people begin to latch on and upgrade their browsers. This will be very interesting to observe between now and the end of the year, and see how many people make that change.

This new version of IE7 finally has tabs! Welcome to the party Microsoft, you’re still behind. Aside from that, the browser is supposed to be alot more secure, can read RSS feeds, and the UI has gotten a much needed upgrade.

To say that I’m excited about this release would be an over-statement, because it adds yet another browser to develop for. But it’s good to finally see Microsoft take a step in the right direction. Being a designer/developer, it seems that I have no choice but to download this latest version, but I will still stay loyal to my beloved Firefox. I can’t see IE7 being better than Firefox, but only time will tell.