Need advice with software....

I'm currently a Macbook Pro user.
Running bootcamp with WinXP.
The laptop is being used in a business environment.

I spend 80% of my time on the XP side.
And am only using OSX for my video editing.
But I'd like to change to OSX and run Vmware Fusion.

The applications I run on the XP side which are critical...
MS Outlook (Exchange server)
Word/Excel/Powerpoint
Accounting software
Proprietary 3D CAD software

I'm not sure how I should setup my software situation.
I can go strictly OSX and buy Office 2008 for Mac..which would give me
Entourage so that I can hit Exchange..and also give me Word/Excel and Powerpoint.
And then use Vmware fusion for the accounting software and proprietary 3D CAD.

But is this the best way?
Am I stuck with having to buy Office 2008 for Mac??

I could run Openoffice for Word/Excel and Powerpoint, but I'd still be stuck on the Outlook Exchange front.

Any suggestions??

 

You might just stick to using the apps you already have for now via Fusion or Parallels and migrate over time as suitable products become available or go on sale.

There really is no substitute for Outlook. Entourage uses WEBDAV same as webmail so you don't get full functionality. OS X Snow leopard is supposed to give mac mail WEBDAV capability just like the iphone but again its not FULL functionality.

iWork and OpenOffice are fine packages but you still run into compatibility issues that make fast, easy exchange of MS documents a pain at times. You can get the Home and Student version of Office 2008 for about $125 and all its missing is the entourage exchange connector. Or get the special media edition (still considerably cheaper than full office at the moment with all its functionality and more). if you want to try Entourage on an Exchange server.

I have been lucky and have found acceptable mac based substitutes for everything I use but Outlook and IE6 but its taken some time and I've tried a lot of packages to find the ones I've settled on. I use Parallels/XP to run the couple of Windows apps I have remaining.

 

I am looking to buy an iMac at some point and was excited to find out about the various options for running Windows software and have been reading all the stuff Apple has on the website referencing this topic. I noticed that Apple specifically mentions that if you are running very demanding apps, like CAD programs, you are best suited to run them under Windows natively (i.e. - dual boot, what you have been doing). They say that running demanding programs in a virtual environment would be too much of a drain on system resources.

 

Thanks for the input guys.

I think I'm gonna sit still for a while
and live with my current circumstance.

I do have VMware installed on my wife's macbook
and although it'd be perfect for running office applications,
I know I'll have trouble with the 3D cad manipulation.