Subj : Re: GNU Public Licences Revisited (again)
To   : comp.programming
From : Randy Howard
Date : Thu Sep 29 2005 10:49 am

Steve O'Hara-Smith wrote
(in article <20050929082224.705a2f9a.steveo@eircom.net>):

> On Sun, 25 Sep 2005 08:58:42 +0100
> "Joe Butler" <ffffh.no.spam@hotmail-spammers-paradise.com> wrote:
> 
>> Perhaps you could give an example of a closed source application that "makes
>> it a lot more difficult to switch [to another] vendor [compared to the open
>> source version]"
> 
> 	Microsoft Outlook.

Thunderbird does a fantastic job of sucking email and contacts 
out of outlook .pst files.  It also works cross-platform since 
their file structure is the same on other platforms, such as OS 
X.  I did this recently, the one hangup going permanently off of 
the Windows box was about a <massive> pst file. 

Step 1: Install Thunderbird for Windows, say yes when asks if 
you'd like to import email and contacts from Outlook. 

Step 2: Go on vacation.  Seriously, it takes a really long time, 
even on fast hardware, depending on .pst size obviously.

If for some crazy reason you want to abandon Outlook but not 
Windows, stop here.

Step 3: Install Thunderbird on OS X, set up account settings.

Step 4: Zip up the thunderbird mail and contacts directory tree 
on your windows box.

Step 5: Move the file over to your OS X box and unzip into the 
same tree there (hierarchy is the same, top level directory is 
only thing different).  No byte order issues, etc.

Step 6: Tell it to download mail.  Ta da... it just works.  All 
of your folders, contacts, etc. intact.

Considering how broken MS software is, this process is pretty 
darn painless. 

-- 
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)

.