Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Office 2007 earlier this week. This update addresses some 400 "bugs" in Outlook 2007, about half of which were fixed with previously released updates. SP1 also fixes some performance issues and some problems with the Search index. At this point in time, it appears there are few problems caused by SP1.

Following are some of the issues fixed in SP1 which were not fixed by previously released updates. A complete list of fixes is available from Microsoft (KB 942384).

-- Multiday events that extend over weekends do not print correctly
-- Message or meeting request is sent with misspellings when using check spelling before sending option
-- Under certain circumstances users do not see free/busy information
-- A number of issues with time zones and the time zone tool are corrected
-- Duplicate or recurring appointments were created under certain circumstances

Following installation of SP1, the Outlook version number will be 12.0.6212.1000

The Calendar Printing Assistant has an SP update as well. The major fixes for this involve several issues with the Chinese character set. Earlier updates rolled into the SP include a security update from earlier in the year.

Issues that are fixed in Outlook 2007 by the 2007 Microsoft Office suites Service Pack 1
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=942384

Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 1
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=936982 

Calendar Printing Assistant for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Service Pack 1
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937157

I’ve been involved in hosting Microsoft Exchange since Exchange 2000 Server RC2. That is, since 1999. Exchange hosting was ‘the future of Exchange’ in 1999, and in pretty much every year since 1999, it has been ‘the year for Exchange hosting’ – until 2006.

These days, I buy hosted Exchange. I’m used to Exchange and I like it – especially the “anywhere, anytime, anyway” access to e-mail and other messaging services that it provides.

With Exchange Server 2003 service pack 2, and a number of features that were added within that service pack, Microsoft finally has what I regard as a compelling story for selling Exchange hosting. Part of the compelling story revolves around dropping hardware cost (especially hard disk) and what Microsoft calls HMC 3.5 (now up to version 4.0) – the platform for Hosting and Message Collaboration. HMC is the platform that most (but not all) of the Exchange hosting providers build their control panel software around. It’s a set of “providers” (ways to interact with Exchange and the operating system) and APIs (Application Programming Interfaces – ways for programmers to interface with the providers) that make it fairly simply to provision and maintain hosted Exchange.

In the “old days”, the original hosted Exchange providers (including yours truly) made all changes manually via the help desk. Obviously, that gets old pretty quickly, and with the accelerating change of computing needs, it quickly became a differentiating factor among providers as to how whether they had a control panel – and how complete it was.

As the software and services industry has matured, you will rarely see a hosting provider without control panels. Whether you ever need one or not is somewhat beside the point. Modern providers give access to a control panel. Older providers will not – this should probably be your #1 check for a hosted Exchange solution – but it is not the only concern, by far.

Some of the other top questions to ask before deciding on a hosted vs. an in-house solution are:
1. Do you already have in-house expertise to install and maintain Exchange
…These resources don’t come cheap
2. Do you require add-on solutions like Blackberry Enterprise Server or Good Enterprise?
…These add-on licenses aren’t inexpensive either
3. Do you have a good backup and restore plan?
…Exchange and Active Directory really need these.
4. How quickly do you need upgrades as new features become available?
…An external provider will probably do this more quickly than you can in-house
5. Can you afford Exchange and it’s recommend hardware and software configuration?
…Too little hardware and you’ll regret it!
6. Does the predictability of “$9.95 per month per mailbox” appeal to you vs. an “unknown” of upgrading your Exchange servers at some unknown point?
…Fixed expenses are often more attractive to SME than capital expenditures
7. How much in-house technical support do you require and do you have personnel to staff the help-desk?
…In a hosted solution, the provider is responsible for help-desk – not you!

There are actually lots of technical questions that you may need to ask, if you are considering moving in-house Exchange to an external provider – that is, quite frankly, a much harder sell to make.

However, if you are a small to medium sized company (say 1 to 200 mailboxes) considering Exchange for the very first time, and are sold on Exchange – then hosted Exchange is a serious contender. It can (will!) make life much simpler than it could/would be, for you to do everything “right”.

-- Michael B. Smith
MCSE/Exchange MVP

Chris asks "I have a number of users that love using the quick flag feature in Outlook 2007. The only drawback has been that the default reminder when setting a flag reminder (using Follow-up, Add reminder… ) the default time is 1 hour before the end of the day as defined in Outlook's Calendar options. Most of these users would prefer to either have the default time be either their start time or 1 hour after. "

If the flag is for today, it uses one hour before the end of the workday, while future dates (tomorrow, this week, next week, etc) use the start of the work day. You can't change the defaults except by changing the workday start or end times.

Even if you users can't use the predefined reminder periods, setting the Quick Click flag to use one of the future times will set the time to the beginning of their work day and they'll only need to change the dates. Rather than using the dropdown calendar, users can type a date or date shortcut in the field. For example, 1w converts the date to one week from now. Other shortcuts they can use are d for day and mo for month. The time field accepts the time as digits: 330 will convert to 3:30 PM and 2 converts to 2:00 PM)

Creating Tasks from the items, instead of flagging them, is another option. This works well since you can set a specific reminder time for tasks in Tools, Options, Preferences, Tasks section. Drag the message to the Task folder icon in the Navigation pane and drop it. Enter a due date (using shortcuts of course) and enable reminders.

Another option is using a custom view which includes the Reminder Time field. With in cell editing enabled, users click in the reminder field and type the desired reminder time, using date shortcuts such as "1d830" and Outlook will convert the display to tomorrow at 8:30, "Thu 12/14/2007 8:30 AM". Click in the reminder icon column to enable the reminder.

By the way, do your users know they can type anything in the For Follow up field when setting reminders? This is another flag option that many users overlook. While you can't change the predefined text or add your own to the list, you can just type over what's there. It accepts up to 255 characters.

Many months ago Microsoft released an add-in for Outlook2002, 2003, and 2007 which allows you to map meeting locations and provide driving directions, using the online Live Map service or MapPoint, if installed. When Virtual Earth is installed, you can view virtual earth maps within the Outlook appointment form.

It's a pretty nifty add-in with a much requested feature: it can add 'travel time' appointments to the calendar when an appointment is created. Accounting for travel time is a very popular request and makes this add-in useful to everyone, even if you don't need map services.

When creating meeting requests, a link to the map is created in the appointment body by default. You can turn thus option off in from the Location options menu in an open appointment form. In Outlook 2007, this menu is located under the Office orb (formerly File menu) , while in Outlook 2003 you'll find Options on the Location menu.

Note that appointments created while this add-in are installed will have a small white shield in the upper right of the appointment icon.

Live Search Maps Add-In for Outlook
http://outlook.maps.live.com/minisites/local/outlook/default.aspx
Current version: 3.0.1526.1