Mail and iCal: AppleInsider and Macworld reviews

I've been a Mac user for about 4 years now but I must say that i've probably used less than 50% of the features in Tiger. Some apps I've used sparingly. Two of these apps are Mail and iCal. I've used Mail before as my email client. I have several Google account and using POP mail I configured Mail to get my email from my different accounts. You can't do that with Yahoo Mail of course. But it took longer for me to get my email using Mail as compared to just going to GMail directly. So I abandoned Mail altogether.

Regarding iCal, I don't think I have the need to schedule anything though at the back of my mind I know I must. I guess it's an acquired habit. But I have tried using iCal before and I found it... unsettling. There seems to be something in iCal that's unMac-like. Everytime I use iCal I always say to myself, "Hey, this isn't right. This application doesn't belong here." I struggle every time I use iCal. Maybe it's just my brain refusing to be structured.

So these two applications, Mail and iCal, are the black sheep of my Mac apps.

I am a little lukewarm to these two apps. I mean, why bother with Mail when I have GMail. Sure, Mail has some new features such as new Smart mailboxes, an RSS reader, and Reminders as Prince McLean mentioned but what use do I have of Smart mailboxes when I can barely tolerate using Mail app itself. RSS Reader? Bah. I have Google Reader for that. Reminders? Well, perhaps To Dos and Notes are interesting but these are two features that are not blowing me away. Stationary and Photo Browser do not excite me at all. Mail is a no go for me at this point.

One of the things that makes the Leopard iCal different from Tiger iCal as Dan Miller of Macworld has pointed out is that the new iCal is complaint with the CalDAV standard.

Hrm.

Nothing mind blowing for me. This is a feature I really don't give a damn about.

What else is new? Oh, it has a new look and a few design tweaks. Also, according to McLean, iCal is now faster and quite usable. Okay.

So I don't care if Apple uses this version of iCal as their corporate calendar, I still don't see myself using this because the new features do not mean much to me. Maybe my brain also needs an upgrade so I can appreciate using this.

Mail and iCal: two apps that has underwhelmed me and still continue to undewhelm me. Maybe once I get Leopard running I'll change my mind. Maybe not. We'll see.