> Do you know if outlink is still available from PDA Direct ?
I believe it is. Try www.pdadirect.com
> Are there other ways to synchronise with outlook?
Yes. There's a solution called Lookout. Each has different advantages
and disadvantages. I've used Lookout and have dabbled with Outlink.
The chief issue with Lookout is that it's no longer for sale. It has a
20 day demo period, after which one needs a serial number keyed to one's
Owner Name -- and these are no longer available.
There are two workarounds available. One can delete the Lookout
preference file every 20 days and start over; however, that requires
re-syncing the entire files on both ends, which is time consuming. The
other workaround is to use a version of Lookout that's been hacked. See
http://members.tripod.com/lookouthack/ .
The hacked version behaves the same as the original version, but after
20 days doesn't disable itself. If you have some hesitation to use
hacked software, know that many members of the Newton community (myself
included) have repeated tried to contact the authors of Lookout without
luck. The few who have contacted the authors have reported that the
authors don't have the time to care about what people are doing with or
to their product.
Lookout has more features than Outlink, though lacks a few key ones that
Outlink has. Lookout has the unusual ability to sync using POP mail as
well as with a modem to modem connection. And when it syncs names, it
assigns them unique ID #s to keep them straight, whereas Outlink treats
the name entry as the key, requiring all name entries to be unique.
Lookout let's the user decide at each end (workstation and newton)
whether to send each kind of item that it handles (Names, Dates, ToDos.
Outlink only lets you control this on the workstation side, though the
workstation setting may control the Newton apps behavior.
Naturally, there's no support for Lookout, but there reportedly isn't
any for Outlink, either.
Myself, I've been using Lookout happily. It works better on my 2.0 120
than does Outlink. However, Outlink does have a few key features that
have tempted me to start using it.
Outlink handles deletion of synced items in a more sophisticated manner.
Lookout's scheme is to not delete items during synchronization -- that
is, when you delete something on your newton that is in Outlook, if you
don't delete the item manually in Outlook, during the next sync Lookout
will copy it back. This is a feature, not a bug, but an annoying one at
times. Outlink does what you might expect: it gives you options on how
to handle deletions.
Outlink does the syncing on the workstation, whereas Lookout splits it
between the workstation and the newton. Many people report that this
makes Outlink faster; however, on my slow 2.0 120, the 600 names in my
Name app keeps Outlink from working at all -- it's just too many for it
to handle, times out and gives up. Lookout doesn't have this problem.
Outlink's use of the full name as each Name entry's unique key was a,
frankly, foolish decision on its programmer's part. However, they did
implement the rest of Name syncing better than the Lookout team did. To
be specific, Outlink syncs more Name fields than Lookout does -- most
notably, Outlink handles the notes field in the Newton Names app,
whereas Lookout does not.
This last issue, plus the issue of deletion control, has tempted me to
start trying to see if I can get Outlink to work on my Newton. But so
far, all that's happened is Outlink has failed to handle the large
number of names on my slow Newton, resulting in many duplicated entries
on both the Newton and Outlook.
I should add that I don't use either product to handle Date syncing at
all. My employer uses an application called Meeting Maker that is just a
groupware dates application, and happens to have a newton sync app, too.
Many people have complained about the way Lookout/Outlink handles the
syncing of repeating events in the Newton date app. From what I can
tell, there's something idiosyncratic about the implementation of
repeating events in the Newton Date app that makes syncing them with the
majority of workstation apps problematic. Meeting Maker handles this by
ignoring repeating events on the Newton entirely. If I recall correct,
both Outlink and Lookout let you disable the syncing of repeating events
on the Newton, which I'd recommend.
Finally, though I've not heard of anyone doing this, there is at least
one other way, in theory, to sync with Outlook. Outlook can be made to
sync with an Access database. The Newton database app Leverage claims to
be able to sync with Access databases as well. I've heard of people
using Leverage to sync with Filemaker, but haven't yet heard of anyone
doing so with Access -- maybe Leverage's claims are exaggerated. Someone
truly ambitious could use Leverage to implement the entirety of
Outlook's functionality -- maybe -- and then sync with Outlook through
an intermediary Access database. File that idea under crackpot schemes.
I hope that helps--
james pelton
j-pelton@nwu.edu
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