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Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 6, No. 23, 13 Mar 2002, of Exchange Messaging
Outlook, a biweekly newsletter about Microsoft Exchange and
Microsoft Outlook.
Today's highlights:
- Microsoft plans CRM application
- Net Folders for Outlook 2002
- More sharing tools
- How to get Outlook 2002 for Exchange 2000 (UPDATE)
- Exchange documentation: Good or bad?
- Microsoft Office Solutions Conference
Microsoft plans CRM application
A new application, Microsoft Customer Relationship Management, is
due for release in late 2002 with two modules -- sales and customer
services for managing interactions with customers. It will support
both web and Outlook interfaces and integrate with Microsoft Great
Plains back office data. This will no doubt tighten the market even
more for the three dozen existing CRM applications with Outlook
hooks; Purple Solutions has already thrown in the towel.
For more information on Microsoft's plans, see
http://www.greatplains.com/news/document.asp?Link=newsitems/mscrm.htm
Net Folders for Outlook 2002
Many users who upgrade from Outlook 98 or 2000 to Outlook 2002
are surprised to find that Microsoft removed the Net Folders feature
from the latest version. Net Folders was notoriously unreliable, but
provided a built-in way for users to share Outlook data
automatically through special mail messages.
A new product, 4Team for MS Outlook (http://www.outlook4team.com/),
adds Net Folders-like capabilities to Outlook 2002, plus an
interface reminiscent of Team Folders or SharePoint Team Services.
Like Net Folders, 4Team uses mail messages for data exchange, but
with at least a couple of key differences: Updates are sent
immediately, rather than on a schedule, and the update messages use
a simpler format than Net Folders. One annoyance that we found in
our brief testing is that 4Team triggers the address book access
security prompt. This was surprising, considering that the program
uses the Redemption library (http://www.dimastr.com/redemption/)
to avoid a security prompt when it sends messages. Perhaps they can
take care of that in a future revision.
Note that 4Team is for Outlook 2002 only. It's a full replacement
for Net Folders, not a way to integrate Outlook 2002 into an
existing Outlook 98/2000 Net Folders sharing scheme.
More sharing tools
Sharing Outlook data without Exchange Server continues to be a
very hot topic. For calendars, the next version of Meetingmaker,
version 7.1, will include synchronization with Outlook, Pocket PC,
and BlackBerry devices using the Intellisync engine from Pumatech.
See
http://www.meetingmaker.com/news/pumatech.cfm for the
announcement.
In response to our Outlook Sharing via IMAP article in the last
EMO (http://www.slipstick.com/emo/2002/up020213.htm),
we heard from FastMail (http://www.fastmail.fm)
about their free and low-cost IMAP accounts. Because FastMail relies
on the Cyrus IMAP server, it supports InsightConnector (http://www.bynari.net)
for sharing all kinds of Outlook data via IMAP. Bynari is also now
providing a free Linux IMAP server as part of their effort to get
people to try InsightConnector; the download is at
http://www.bynari.net/downloads.html.
How to get Outlook 2002 for Exchange 2000 (UPDATE)
Microsoft has confirmed that the CD set for Exchange 2000 SP2 (http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/downloads/2000/sp2/default.asp)
includes Outlook 2002. That gives you another option for getting
Outlook to install for use with your Exchange 2000 CALs. You'll
apparently still need to call for a volume license key for Outlook
2002; for details, see
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2002/howtoorder.htm.
Exchange documentation: Good or bad?
Microsoft has opened a new feedback channel for Exchange
documentation. You can send your comments by clicking on this
address:
mailto:exchdocs@microsoft.com. They're interested in everything
from inaccuracies in existing docs to your favorite sources of
Exchange information -- whether you get assistance via Help, from
books, from white papers, via TechNet, etc.
The feedback address was publicized yesterday during a TechNet
chat on Exchange documentation, in which the Microsoft participants
revealed that more white papers and other technical resources are in
the works. In a planned reorganization, they'll try to ensure a
cleaner separation between marketing and technical resources. We put
in our two cents' worth on our pet peeves -- content that moves
without redirects (Microsoft said they'll try harder this time.) and
long URLs that get broken when you try to send them in text messages
to colleagues.
Microsoft doesn't always publicize these TechNet Chats very well,
but they are great opportunities to ask questions and provide
feedback, sometimes at the highest levels. For example, the next
chat will take place tomorrow, March 14, at 4:30 Eastern time (21:30
GMT) with Brian Valentine, senior vice president of the Windows
division at Microsoft. To participate or to check the rest of the
chat schedule, browse the listings at
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itcommunity/chats/default.asp
Microsoft Office Solutions Conference
The Microsoft Office Solutions Conference May 14-18 in Palm
Springs, CA, is a great opportunity this year to get practical
information on a broad range of programming and other issues related
to Outlook, Exchange, SharePoint Portal Server, and the full range
of Office applications. Sessions that I and other developers will be
giving include:
Sue Mosher (Turtleflock, LLC/Slipstick Systems)
Deploying Microsoft Outlook 2002
Top Issues for Outlook Forms Developers
XML in Action: Customizing Outlook 2002 Views
Randy Byrne (Micro Eye)
A Developer's Guide to the Outlook E-mail Security Update
Extending Outlook with COM Add-ins
Integrating Outlook with SharePoint Portal Server
Tom Rizzo (Microsoft)
Building Exchange Solutions Using .NET
Advanced Topics for Exchange and SPS
John Durant (Architects IT)
Customizing Portal Interaction with PKMCDO
Developing Digital Dashboards for SharePoint Portal Server and
Office XP
Alex Reich (loudENERGY)
Email & Fax with Mail Merging Using Word VBA
John Wallace (Plural)
Finding Information in SharePoint Using Office XP Smart Tags
Building an Employee Directory for Your SharePoint Portal
The Office conference runs concurrently with the Asp.net and XML
Web Services Solutions Conference at the same location; one
registration gets you into both conferences. If you register by
March 21, you can save $200. For more information, see
http://www.msofficemag.net/Events/MOSC2002/. |
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