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Outlook.exe

On the excellent Windows Tech Off-Topic mailing list, someone was wondering about a e-mail replacement for Microsoft Outlook, while another cautioned that Outlook is really a PIM and not just a e-mail app.  Here's my reply:

Integration is what makes Outlook great; however, it's also a hindrance.

Trying to keep two windows open is quirky. Let's say I load Outlook by pressing the Mail button on my keyboard, or choosing the E-mail item on the Start Menu. It takes me to the Inbox. Then I open the Calendar in another window. The Inbox view will have the folder list, but not the new window. If I close the Inbox window, the Calendar window becomes the main Outlook window. If I press the Mail button again, the Calendar window is recycled and becomes the Inbox. I cannot reliably get Outlook to use separate windows for Calendar, E-mail and Tasks.

That's because it's all one big executable. While connecting to a server, and downloading mail there may be annoying pauses that prevent you from doing anything in the UI.

However, OL2003 is much better with it's server communication.

I sometimes wish that Outlook was three applications, Mail, Calendar and Task list, with good interoperability between them.

Imagine a robust Windows-based suite of applications based on internet standards.  E-mail using MIME, communicating with servers over POP and IMAP.  Calendar using iCal, and Address Book using vCard (or leveraging the existing Windows Address Book.  For task management, I'm sure there is an existing XML schema available.

Is such a set of applications available currently?

3 Comments

  • The problems in previous versions of Outlook where it would pause and prevent you from doing anything in the UI were probably due to foreground RPCs. There was a huge push in the Outlook 2003 cycle to get rid of these, and I think they did a great job, I haven't had that happen to me since before Outlook 2003 released.



    If you want the folder list to show up on a new window, you can turn it on view View | Navigation Pane (Alt+F1).



    You can also try creating shortcuts to the different modules of outlook - go to Start | Run and type "outlook:calendar" or "outlook:inbox". To find out the URI to a folder, select the folder, right click the menubar and add the "Web" toolbar.



    I'm curious to know what you would get out of three separate applications that interoperate well that you can't get with one application with integrated features like Outlook today?

  • Thanks KC for the informed comment. Frankly, I haven't tried the multiple windows thing with OL2003. I will and hopefully it'll be a better experience.



    OL2003 is much better with it's RPC communication, and has even done away with the dreaded "Please close all Microsoft Office applications before exiting Windows" dialog box when using Word as the e-mail editor.



    I'll post a few more Outlook rants, but it's still my primary app.

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