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> In many ways this is a "classic Microsoft" move — take something that works perfectly fine and replace it with something new but completely inferior and often
by josteink 3y ago
> In many ways this is a "classic Microsoft" move — take something that works perfectly fine and replace it with something new but completely inferior and often less featureful.
They’re taking Outlook, which is a Windows-only locally installed piece of software, which can only be extended using Windows-specific APIs.
They’re replacing it with a cross platform codebase which runs on Windows, Mac, Mobile and online in a web-browser (so you can use it on Linux too).
This new version can be extended using web-technology, implemented however you like using whatever language you like, which will not just work on Windows, but on all platform targets (Windows, Mac, mobile, web) seamlessly in a single code base.
Yes. Some features and extension points are going away.
But let’s not pretend we’re getting nothing in return. This is a massive improvement for developers.
Disclaimer: responsible for Outlook addons in company I work for. When applicable, I greatly prefer the new model.
- RedShift1 3y agoHow does a "massive improvement" for developers translate into a "massive improvement" for users?
- josteink 3y agoA fair question. For me it means I’m able to have the same flows and capabilities available regardless of platform or “terminal” I’m using and not have to depend on a particular machine, OS or Outlook “installation”. There are use-cases which are less supported, like dealing with EML-files, which I too consider a notable loss. Hopefully they manage to bring that back.
- sebazzz 3y ago> But let’s not pretend we’re getting nothing in return. This is a massive improvement for developers. If you mean developer end users: those are either by company policy tied to use Windows because corporate antimalware like SEP, Zscaler or WDATP can be deployed and managed remote - or they could just use the web mail and pin that to their desktop as a native app. The “new Outlook” is just a web app, really.