Breaking the Exchange habit?replacing Entourage, syncing with Palm

Hi all, first time posting here.

I?ve just finished reading Getting Things Done (interestingly?well, to me?the Australian edition I bought is called How to Get Things Done) and am starting to go on a wholesale implementation of the system. I've always been fairly well organized (especially online and on the computer) but things were always falling through the cracks.

Anyway, I?m asking for advice about Mac implementations. This is probably going to be long, so let me convey my message in lists (I can write prose, honestly! That?s what my degree requires!) in the hope that more people will read and respond with their own ideas.

At the moment, I use Entourage for my Email and PIM functions, connected to a hosted Exchange server (Intermedia.net), which I quite like. These are the things I most appreciate:

• Everything being in one application;
• Having everything available online through Outlook Web Access for when I'm not at either of my computers;
• Being able to keep two computers?laptop and desktop?fully in sync in Entourage without lifting a finger. (If I go offline, either because I?m somewhere without a connection, or because our Internet connection goes down, which isn?t too unheard-of, then I?ve still got access to the local cache on either machine, which then automatically syncs with the server and thus all other machines the next time I go online, and the syncing never seems to screw up.);
• Being able to set up Outlook on a Windows PC if needs be and everything just being there automatically.
• I bought David Allen?s whitepaper on GTD with Entourage and have read it thoroughly. I like how he suggests using Categories in Entourage to map to Contexts in the GTD system.

I am about to receive a new Palm TX handheld. I thought about a Hipster PDA but knew that in fact I would never have the self-discipline to use it effectively. As Allen says in his book, some of his most productive thinking has taken place when he?s ?just playing with his Palm? (or words to that effect). I've looked at Mark/Space?s MissingSync for PalmOS, which looks promising.

There are some problems with my continuing to use Entourage/Exchange:

• First problem?to do with Microsoft?s Entourage?Palm Conduit?is that Entourage won?t pass more than one street address for a contact to the Palm. I might be able to work around this if I could make a choice contact-by-contact which address should sync to the Palm, but as it stands you have to make a universal choice: either Business addresses get synced, or Home addresses, or ?Other? addresses. That is entirely unsatisfactory (and originates from the old Palm applications which could only hold one address for a contact, which has since been corrected).
• Notes and Tasks created in Entourage don?t synchronize with the Exchange server. (This is INFURIATING!) Therefore, in order to access notes and tasks on the ?other? computer (?other? in relation to the computer on which I created the items in question), I have to copy the whole Entourage data folder from one computer to the other. This sort of negates the effectiveness of having either computer sync to the Exchange server? Also, it means I can?t access Notes or Tasks online.

So, this is what I want to do: (I don?t care if I have to use multiple applications to do it.)

• Have everything available on both my computers (even when offline): email (sent and received), contacts, calendar, tasks, notes;
• Have everything seamlessly syncing so that I can access it online from another Internet-connected computer (I don?t mind if it?s all from separate websites): email (currently processing and reference archive; sent and received), contacts, calendar, tasks, notes;
• Sync between my two computers, either using a local sync (over the network), or via the Web-based services mentioned in the previous bullet-point, or using a third-party sync (.Mac);
• Not have to worry about syncs screwing things up (making billions of duplicates, turning all-day events into timed events, removing contexts/categories/whatever from tasks, quietly deleting things without warning, etc.).

Hmm. Don?t want too much, do I? I?ve investigated IMAP email, but I don?t seem to be able to have folders nested within folders, nor to preserve an authoritative ?sent items?. I?ve looked at iCal syncing with Google Calendar, and that looks promising, so would be interested in people?s opinions about that? How about any of the GTD-specific apps which seem to be appearing by the week? What do people recommend?

Phew. Thanks very much for reading f you?ve got this far. I?m very grateful if you?ve got any ideas about how to implement my wild GTD lifestyle on- and offline?even just one piece of the puzzle?and you put them on this thread.

Oh, and if it helps, I also have my own webspace (virtual server) and can install PHP/Perl apps. (For example, I love being able to sync NetNewsWire with my FTP server. Is this possible for any of the GTD stuff I?m investigating? Maybe that?s the key?)

Richard