Microsoft kills off Outlook Express

ZDNet ^ | August 13, 2003 | Angus Kidman

[HAL9000]

It might be the world's most widely distributed e-mail client, but Microsoft has confirmed that it has no intention of further developing Outlook Express.

"[Outlook Express] just sits where it is," said Dan Leach, lead product manager for Microsoft's information worker product management group. "The technology doesn't go away, but no new work is being done. It is consumer e-mail in an early iteration, and our investment in the consumer space is now focused around Hotmail and MSN. That's where we're putting the emphasis in terms of new investment and new development work."

While Outlook Express has always been most popular with individual consumers, many business users have also utilised it, in part because it is part of the default Windows install. Microsoft executives are hoping those users will now switch to the full-blown Outlook client (and pay for an Office licence in the process).

"IMAP is just not a very rich protocol," Steve Conn, Exchange Server product manager, told ZDNet Australia during the company's Tech Ed conference. "The great majority of people used Outlook Express because they weren't on a LAN environment, and Outlook was just too fat for them."

The currently-in-beta Outlook 2003 client has much lower bandwidth requirements, he said. In May, Microsoft revealed that it was no longer planning to release standalone versions of Internet Explorer, which includes the Outlook Express functionality. Future releases will only be made available as part of the Windows platform.

[HAL9000]

Good riddance to this hopeless piece of virus-infested junk.

Microsoft executives are hoping those users will now switch to the full-blown Outlook client (and pay for an Office licence in the process).

Most of those users would be better off getting rid of Microsoft products altogether.

[okkev68]

So how do I move all my outlook express files and folders to Outlook. That's the only reason I use express. I have over a year of email in express and have been to lazy to convert it to regular outlook.

[Lazamataz]

Most of those users would be better off getting rid of Microsoft products altogether.

Easy does it, sparky. I make my living on Microsoft junk. :o)

[nutmeg]

ping

[cryptical]

I saw a bumper sticker last week that said:

Microsoft Sucks, but I need the money.

[Lazamataz]

I saw a bumper sticker last week that said: Microsoft Sucks, but I need the money.

.NET rocks. So does Visual Fox.

I've got some Java time too, but I prefer C#.net.

[Arkinsaw]

our investment in the consumer space is now focused around Hotmail and MSN

Not a chance am I going to do all my email off of Hotmail.

[mhking]

No problem. More reason to shift to Eudora or Mozilla's Thunderbird client.

[xrp]

Or FreeBSD and pine!

[Belial]

Or FreeBSD and pine!

Why not just use an abacus to send email while you're at it?

[cryptical]

I prefer Mutt over Pine or Elm after using all three.

[two23]

You can open up Outlook and click on "File" then click on "Import Export" and a wizard dialog box will come up.
Outlook Express also has a limited Import/Export feature.
I like Outlook Express...it has features for embedding sounds, color and photo's that I use daily. Outlook is just too clunky. Hotmail is junk.

[Gorzaloon]

No problem. More reason to shift to Eudora or Mozilla's Thunderbird client.

Eudora is a fine program..I have used it since the beginning.

Friends don't let Friends use Outlook, and no one with anything to say uses Hotmail. Nothing from Hotmail ever gets to my client. In one sense, it's too bad, but spammers forge Hotmail into so many of their headers that MS's landsharks can't (Or won't) keep up with them. Further, I had a hotmail address used for throwaway purposes. I had a nonguessable, obscure emial address, and to this day remain convinced the MS or its emplyees sell these addresses to spammers. Open a hotmail account, never use it, but check it once a month, and watch what happens.

[Trampled by Lambs]

There is salvation and its name is Bloomba..

http://www.bloomba.com/

You can make it look almost just like Outlook or Outlook express if that your thing except without the virus danger and other Microsloth fun. It does newsgroups also, just like OE.

(I have no stake in this software, I just like it a lot..)

[mhking]

Open a hotmail account, never use it, but check it once a month, and watch what happens.

I've got one for that purpose - I only use it as a landing pad for my MSN groups. I generally get anywhere from three to five messages a day on it.

Thanks to MailWasher, I end up deleting them automatically.

[xrp]

Actually, my fallback is smoke signals.

[SunStar]

Eudora 6.0 will be out soon, with built-in spam filtering.

[Range Rover]

Not a widely-known thing but you can access Hotmail through Outlook Express....just set it up as a new service. Since Hotmail is a MS property, they made it fairly easy to do - takes only a few clicks.

You lose the ads (hence the reason nobody is publicising it all that much) and the lousy interface that Homail's web interface has (goodbye checkboxes)and you still have the ability to access Hotmail via the web when you're away from your primary PC.

Outlook went south on me last night, so I'm going to find/install something better tonight. Just got an older box up and running on Red Hat and another running ArkLinux which was probably the most idiotproof install I've ever experienced (I would recommend it to anyone looking to replace an "outdated" Pentium or PII machine - don't toss it, give it a new lease on life....it's a refreshing change) Time to make these machines my Web and Mail machines, I guess.

[two23]

Thanks! It looks pretty good!

[absalom01]

And why in the world would you need those programs when we have EMACS?

sheesh.