Exchange Messaging Outlook
|
 |
|
Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 7, No. 3, 17 Jul 2002, of Exchange Messaging Outlook, a biweekly newsletter about Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook. Today's highlights:
Regular features:
Mid-2003 for new Exchange and Outlook Mark your calendar for the middle of 2003. That's when Microsoft says it will release both the next version of Outlook, as part of a new version of Office (call it "Office 11" for now), and the next version of Exchange Server, codenamed "Titanium." Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer made the announcement this week at the Fusion 2002 conference of Microsoft partners. Between Ballmer's remarks, other details that Microsoft has released, and various news accounts, you can glean a good bit of information on these two products. For Microsoft's own viewpoint, you can start at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2002/jul02/07-15exchangeqa.asp for "Q&A: What "Titanium" Will Mean for End Users and IT Pros." "Titanium" features Titanium is being built on the Exchange 2000 code base. It will not be based on the .Net platform and will not use the new unified database product under development (codenamed "Yukon"). According to Microsoft's announcement, new features in Titanium will integrate some Mobile Information Server functions so that wireless access becomes built into Exchange, make it easier to merge Active Directory data from separate Exchange server organizations, and hold more mailboxes per server. There will also be anti-virus security improvements, some of which are expected to turn up in the forthcoming Service Pack 3 for Exchange 2000. When to upgrade? Both Ballmer and Malcolm Pearson, general manager of Microsoft's Exchange Server Business Unit, indicated that the "Kodiak" release of Exchange to be built on Yukon is still at least two years down the road and will arrive concurrent with a new version of Windows. Announcing that Titanium will be available about a year from now may help Microsoft get a decision from organizations who didn't want to move to Exchange 2000 now if the Yukon/Kodiak release was in the foreseeable future. Those on the fence about moving from Exchange 5.5 (now nearly five years old) or earlier versions to Exchange 2000 can work on their Active Directory implementations, then go straight to Titanium next year. Those already in the middle of Exchange 2000 migrations can stay the course, knowing that the Titanium product will be very similar -- worth investigating when it arrives, but not worth halting an Exchange 2000 migration to wait for. Outlook 11's new look With one screen shot at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/images/features/2002/07-15exchangeqa_l.jpg and a demo at the Fusion 2002, Microsoft has shed light on the next version of Outlook, planned for release as part of Office 11 concurrent with the Titanium release in mid-2003. This is really good news -- that the Outlook and Exchange teams have their release dates in sync, so that architectural changes that affect Exchange users can be implemented at the same time on the server and the client. The screen shot shows off several new features aimed at helping users spend less time organizing their email messages. The larger preview pane displays more the message and will use ClearType technology for a crisper view. The Outlook Bar has shrunk to a list of favorite and active folders at upper-left. Outlook will automatically track what folders you use most. An "All Search Folders" option hints at a new stored queries feature to make it easy to search across folders to locate such things as all items flagged for follow-up. I think we can bet on a global "Unread Items" query being on the list. Speaking of flags, the familiar follow-up flags will be color-coded. I'll admit that I was skeptical about color-coding in the Calendar folder being a compelling feature in Outlook 2002, but now that I've been using it for months, it would be hard to live without! I expect color-coded flags to be a quiet hit, too. Distinguishing today's messages from yesterday's is another new feature, implemented with new grouping options. (I hope Microsoft extends the enhanced grouping to the Contacts folder, where people have never been able to do any grouping or filtering to find out who has birthdays this month.) Under the hood, the new Outlook 11 data store will allow Exchange users to switch from an online connection to working offline and back again without the need to restart Outlook. The caching built into the local storage file (first revealed at MEC in October 2001 -- see http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=22846) will also improve Outlook's performance over slow connections. With improved productivity and connectivity as major design goals, the Outlook team may be on the road to a compelling upgrade that could finally get the many lingering Outlook 97 and 98 users to convert. As with Titanium, greater anti-virus security is also promised. Thanks for noticing The Slipstick.com web site was cited recently in two widely different publications. PC Magazine gave us five dots as "an excellent source for information about both Outlook and Exchange and for a long list of add-ins." The June 17, 2002, issue of Barron's, in an article on Outlook in its Technology Week section, said, "Away from Redmond, the best source we found for Outlook add-ins was Slipstick Systems at www.slipstick.com." Interestingly, Barron's main complaint about Outlook is that it doesn't include enough productivity features to help people manage their email glut. Those are just the kind of features that Microsoft apparently will add in Outlook 11. Microsoft CRM moves closer to release Microsoft CRM, Redmond's entry into contact management software, is still on track for delivery in late 2002 and enjoyed a substantial demonstration last week. It will support both browser and Outlook clients, and Outlook users will be able to take their CRM data offline, just as they can today with Exchange public folders. The initial release will include both sales and customer support modules. Clients and servers are priced separately. For an overview in PDF format with screen shots and more information, see http://www.greatplains.com/documents/downloads/CRM_factsheet_overview.pdf. Outlook + PGP security problem The latest security issue related to Outlook involves PGP (formerly Pretty Good Privacy) encryption software. The Outlook component in version 7.0.3 of the PGP Desktop Security plug-in and the PGP freeware has a flaw that could allow someone to remotely execute code on a PC using one of the problem versions and Outlook. Network Associates provides a patch for the PGP plug-in component for Outlook at http://www.nai.com/naicommon/download/upgrade/patches/patch-pgphotfix.asp MEC early bird registration MEC 2002, "The essential Microsoft conference for planning, deploying and managing a connected infrastructure," will take place Oct. 8-11, Anaheim, California. You can get a $300 discount if you register before August 12. For more information or to register, visit http://www.microsoft.com/corpevents/MEC2002/default.asp. |
|||
 |
|||
New Utilities |
ADDRESSGRABBER http://www.egrabber.com/addressgrabberdeluxe/index.html Capture addresses from email messages, web pages, and text documents into Outlook contacts, verifying U.S. addresses with the U.S. Postal Service. Business edition can also parse data from web forms and adds integration with shipping and accounting applications. Can also transfer information between Outlook and ACT! or GoldMine. BRIMESSENGER CONTACTS MAILER DIRECTORY TRANSFORMATION MANAGER EXPORT-IMPORT FOR ENTOURAGE GOODCONTACTS OFFICEREADY STUFFIT OUTINDEX POSTAL INSPECTOR POWERPLUGS: STATIONERY SENSEDESK TEAM CALENDAR SPAMNET WEB MAIL S/MIME AGENT |
||
|
|
|||
Updated utilities |
EMAIL NOT HTML http://www.zzee.com/enh/ POP mail download program that removes HTML content and embedded files from a message before Outlook opens it. Version 2.0 can be set to leave only "safe" HTML in the message. OSA-SYNC SCRIPT DIRECTOR |
||
|
|
|||
Other new resources |
BUILDING A COM ADD-IN FOR MICROSOFT OFFICE XP USING MICROSOFT
VISUAL BASIC 6.0 http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnoxpta/html/odc_comaddinvb6.asp Nothing specific on Outlook COM add-ins, but useful background. CRM ECONOMICS- MANAGING RISK IN CRM INVESTMENTS CUSTOMIZE OUTLOOK FORMS EXCHANGE SDK DOCS AND SAMPLES JUNE 2002 TO MINIMIZE THE SIZE OF THE ADDRESS BAR IN OUTLOOK 2002 |
||
|
|
|||
More Information |
ISSN 1523-7990 |
||
Updated Apr 07 2008
|
|||
|
Home
| What's New | Exchange
Server | Outlook | Utilities
| Bookstore |
|||
